Cathy the Librarian

First, let me tell you, it was wonderful! We flew down to Miami a day early to spend a little time site seeing. It was nice not to have to race from the airport to the port for the cruise ship. There was a cute little touristy area quite near our hotel (good choice Tammy!). It was mostly shopping and dining (surprise surprise) but we also went on a “famous people” boat tour, which was nice. Who knows if there were actually famous people living in the houses. Somehow I doubt it, but the view was nice and the tour guide was really funny. The houses were all beautiful, but there are a lot of beautiful houses in Florida, especially along the water.

We actually started our stay in Miami with some lovely Pina Coladas:

My first purchase was a really cool purse that is actually a giant zipper!

Then we went to Bubba Gump, and I had another great drink, suggested by our server and absolutely DE-LISH!

Then we went back to the hotel and crashed.

After a lovely night, (although I don’t think Annette liked sharing a bed with me 🙂 ) we went to the port to get on our cruise. Our cruise ship was the Majesty of the Seas, which was lovely.

I had a small, but comfortable bed… with my zip-it purse on it 🙂

A teeny bathroom:

With a shower that is almost impossible to shave in:

I was slightly afraid that I was going to be queasy, but the only time I felt anything was when I got off the cruise ship, and thought that the ground was still moving. Unfortunately, the other girls in the group weren’t so lucky. One of the girls tried to go to sleep in order to get rid of the queasiness, a second one got really sick and the third one got really drunk and then sick.

I want to warn anyone taking a cruise right now. Think you’ve spent a lot of money on airfare, the cruise and the cocktail dresses or tuxes they want you to have for the dinners? When that’s not where they want it to end. There’s a casino on board as well as some shops, but that’s not the worst part. The ship had two people who’s soul job was to get us all pumped up and wanting to buy special “cards” for discounts at certain stores. What they don’t mention is that many of the stores you can use your card at are WAY expensive. Plus, if your in the Bahamas, should you be spending all your time shopping? (Yes I just said that Jeff. Close your mouth.)

The first stop was Nassau. Talk about tourist trap. Lots of shopping, lots of people wanting to braid your hair… whatever, it was bright and colorful.

We walked around for a little while, and then we went to Atlantis in Paradise Island, Bahamas. I would have even liked to spend the whole trip here. It was GORGEOUS! The water theme really worked, as it was along the beach. There was a really neat marine habitat area. One thing I suggest? Get a really nice digital SLR and don’t use your flash to take pictures. This is a marine habitat area with lots of windows. My friends had their point and shoot cameras, and they couldn’t get almost any shots. I also saw other people using their flash, and one of two things happened:

1. the flash reflected back off the window, ruining the picture
2. the flash was visible from the other side of the aquarium windows, ruining the picture for someone else.

I used my husband’s (although since the trip, its now mine) DSLR, and didn’t use the flash. The pictures were still sometimes a little dark, but I think I still got some really nice ones.

My friend took this one:

Here’s my friends surrounded by lobsters:

Here’s my friends scoping the fishes:

And one more, a eel shot that’s pretty neat:

It really was lovely. I think we all hated to leave. It was practically an island paradise! Barrumpbump.

Next day was CocoCay. This is an island that is owned by Royal Caribbean cruises, so the only people allowed on the island have been approved by Royal Caribbean.

I tried to take more pictures, but there was too much relaxing and swimming to do. Plus there was a lovely barbecue provided by Royal Caribbean. I did manage to get a couple of pictures. Here’s one of our ship:

I BESEECH YOU! Wear LOTS of sunblock! I wore what I thought was quite a bit, but I still got quite burned. The sun just must be closer to the earth there than it is in Rochester NY. 🙂

Once it got a little too hot for us, we went back to the ship and went swimming in the pool on the ship. Why didn’t it occur to me that the water would be salt water? I don’t know but it was a new experience for me. Don’t get much salt water swimming in landlocked (great lakes not included) Rochester. After a nice shower, I treated myself to a lovely massage. Never had one? I couldn’t suggest it more highly! Even with the sunburn, it was delightful. She was a British woman and we had a nice conversation about British TV comedies and books (once she found out I was a librarian). By the end, I was nicely relaxed and ready for more relaxation.

The last stop was Key West, Florida. More wandering around and shopping.

There was a cool bar with bras stapled to the ceiling:

And a bar for people who like watching Caillou:

And a bar for people with Big ‘Uns!

There were LOTS of bars. And lots of chickens too!

Each night on the ship, we would get a little dressed up and go to a sit down dinner. Each night, had the same wait staff, so luckily they were very nice and friendly! They would help us decide what to eat, and if we couldn’t decide between two, they sometimes brought us both!

Here’s a picture of the two of them:

And here we are with them…

Oh! I almost forgot! Each night we would get a cool towel animal on our beds!

I had a great time, and I couldn’t have gone with any more wonderful people (Jeff and Jack excluded!). We all got along great and can’t wait to do it again! I was definitely sad for it to be over, and I miss not getting to spend so much time with them. 🙁 I guess we’ll have to start planning our new trip!

This entry was posted on Monday, March 3rd, 2008 at 8:41 pm and is filed under General shenanigans. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.