My First Cruise to the Bahamas
By:  Kelly
kellyccz@hotmail.com

Friday, June 15^th – We left our hotel and headed to the Port of Miami around 11:30 a.m.  After one wrong turn, we did make it there – around Noon.  We paid our $30 (CASH ONLY) and parked.  After getting our luggage up to the building, a porter came to get our luggage and take it to the ship for us; we tipped him $5 for 5 bags.  We entered the building and were given some forms to fill out for customs for the Bahamas.  We also got another Sail & Sign Application for Debi, as we wanted separate accounts.  After filling out the forms, we went into the next area and got in line for check-in.  It was a sizable line and we were in it for about 45 minutes to an hour before we finally got to check-in.  But, I will say, we made the most of our time waiting.  We spent the time meeting and talking to our fellow passengers.  We made a lot of friends in line! 

Once we made it to a check-in agent, she processed both of us in about 3 minutes, and we were headed down the hall onto the ship.  Right before you head down the hall, you pick up your key to your room, and then you have our picture taken before stepping onto the ship.  We got on board and set out first to find our room.  We were on the Empress Deck – in the aft of the ship (E-240).  As we entered our room, we found our other friend, Selma (who had booked her air through Carnival and had been transported by them to the ship), had already arrived.  We hadn’t seen each other in a year, so it was a nice reunion. We spent a few minutes checking out our room and putting some of our things away.  The view from our picture window was wonderful – looking directly out the back of the ship.  After that, we went up to the Lido Deck and ordered our first drink (Drink of the Day).  Actually, I think we ended up ordering a few drinks before too long. 

We went to the Lunch Buffet at the Coconut Bar & Grill, which was pretty good.  We had Beef Bourginonne (Sp?) and rice with grilled vegetables.  After lunch, we went and changed into our swimsuits and then went back up to the Lido Deck for some drinks & sunbathing.  I tried my first Miami Vice and fell in love!  Not that I didn’t sample several other drinks for the sake of fairness!  But, Miami Vice remains one of my favorites.  We did a lot of mingling while on deck with several of the people we had met earlier in the day when in line checking-in.  Our lifeboat drill was at 4:00 and was one of our least favorite parts of the trip. I know it is a necessary thing, but we spent a lot of time waiting for them to get their stuff together, as a lot of people took too long to get to their station.  Those lifejackets get pretty hot around your neck and can be kind of constricting if you are in the least bit claustrophobic, as I am.   Luckily, this whole event only took a half an hour out of our day.

For dinner, we were scheduled for the 8:00 seating.  When we originally booked the cruise, there were only 2 seatings – 6:00 and 8:00 – and we chose 8:00.  But, now the Fascination has 4 seatings; the Imagination Dining Room has the Main Seating at 5:45 p.m., and the Late Seating at 8:00 p.m.  The Sensation Dining Room had its Main Seating at 6:30 p.m. and the Late Seating at 8:45 p.m.  Overall, we were happy with our 8:00 p.m. seating – we were able to make most all of the activities with this seating – it didn’t seem to interfere with too much. 

The first night dinner went well.  We were seated at a table for 10 – it was the 3 of us, a family of 5 (mother, father, daughter and 2 sons – all over the age of 12) and 2 other single women.  At first, we were a little leery about being seated with a family, we had been hoping to be seated with other singles, but this family was wonderful and seemed to be entertained by our senses of humor (thank goodness!) 

Our waiter was Ralph (American) and I don’t have a whole lot to say that’s nice about him.  He was cordial at first, but never really went out of his way for us.  I have never had lobster and so I ordered it for the first time – and I asked for the prime rib also – I wanted them to be brought at the same time.  Ralph told me he would bring the lobster first and when I was finished, then he would bring the prime rib.  He never really smiled for us or had any conversation with any of us at the table that didn’t involve taking our orders.  But, we put him out of our minds, because we weren’t letting anyone or anything ruin our vacation!! 

As for the dinner, I did not like the lobster, nor did anyone else at our table – it was a little tough and tasted pretty “fishy”.  The prime rib, on the other hand, was excellent. I ordered the chocolate mousse for dessert, but before it arrived, my friends and I had been invited to join some gentlemen at another table for drinks and even though we requested it, Ralph never did see that we got our desserts at the other table.  We later found out from our tablemates that we really didn’t miss much – it was just 2 small dollops of the mousse on a plate.  We ended up in the Diamonds Disco at 11:30 p.m. for the Adult Singles Party, which got pretty rowdy with various games and dancing.  Then it was into the Sensation Dining Room at 12:30 a.m. for the Gala Midnight Buffet.  There were fruits, cheeses and meats, and desserts galore.  After sampling nearly all of the desserts though, I have to say that they were much prettier to look at than anything else. They did not taste bad, but they weren’t the best I’ve ever had either.  We headed to check out the Casino next where we tried some slots, Caribbean Stud Poker, and Blackjack (while of course having a few more drinks).  We finally went to bed at 4:30 a.m.

Saturday, June 16^th – The ship docked in Nassau (New Providence Island at 8:00 a.m.)  We woke up at 8:30 a.m., and headed to the Buffet Breakfast in the Coconut Bar & Grill.  They had scrambled eggs, French toast, pancakes, sausage, bacon, hash browns, and an omelet station.  After eating, we gathered up our stuff and headed off the ship for our day in port.  We were on our “vacation high” still when disembarking in Nassau and unfortunately, let ourselves fall for one of the tour offers. The man said for $25, he would take us on a tour of the island (he demonstrated on a map he was holding tracing a route all around the entire island of New Providence) – he promised to show us both the rich and poor sections of the island, the historical areas – where he said we would be allowed to get out and take pictures.  He said we would be allowed to do some shopping and then we would be taken out to Paradise Island and given a tour of Atlantis.  At the end of the tour we would have the option of being dropped off back at the ship, in downtown Nassau, or at Cable Beach at Atlantis on Paradise Island.  We found the cabby’s description of the tour to be a little lacking.  He did drive us around the poor section of town (the slums), but we never saw any rich areas.  We did see a few historical sites such as the courthouse, some government buildings, and the Governor’s Mansion, but we did not stop to take any pictures here.  We did stop at The Fort and The Queen’s Staircase, where there were a few locals set up with their wares.  We were handed off to another gentleman who took us up to the Fort and told us all about the history of it for about 5 minutes.  He then wanted a tip from us for this.  They tried to rush us through our “shopping” --- looking at the things the locals were offering.  One of the women jumped on them for this though, telling him they need to make a living too, and that they should quit trying to hurry people away from them.  As it turns out, this was the only historical place we would stop at for pictures, and the only place we would be allowed to do any shopping at on this tour.  We were then taken to Atlantis for the tour, which was the nicest part of the tour. 

At the end, we opted to be dropped at Cable Beach, where we spend the better part of the day.  The beach there was beautiful.  We brought snorkel equipment we had rented for $10 on the ship, but there were plenty of other things to do on the beach – parasailing, jet skiing, and “banana boating” – all for fairly reasonable prices – all you had to do was haggle a bit.  We stuck to our snorkeling, swimming in the gorgeous water and sunbathing.  We ate lunch at one of Atlantis’ outdoor restaurants. It had really good food, but you paid for it – I paid $12.50 for a Bacon Cheeseburger, fries and a Large Coke.  I will say it was a huge burger though and the fries were very good too. 

It was hard to leave the beach when it was time for us to head back to the ship for formal night.  This is one change I would suggest to Carnival – to change formal night to the “Day at Sea” so that you aren’t interfering with time you could be enjoying the sites of whatever Port you happen to be in.  There were taxis waiting for us when we got off the beach and we were taken back to the ship for $3/person.  We got back to the ship and took turns in the shower (very impressed with the fact that we all had hot water for our showers – although the pressure was a little lacking).  After we all had showered, dressed, and done our hair and make-up (which is quite a task for 3 women sharing a room), we headed to formal night dinner. 

On the way, we stopped at several of the areas to have our portraits done.  Dinner was very good.  I had the Gazpacho (Very Good!) for starters and for an appetizer – the Duck (Excellent!). For my main entrée, I went with the Beef Wellington – It was so delicious, I ordered a second plate of it.  For dessert, we all had the Cherries Jubilee, which was good.  The waiters that night all lined up, paraded around the room to their assigned areas and sang “Oh Solo Mio” (Sp?).  It was pretty good, but some of the waiters didn’t look too excited about doing it.  We did want to see the Karaoke, but missed most of it due to our dining time, as the Karaoke was scheduled from 8:30 – 10:00 p.m. 

We headed to the Deck Party at 11:00 on the Lido Deck, but left promptly when we saw only about 5 or 6 people there (we later found out it had picked up significantly about a half an hour after that).  We then went to the Diamonds are Forever disco and where there was more dancing and games.  After about 45 minutes there, we were off to the casino again.  I spent about ten bucks on the slots, but quickly became disillusioned with them and moved to a Blackjack table for the remainder of the night.  I have to give my utmost compliments to the Casino Staff – especially the “Pit Bulls” as they informed us they were called.  They were all extremely helpful.  I knew how to play Blackjack, but had never gambled at it before.  One of the Pit Bulls (I cannot remember his name unfortunately) took me to a table and helped me get started – he went over the rules with me and helped me out through several hands until I was comfortable before he left me on my own.  And even then, the dealers were great – you can ask them for advice at any time and they will tell you what the odds are and what they think you should do.  I walked in that night with $50 ($10 of which I spent on slots to no avail) and left with $70 (this was on a $5 table), so I did pretty well.  We met up in the casino with some guys we had become friends with – and we all decided to head back into Nassau to go to a club.  We paid a cabbie $3 to take us to “Bahama Boom”, which he recommended to us.  The cover charge was normally $20, but we were able to purchase a pass from the cabbie for $5, which took care of the cover.  We stayed at the club for an hour and a half or so before going back to the ship.  It was about 3:00 a.m. when we left the club and we had wanted to go back to the beach and hang out for awhile, but we were told the last cabs available to bring us back to the ship stopped operating at 4:00 a.m., so we just went back to the ship and had some drinks on deck.  It was about 5:30 a.m. when we finally went to bed. 

Sunday, June 17^th – Day At Sea - After waking up around 9:00 a.m. (I never thought it possible to exist on so much alcohol and so little sleep before!) we opted for the Breakfast Buffet again at the Coconut Bar & Grill).  We spent most of this day in our swimsuits on the Lido Deck, sunbathing and going for dips in the pool.  We had chosen excellent deck chairs for laying out and watching the day’s activities. 

After watching the ice carving demonstration, they announced the upcoming “Hairy Chest Contest”.  One of my friends and I were joking around with each other about how we could get to be judges for this.  About 5 minutes later, the Emcee asks for 2 female volunteers.  Debi bolted out of her seat and up to the center deck.  I wasn’t far behind but saw another woman headed the same direction as me.  The Emcee says, “we need one more volunteer --- the next person up here…” and I received a surge of energy from the heavens above and beat her up there.  So there we were in front of the whole ship, with the esteemed job of judging the “Hairy Chest Contest”.  We felt very honored.  I must say, the men really got into it too.  They started on a higher platform of the deck and came down the stairs, one by one, to music.  They all did a wonderful job of dancing and strutting down the flight of stairs and across the deck to us, where we did the tough job of feeling their chests and scoring them all.  The Emcee told us privately that we were the best judges they had ever had.  He said we were really getting into it and taking it very seriously.  It was very nice and we were proud to hear this.  We judged on texture, shape, and volume.  We also factored in their showmanship with the dancing and other moves.  We ended up with a 5-way tie of men who had all scored 8.0.  So, we had a dance off.  Debi and I stood at the center while the guys circled around us dancing and flexing their muscles to show off their chests to us.  In the end, a gentleman named Steve won – he is a paramedic/firefighter from New York City who we actually had met the first day in line!  He won a 24 karat gold plated plastic ship on a stick trophy.  I argued that we, as judges, should receive that day’s video diary for free, but I was talking to deaf ears, and ended up paying the $35 to order it myself, and it should arrive here at my house in about 5 more weeks.  

We spent most of the day hanging out with a bunch of our gentleman friends on board from a Brewing Company who got all they could drink for free (and, by extension, all WE could drink for fee) from their company.  We just hung out relaxing in the sun and mingling with each other.  I ended up having pizza for dinner that night – but don’t worry, I did not stiff the waiter and busboy for their tips – I went to the Purser’s Desk the next day and saw to it that their tips would get to them.  I dined on a liquid lunch that day (consisting mostly of Miami Vices!).  I went up to the topless deck with one of my friends and we were feeling a little wild, so we went for it and took off our tops!  That only lasted about 5 minutes and there was only one other person up there, but we did it!  We went to our rooms around 10:00 to get all of our stuff packed to have outside our rooms by midnight.  I had brought neon orange duct tape with me and put stripes on all sides of my 2 suitcases and garment bag.  Then we went to the Puttin on the Ritz Lounge for the Late Night Comedy Show with Dave Miller.  I have to say, I was thoroughly impressed.  He was terrific!  This show was definitely R-Rated, but I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard, for so long.  I would highly recommend seeing this show!  We went to the Beverly Hills Bar for drinks after the show.  It was about 4:00 a.m. when we finally went to bed that night.

Before I go on, I don’t want to forget our Cabin Steward – Bambang. He was wonderful.  We saw him a few times during the trip.  He didn’t speak a whole lot of English, but he took care of us well.  The first night we left the room in a bit of disarray and when we returned later on, we thought we had walked into the wrong room.  He had completely cleaned up our room – it was immaculate!  We had a bunny towel animal on the bed the second day and a monkey towel animal hanging in the window the third day.  They were very cute and couldn’t have been the easiest animals to make.  I tipped him more than necessary at the end of the trip because I was very impressed with his efforts.

Also, there were several very good movies showing on the television in our rooms, although we never took the time to watch any of them – Castaway, Legend of Bagger Vance, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Panic, Dungeons & Dragons, State & Main, Little Vampire.

Monday, June 18^th – We woke up around 8:00 a.m. and got ready.  We did our last sweep of the room to be sure we weren’t forgetting anything. We headed to the Breakfast Buffet for the last time at the Coconut Bar & Grill around 8:30 a.m.  We had to be to our Disembarkation Station by 9:15.  Ours was the Lido Deck, which we were very familiar with by that point!  We waited there for about 45 minutes just hanging out before our color was called, along with 2 or 3 other colors to get in line to disembark.  It took about 30 minutes from the time we were called to go through the line down all the stairs past all the decks to the bottom and into the area where all of the luggage was.  The Neon Duct Tape was a wonderful idea – I was THE ONLY PERSON who did this.  There were people with colored ribbons or ropes around their luggage handle, but with a warehouse sized area full of luggage for 2000 people, spotting something on a luggage handle wasn’t that easy.  I spotted my luggage immediately the second I stepped into the luggage area.  All of my luggage was together too (it had to have been obvious to the luggage handlers that my stuff belonged together).  We gathered up our bags and headed to the exit door where we handed our customs declaration to the woman by the door who took it and stuck it in a box, and we left.  We said our goodbyes to our friend Selma, who was being transported by Carnival back to the airport for her flight home.  Debi and I then headed back to South Beach to hang out on the beach and have lunch.  My flight was scheduled to leave from Miami International Airport at 5:00, so Debi dropped me off around 3:00 and we said our goodbyes.

The depression hit me the next day when I woke up at home in my own bed with no one to clean my room for me and no one to bring me food.  It was really a letdown being back in reality again.  I immediately took my 5 rolls of film and dropped them off for Next Day Developing so I could have something to cling to.  This was my first cruise (and my first real vacation ever as an adult) and I couldn’t be happier with my choice.  There were a few things that went wrong – like our waiter and getting screwed with the whole tour thing, but they really didn’t matter all that much.  The fun I had was immeasurable and drowned out anything bad that happened.  I will never cruise with anyone but Carnival now.  They were wonderful and took excellent care of me!  In fact, as I write this review, I am already preparing for my next cruise.  My mother’s husband has offered to keep my boys for me so my mother and I can go on a cruise together.  So, my mother and I, and Debi, who went on this first cruise with me, and another friend of mine from work will be sailing on a 4-Day cruise March 3^rd – 7^th, 2002.  This is another Bahamas Cruise, but it goes to both Freeport and Nassau. We are very excited. This was the only thing that kept me from bottoming out in my depression – planning my next trip.  Now I will spend the next 250 days planning for this next cruise!

I know this review was long, but I promised a detailed one before I left.  If I left anything out, or there’s anything else anyone wants to know, please feel free to e-mail me and ask.  I’d be happy to answer anything.

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