Bahamanian

The coming of Spring has been lovely. Even though I am a snow bunny at heart, I'm thoroughly enjoying the arrival of sunshine, flowers, and warmth.

 

Nothing celebrates Spring more than Spring Break. So in honor of our lifelong friendship and our 25th birthdays in May, my cousin Rachel and I flew to Orlando and took a boat to the Bahamas over her Spring Break. 

  

Yes, it was a Carnival cruise, and it was fantastic! We embarked on March 30th and spent 4 whole days on the water.  Our room was on the 4th out of 12 floors, so pretty low down.  But we still had a window, big closets, and motivation to run up and down stairs to burn off the delicious cruise cuisine :)

There were life jackets in our closest... comforting or disconcerting??

Every morning they tidied up the room, and every evening they provided a turn-down service with the next day's itinerary.  Everyone was so friendly, crew and guests.  We stopped at various islands and ports, but Rachel and I mostly just laid in the sunshine and swam in the gorgeous blue water.

Our ride to the beach, note position of the driver and side of the road.

Little Stirrup Cay

Being out on the ocean was so weird and cool.  Initially, Rachel and I felt a little uneasy, but after a while it doesn't seem so bad. 

Cruise ships are like a petri dish for infection, so we tried to be proactive, and used hand sanitizer incessantly. We took a meclizine (for motion sickness) every morning with our glass of Airborne (prevents colds).  They kept the boat so so clean and pretty though! The decorations were garish and as Rachel described, "nauseating" but it's all part of the cruise culture, I guess. 

Returning to the boat from an Island

The type of people on the cruise were lovable middle class America types.  Some families, 18 yr old Spring breakers, couples, and friends. We really enjoyed chatting with the other guests and seeing them on the boat.  I think someone said our there were about 2000 aboard, but somehow we would see some of the same people over and over, which was kind of nice.

Each night we had to wait in line for dinner and sometimes we would get a cocktail at the atrium bar.

While I held our spot in line one night, Rachel went down to the bar to get our drinks when she got swept up by a flash mob. It was chaotic and hilarious.  Can you spot her below in the crowd of sweaty dancers?

One of our favorite things was the watch the sunrise and sunset from the boat.  It was breath taking.

Sunrise over Nassau

view from the boat in Freeport

We took the stairs every single time.  6 or 7 flights up and down at a time. One night I was running up the stairs and thinking we were so awesome for never using the elevator. Not as soon as the thought escaped my mind that I tripped and ate it on the stairs. My flip flop fell off, my wallet flew out of my hands, and my glasses were knocked askew.

 

Sandy Port in Nassau

We had an amazing time! It was so beautiful and so restful.  I can't wait to go on another :)