Finally A Fun First

So my attempt at doing exciting new things this year got off to a slow start.  I have done a few small things  but nothing worth writing about.  Things changed last week :)  I went on my very first cruise.  I had been waiting for this trip since September. The months leading up to my trip were fun and exciting.  I had three friends lined up and ready to go.  Things were going great and time was winding down.  I refused to let the Italian cruise ship wreck scare me.  I was like that was a freak accident  not going to happen on my cruise.   Then when the kid fell to his death on the same ship I was set to sail on  I got a little scared  but was determined I was going and would have fun.  Then one of my friends cancelled.  It was sad that she changed her mind  but fortunately I had another friend that wanted to go.  So off we go to the Bahamas.

My long time friend and I decided to spend the night in Charleston the day before the cruise.  It was great  we had a nice drive from Charlotte talking and giggling all the way.  We had so much fun just like always.  She was excited since it was her first trip to Charleston.  We checked in our hotel and spent the afternoon shopping.  Shopping is our favorite thing ever.  I was a little challenged in the direction department trying to walk to the restaurant I wanted to eat, so we ended up having fast food.  But again we were having so much fun it didn't even matter.  We did make it safely back to the hotel where we met a long time online friend of mine for drinks.   That led to a couple of hours of chit chat and uncontrollable laughter.  After a very long fun filled day  it was bed time.  I was so excited the cruise was in a few hours.

We wake up bright and early get dressed pack up everything and check out.  We were very surprised to step outside to 30 degree temps.  Needless to say I was not prepared.  I had a suitcase full of clothes for a warm Caribbean cruise. What was a girl to do but hop in the car drive across the Cooper River Bridge  and what else  go SHOPPING!!!!   Two hours later heading back across the bridge to head for the ship.  That turned into more laughter and a little traffic drama.  I took a wrong turn, police sent me around the world to get right back where we started.  Finally made our way through the maze of orange traffic cones, paid the $75.00 parking fee, tagged all our luggage, drove through the maze again and parked.  I'm really excited now  I can see the ship in the distance.  Boarding was much easier than parking. While standing in line to have our boarding pics taken  our other two friends arrived.  It was the first time all day we were all together.  Finally made it on board.

We were all very excited when we stepped into the main lobby.  It was like a floating Las Vegas.  We quickly made our way to our cabins hoping to find our luggage waiting.  Of course it wasn't there, so we heading back up to the deck.  It was still freezing  but we were already having a blast.  We had lunch on the deck and took a few pictures. Finished lunch, the security briefing and we set sail around 4:30.  Let the fun begin.  The first night was great   good dinner,  drinks, some dancing then off to bed.  It was a long day.  Tuesday at sea was great too.  We got up early had breakfast on the deck, spent the day exploring the ship and people watching.  Tuesday night we dressed for the captain's dinner and a fun night of dancing.  Wednesday we docked in Freeport.  We had planned an excursion to a local resort.  It sounded more fun on paper than it actually was.  There was nothing to do but lay on the beach or by the pool.  That was fine for two hours  but our excursion lasted 5 hours so needless to say I was bored.  Returned to the ship in the afternoon called my family because I was missing them now.  Had a great dinner  but the rest of the night was a total bust.  There was absolutely nothing to do on board.  There were too many kids running around and none of the bars on board were open.  I was in bed by 10.  We spent Thursday in Nassau.  That was a lot of fun and more shopping. Friday last day at sea,  weather was great, lunch was great, dinner was great  but I was ready for home.

We made it safely back to port on Saturday morning.  Debarkment went smooth  but it was horrible dragging all our luggage from the ship to the car. I was a little disappointed that there was not as many things  to do on board, but overall I had a great time.  I've never been anywhere outside the U.S.  and I know technically the Bahamas is not that far away  but it was something new for me.  I have the travel bug now  and I'm already planning another cruise in the next 12 months.  I'm also trying to talk my hubby into a 3 week vacation to drive cross country next year.