Cruise to the Bahamas!

I was counting the day before this past weekend... my first cruise!  And it was geared up to be a good one... a girls weekend to the Bahamas!

We actually headed down to FL on Thursday evening, with plans on staying overnight in Orlando.  Timing wise, it worked out great because my sister ended up being in town for a conference that same time, so I got a chance to have dinner and catch up a little.  That was a pleasant, last minute surprise.

The next morning, we were picked up at the hotel by a shuttle to take us over to Cape Canaveral, which is the port we planned to leave out of.  We were sailing the Monarch of the Seas, part of Royal Carribean's fleet.  We weren't actually leaving port until 4:30pm, but you have to be there a minimum of 90 mins before that and we liked the idea of getting some early poolside time before departure.  But come 4:30pm, we all met up for a sail-away champagne toast as we headed out to sea!

With this being my first cruise, I really wasn't sure what to expect.  The cabins are, of course, much smaller than what you'd get for a hotel room.  But other than that, you're essentially on a floating all-inclusive resort!  Food whenever you want.  Various other bars/restaurant to hang out at.  Multiple pools (of course), lots of 'planned activities' by the cruise director and staff, shows at night, full sit down dinners (if you choose), and chances to meet new people at every corner.  Since we had a big group (there were 11 of us),we didn't have the typical dinner with new people because we already took up a large table, ourselves.  But as it was, many of us were meeting for the first time on the cruise, so it all worked out well.

We had a spectacular sunset that first night.  I wish I could say we had spectacular weather during the rest of the cruise.  It wasn't horrible, there was just cloud cover over the entire Caribbean from a tropical low over near Central America.  So even when they tried to find us sun for us, they couldn't.  But it didn't impede our fun - we were still by the pool and we still played trivia at whatever bar had it going on.

Saturday comes around and we pull into port at Nassau - my first time to the Bahamas! After the slow ride in and being turned around by a tug, we were docked and everyone disembarked for the day.  Our large group was quickly divided, though, and went separate ways (by default, in some cases).  This wasn't a bad thing.  I started with a group going to Atlantis and just walked around the massive resort (at least in the areas they'd let us without paying for one of the attractions).  That place is pretty insane - there's so much going on.  But after we saw everything we could see for free, we split up again and some stayed to see the aquarium and some went back to the Straw Market/Shopping district. I went shopping.  Of course.

So back in town, we started walking around, and that's when the intermittent rain showers started.  Some were just full downpours, which even the locals were saying is very rare.  Figures... our luck.  But as I said before, we still had a good time.  The Straw Market, for those who don't know, is like Canal Street in NYC... lots of 'cheap' knock-offs and stuff.  And we found quite a few deals!  Some of the girls can haggle!

Back on the ship, we had our formal dinner night where we got to get alldressed up.  Girls love to do that!  This is a good time to talk about the food.  You always hear about how good the food is on cruises.  My opinion... it was good, but not the 'best I've ever had.'  I think I've become a food snob - everyone else seemed to love it!  But it didn't matter - it was all about just have a good time at at dinner.  And we did, all three nights.  With lots of wine.

Sunday was our scheduled day for the private island, Cococay.   Well, it was supposed to be, anyway.  The water was too rough due to the tropical low positioned near Central America.  We were just going to anchor here and use tender boats to get to shore - they were concerned the waters would throw the tender boats around too much.  Plus, a lot of the excursion were in the water, which also were of concern.  So this was the day the Captain tried to find us some sun out of the cloud cover with no luck.  But we still had a blast around the pool and doing all the other activities on board.

Monday was just the day to pull into port - we were docked by 7:30am,  We weren't off the boat until later (about 9:30am), but we were all packed and ready to go.  It was kind of sad to end so soon... but we had so much fun!  We all decided we have to do this again next year... maybe even make it an annual tradition. 

I have lots of pictures, as you can imagine.  I want to edit some before posting, so I'll post a link here, later, when it's done.  Got some good ones.

UPDATE:  Pictures are posted!!  Go to my Fotki Page and check them out!