We've been back from the Bahamas since last Monday, and I finally feel like I've slowed down enough to share with you about our amazing vacation. We traveled to Jacksonville, FL with some very good friends of ours, Britney and Adam for our 4 night cruise from Jacksonville to Freeport and Nassau, Bahamas on the Carnival Fascination. It was so much fun! If you have never cruised, you have to give it a try! It's the perfect vacation!
We left home around 4:00 Wednesday afternoon and drove all the way to Jacksonville the night before the cruise. We didn't make hotel reservations because we weren't sure if we were going to be able to make the 6+ hour drive before stopping for the night. Well, lesson learned! We ended up making it to Jacksonville a little before 1:00 in the morning, and drove around until 2:00 in the morning looking for a hotel! We got up Thursday morning and were so excited that we decided to head to the cruise terminal early just to see if we could go ahead and start the check in process. We got lucky and got right in! We were on the ship a little after noon, and we headed straight to the Lido deck for lunch.
After our rooms were ready we explored the ship and then hung out waiting for the ship to set sail. After that, we had dinner (which was delicious!) and then I won $150 playing bingo while waiting for the show that night. I was so excited!!!
Friday morning we got up and had breakfast and then watched as we got close to Freeport, Bahamas. We had arranged before our trip for the four of us to meet a friend of ours, Melinda, while in Freeport. I've known Melinda since I was a kid, and her family recently got transferred to Freeport from Montana because her husband Charlie works with Customs. How lucky are they! Melinda picked us up right off the cruise ship and drove us back to her house. Y'all, I wish I could describe how great Melinda was! She was such a sweet and wonderful hostess, and her home is amazing! She lives in a 3 story condo right off Bell Channel in Freeport. We were able to go to the beach at her house, as well as the Taino Beach resort right next to her house for the afternoon. Taino's pool was incredible! It was a walk in pool with waterfalls, a swim up bar, grotto's, and these amazing tile blocks in the water that let you lay out in the pool. It was so awesome!
After the pool and the beach (which was also incredible), Melinda drove us to the Port Lucaya marketplace where we shopped for a few hours before she drove us back to the cruise ship. We had such a wonderful time with Melinda, and I was so thankful (and lucky) that we knew someone in Freeport to give us such a great, insider view of the city. Thank you, Melinda!!
Saturday morning in Nassau Britney and Adam headed to Atlantis resort, and Jeremy and I headed to the Blue Lagoon Island. We had such a good time. The island was a 30 minute boat ride from the cruise ship, and was the place where the beach scenes in Splash were filmed. We loved it! It was calm, relaxing, and absolutely beautiful. After swimming for awhile Jeremy and I took a snorkeling tour that was scheduled to be 45 minutes long, but we actually free water snorkeled for an hour and fifteen minutes. The water was beautiful and we saw some really pretty fish. A few people in our group saw two 5 foot reef sharks! I'm partly jealous that I didn't see them, but more relieved! I would have been walking on water had I seen those sharks!
After several hours at the Blue Lagoon, Jeremy and I headed back to Nassau where we shopped for a few hours in downtown Nassau. The straw market was interesting! It was a covered tent with vendor after vendor selling practically the exact same thing. After a little while, we were done! It was very overwhelming having so many people trying to get your attention to sell you something, and it was so hot! We got back on the ship and enjoyed the water slide and hot tubs before dinner and the shows.
Sunday was our fun day at sea and we started the morning off with the "Behind the Fun" tour of the Carnival ship. I had heard from Amy and Adam that the tour was great, so we signed up as soon as we got on the ship for the tour. Only 16 people out of 2,000 get to go on the 3 hour tour so we were so exited to actually be able to go behind the scenes on the ship. We got to tour the laundry area, the galley, the engine control room, the storage areas, the crew areas, the bow of the ship, and my favorite, the bridge of the ship where we met the Captain. The view from the bridge was unforgettable; a complete panoramic of the ocean was the best view from the ship. The tour was so much fun, and our guide, Ross was wonderful and very candid with telling us about life on the ship. I would definitely recommend the tour!
After the tour Jeremy treated me to a massage in the ship spa which was heavenly! I'm not completely sure, but I think I was so relaxed that I fell asleep! After my massage, I headed back to the room where I took a Dramamine because the sea had gotten pretty rocky. We took a nap and then enjoyed our final dinner on the ship before it was time to pack to get ready to leave the next morning.
And then, before we knew it, our amazing vacation was over and we were heading home, back to Jackson (who we missed soooo much!). Jeremy and I had a great time with some wonderful friends, and we loved that we had another fantastic cruise experience. The Carnival Fascination crew was so wonderful, and there was absolutely nothing about the cruise that we didn't love!
Here are a few pictures, but blogger is so slow with posting pictures that I have posted a link to my Facebook album where you can see a ton of my pictures. I guess that's it for today. Take care!
We left home around 4:00 Wednesday afternoon and drove all the way to Jacksonville the night before the cruise. We didn't make hotel reservations because we weren't sure if we were going to be able to make the 6+ hour drive before stopping for the night. Well, lesson learned! We ended up making it to Jacksonville a little before 1:00 in the morning, and drove around until 2:00 in the morning looking for a hotel! We got up Thursday morning and were so excited that we decided to head to the cruise terminal early just to see if we could go ahead and start the check in process. We got lucky and got right in! We were on the ship a little after noon, and we headed straight to the Lido deck for lunch.
After our rooms were ready we explored the ship and then hung out waiting for the ship to set sail. After that, we had dinner (which was delicious!) and then I won $150 playing bingo while waiting for the show that night. I was so excited!!!
Friday morning we got up and had breakfast and then watched as we got close to Freeport, Bahamas. We had arranged before our trip for the four of us to meet a friend of ours, Melinda, while in Freeport. I've known Melinda since I was a kid, and her family recently got transferred to Freeport from Montana because her husband Charlie works with Customs. How lucky are they! Melinda picked us up right off the cruise ship and drove us back to her house. Y'all, I wish I could describe how great Melinda was! She was such a sweet and wonderful hostess, and her home is amazing! She lives in a 3 story condo right off Bell Channel in Freeport. We were able to go to the beach at her house, as well as the Taino Beach resort right next to her house for the afternoon. Taino's pool was incredible! It was a walk in pool with waterfalls, a swim up bar, grotto's, and these amazing tile blocks in the water that let you lay out in the pool. It was so awesome!
After the pool and the beach (which was also incredible), Melinda drove us to the Port Lucaya marketplace where we shopped for a few hours before she drove us back to the cruise ship. We had such a wonderful time with Melinda, and I was so thankful (and lucky) that we knew someone in Freeport to give us such a great, insider view of the city. Thank you, Melinda!!
Saturday morning in Nassau Britney and Adam headed to Atlantis resort, and Jeremy and I headed to the Blue Lagoon Island. We had such a good time. The island was a 30 minute boat ride from the cruise ship, and was the place where the beach scenes in Splash were filmed. We loved it! It was calm, relaxing, and absolutely beautiful. After swimming for awhile Jeremy and I took a snorkeling tour that was scheduled to be 45 minutes long, but we actually free water snorkeled for an hour and fifteen minutes. The water was beautiful and we saw some really pretty fish. A few people in our group saw two 5 foot reef sharks! I'm partly jealous that I didn't see them, but more relieved! I would have been walking on water had I seen those sharks!
After several hours at the Blue Lagoon, Jeremy and I headed back to Nassau where we shopped for a few hours in downtown Nassau. The straw market was interesting! It was a covered tent with vendor after vendor selling practically the exact same thing. After a little while, we were done! It was very overwhelming having so many people trying to get your attention to sell you something, and it was so hot! We got back on the ship and enjoyed the water slide and hot tubs before dinner and the shows.
Sunday was our fun day at sea and we started the morning off with the "Behind the Fun" tour of the Carnival ship. I had heard from Amy and Adam that the tour was great, so we signed up as soon as we got on the ship for the tour. Only 16 people out of 2,000 get to go on the 3 hour tour so we were so exited to actually be able to go behind the scenes on the ship. We got to tour the laundry area, the galley, the engine control room, the storage areas, the crew areas, the bow of the ship, and my favorite, the bridge of the ship where we met the Captain. The view from the bridge was unforgettable; a complete panoramic of the ocean was the best view from the ship. The tour was so much fun, and our guide, Ross was wonderful and very candid with telling us about life on the ship. I would definitely recommend the tour!
After the tour Jeremy treated me to a massage in the ship spa which was heavenly! I'm not completely sure, but I think I was so relaxed that I fell asleep! After my massage, I headed back to the room where I took a Dramamine because the sea had gotten pretty rocky. We took a nap and then enjoyed our final dinner on the ship before it was time to pack to get ready to leave the next morning.
And then, before we knew it, our amazing vacation was over and we were heading home, back to Jackson (who we missed soooo much!). Jeremy and I had a great time with some wonderful friends, and we loved that we had another fantastic cruise experience. The Carnival Fascination crew was so wonderful, and there was absolutely nothing about the cruise that we didn't love!
Here are a few pictures, but blogger is so slow with posting pictures that I have posted a link to my Facebook album where you can see a ton of my pictures. I guess that's it for today. Take care!
Jeremy and my first cruise photo
Blue Lagoon Island
Jeremy and I at the beach in Freeport
Our picture from the bridge of the ship with the Captain
1 random thoughts:
I checked out all your pix on your FB page. Looks like you had an amazing trip!!! You both look so happy and relaxed.
You really should check out Windows Live Writer..it's heaven for loading pics and writing posts too! It totally changed my thoughts on putting pix on posts! Eazy-peezy!
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