On Cruising

Arriving in Tampa at 8:45AM, we caught a cab to the port (arriving just after 9AM) and upon pulling up saw the hordes of people debarking from the Legend’s previous week of cruising. Figuring out what to do next was the hardest part, but there were plenty of people around to help us determine what time and where we needed to be in order to get on the ship. We made it into Carnival’s holding area inside the port at about 10:45AM after browsing through the shops at port and stepped onto the boat at about 11:45AM, which was perfect. The ship wasn’t going to set sail for another four hours and we had a decent amount of time to grab lunch (GREAT FOOD!), take pictures of Tampa, and explore the ship (while toting around our carry-ons) before our room was ready at 1:30PM. I was very impressed with the size of the ship and that first night and next day at sea gave us some time to explore, carrying around our little pocket-size deck plan and wandering for hours.

To our benefit, Carnival prints daily these brochures called the Carnival Capers that gives you all the information you need to know for each day. This took some getting used to at first, because I’m all about pre-planning everything. But it was great fun to get the Capers each night (along with amusing Towel Creatures!) and highlight the activities/events/important times we needed to know about for the next day. Eventually, I came to think of these things as gold. There’s information on spa, bar, and casino specials along with what movies they’ll be showing each day, who the special performer will be each night, and the ever-important tips on what to do, where to be, and who to contact in port. It also has all of the daily changes to the dining schedule, though we could always count on the 24-hour pizza, ice cream/frozen yogurt, and room service. And though we have nothing to compare it against cruise-wise, we really enjoyed the food. Our waistlines could probably attest to that.

Being on a ship takes some getting used to, not just physically but mentally as well. I had a bit of motion-sickness on our first day and was trying to get used to the spacial limitations of essentially being on a moving Las Vegas resort on water. I mean, that’s kind of what it was like, at least according to Cliff (considering I’ve never been to Las Vegas). There’s always something going on, so the first day at sea (which was entirely rainy as we were caught in the tail-end of then-Tropical Storm Dolly) we spent our time trying to find the balance between relaxing, exploring, and doing. Throughout the week, the rhythm got a little easier, and we ended up finding a decent balance. We played in a Cornhole tournament and wound up in second place, winning Carnival medals. We played in a call-in trivia game and won a pretty cool prize package from Carnival (including another medal, a trophy, a print, a photo frame, and a Carnival bag). We went to the shows every night except our last and enjoyed them all! We even managed to watch two movies, read a few books, swim, workout (the first day), and hangout in the hot tub. And wouldn’t you know, we even donned our robes on the Deck Party night and did the electric slide, the cupid shuffle, and the YMCA (among other group dances) with hundreds of other people and had a blast! Carnival is the “Fun Ship” cruise line after all!

And while the ship was awesome, I will admit that being at port was definitely the highlight of the whole trip. Our itinerary was incredible (more on that, later) and the ease of getting off and back on the ship, even when tendering (when the boat anchors out further and you have to take a smaller speedboat to get to the pier) was great. We booked all of our excursions outside the ship, which turned out fine and a bit less expensive for us. It was strange to only spend five to eight hours at a place and then leave, but it was definitely enjoyable none the less. No matter how hard it was to leave each country, it wasn’t that hard getting back on the boat. By the second day at port (Wednesday) I came to call the ship “home” and was fairly settled in. Sleeping in a pitch black room (that’s what you get when you book an Inside Stateroom) definitely has its benefits and the bed was SO comfortable, especially for two twin beds pushed together. Also, by then, we had come to recognize a number of families and couples on the ship whom we saw and conversed with often. In fact, one couple shared our anniversary and were celebrating their twentieth while we were on our first!

Speaking of our anniversary, it conveniently fell on the first of two “Cruise Elegant” (or formal) nights on the ship, which meant we were in for lobster tails for dinner and a great Broadway-style production for the evening show. And after a wonderful night of getting dolled up, having our pictures taken (hence the new blog pic), eating delicious food, and watching a great show, Cliff took me up to the top deck under the full moon and slyly presented (and shocked) me with a first anniversary band matching my wedding band. We had talked about this very ring months ago and decided it might need to wait until later since he “hadn’t had a chance to set aside the money for it,” when really he had gone back the day after we bought our wedding bands a year and a half ago and gotten it then. As if the cruise itself wasn’t enough of a gift in itself…

Well, every good thing comes to an end and getting off the ship happened quickly and painlessly (except, if you count being done with a vacation) on Sunday morning. Having closed out our account the night before (with cash!) all we had to do was wake up early, grab our last meal at the Unicorn Café, and do self-assist (carry off our own luggage) that the morning. We did self-assist so that we could get off the ship in time to make it to the airport for our 11:15AM flight. Due to some confusion in the lobby, it seems we ended up in a shorter self-assist line, were off the boat by 8AM, and were at the airport, through security, and at our gate by 9:15AM with two hours to kill. It couldn’t have been easier!



…stay tuned for “On Ports of Call”!