Bahama love ♥ Part 1

Well I am back from an amazing cruise to the Bahamas! Although, my body still seems to think I'm on a boat because as I write this I feel as if I'm rocking back and forth. I've decided to make this a 2-part post because I haven't uploaded any pictures yet and probably will not get a chance to until tonight or tomorrow. So in Part 1 I'll give the overall rundown of my trip and then give a long picture post in Part 2. Sound good?

Okay now, where to start? How 'bout with the travel specifics since I have yet to even mention where I went... Tori and I went on a 3-night Carnival cruise to Nassau in the Bahamas. On Wednesday, I drove down to Jackson, MS where I caught a plane to Orlando to meet up with Tor who was flying in from Denver (And I had quite the adventure just getting to Orlando, but I'll write another blog about that later). Anyways, Tori's dad actually lives in Orlando so we stayed the night with him and then left on Thursday morning to board the cruise ship at Port Canaveral. We decided to board early, with swimsuits already on, so that we could enjoy the entire day by the pool before the cruise even left port. That was a great idea by the way! 

I'm not a first time cruiser (I've been on 3 actually) but this was the first time where I was responsible for figuring out all the details myself opposed to traveling with my family. Also, the last time I went I was only 17 years old so I was not able to go to any of the fun 21 and older events at night on the cruise. Not that I'm a huge drinker or gambler or anything but more so because all the good shows and dance clubs are age restricted on the boat. And I have to say, and I'm saddened to admit this, but I was carded trying to get into an 18 and older dance club... Apparently I still look 17? Thanks Mr. Security Guard.

During the days of the cruise, we basically laid on a beach chair in the sun allll day long. Swimsuit on, headphones in, a good book and a few magazines... Yes, it was wonderful! We also took advantage of the very yummy unlimited amounts of free food available on deck. Don't worry though, I think I more than worked off the excessive amount of junk food I ate by dancing for hours and hours every night.

That brings me to our nights on board. We did lots of things, but mostly, we danced! Anyone that knows Tori and I knows that dancing is what we do and, wow, we had an awesome time. Other than dancing we enjoyed the cruise shows, karaoke, comedy shows, casino, and on and on... I actually had never been to a casino since being of age to gamble and wanted to see what it was like. Not being one to want to gamble away my hard-earned cash, I put forth a whopping $10 to gamble with and said that once it was gone I was done. So I headed over to the penny slots (I know, I'm a wild one...) and lost just about all of my $10 on one machine. But then, with $1 left I started winning! and then winning some more! And I walked out with $55! Now that may not seem like a lot to people who gamble often but to me I was proud to have more than quadrupled my money on nothing more than some penny slots.

On Friday, our ship docked at port in Nassau. The weather was warm, the water was crystal clear turquoise... it was a beautiful day! We actually booked a catamaran snorkeling excursion prior to our trip but sadly it got canceled, so we decided to just explore the island. After shopping for a while and enjoying some time at the beach, we ended up having most of our off-boat adventures at Senor Frog's. We had heard it was a fun place to go and it really was! I think that restaurant is a party 24 hours a day. It was very entertaining and we met some crazy characters there! Oh and that brings me to my next subject...

... People watching! There are so many different kinds of people that go on a cruise and it's hilarious to see what happens when all these different people are thrown together on one ship and forced to interact. Seriously, the people you meet on a cruise make it that much more fun. From the pool deck to the dining room to the dance club, we met quite a few interesting characters... and made some great friends too! The entire trip was jam packed with fun and so many memories that I'll never forget. I can't wait to show you the pictures!

All in all, I would recommend a cruise to anyone looking to get away and have a good time. It was awesome and totally worth using up a few of my vacation days... Never a dull moment! I'm excited to go on another cruise in the near future and actually Jake and I have started looking into going on a 12-day Mediterranean cruise this fall after he graduates UPT... Now that would really be awesome!

Anyways, thanks for reading! Stay tuned for a Part 2!