Thursday, July 5, 2012

cruisin', day 1 :)

When Cori and I started talking about a summer vacation/trip for our first anniversary, we brainstormed pretty much every option.  We briefly discussed going to the West Coast, but in the end decided to take advantage of the fact that we live in Florida.  We thought about going to the Keys or to Sanibel Island, but in the end opted on a cruise.  The beautiful thing about living near a port is that our vacation was actually decently priced; we didn't have to fly anywhere or pay for a hotel.


I'm going to break down recaps of our trip into different blog posts, but I'll start by saying this: we LOVED our cruise.  We had such a wonderful time and I would highly recommend a cruise to anyone!  Cori had gone on a cruise in high school, but this was my first time.  We had the best time and there were so many different options- you could be as chill or as active as you wanted to be.

Also, just as a disclaimer: while I'm hoping a few people will read this and enjoy hearing about our trip, a big part of the reason I'm blogging is so that I can look back on these posts and remember our time.  So forgive me if I over-share. :)


Saturday, June 30: Day 1


Cori and I arrived at the port of Tampa a little after noon and were able to quickly go through the process of checking our luggage, showing our passports, and making our way to security.  We walked onto our boat, the Carnival Paradise, and made our way to our room.


the Carnival Paradise!  This picture is actually taken during our day in Cozumel.

Our room!



Our room was simple- the only parts you can't see in these pictures is the bathroom and closet- but it was perfect for us.  I loved having a window view- it was fun to look outside and see the ocean or whatever destination we were approaching!

After settling into our room, we ventured onto the deck to explore a little and get lunch.  We immediately took advantage of the soft serve machine... I intended to count how many ice cream cones we had on our trip, but I quickly lost cost!  Let's just say I'm going to need to go for a run later. ;)  After lunch, we took part in the required emergency preparation training- learning how to put on our life jackets and where our lifeboats were- got another ice cream cone, and then immediately headed back to our room for a nap.

We had our first dinner in our dining room, Elation.  We had chosen 'your time dining,' which meant that we could eat dinner anytime between 5:45 and 9:30.  Some people on cruises choose specific dining times so that they can have the same table, eat with the same people, etc., but we liked the flexibility of going whenever we wanted.  Our meal was good, but not mind-blowing.  It makes sense when you're in an all you can eat situation like a cruise is- the food was all great, but it's no 5-star restaurant.

After dinner, we went to an opening night event that previewed the two comedians on the ship, the dancing/singing group, the break dancers, and gave us the run-down of some of the different events taking place.  

All in all, it was a pretty chill first day, but we enjoyed exploring and finding out what the boat had to offer- the pool, the water slide, the hot tub, the mini-golf course (which we never actually did), the different club rooms, etc.

our only picture from day 1 :)


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