Date 55 - I Need a Vacation!

Date: Sunday, September 2, 2012 - Sunday, September 9, 2012
Type: Vacation
Cost: $$$$$
Planned By: Dani & Adam

Adam and I went on our very first family vacation. We decided to take another cruise because we had such a good time on our honeymoon and they are relatively inexpensive. We had quite and action packed vacation on the Carnival Pride, but I will just give you the highlights.

Day 1: We drove to Baltimore where the ship was leaving from. We went straight to the buffet and hung out on the lido deck. We had our first dinner that night in the main dining room and it was as delicious as I was expecting. That night at the Welcome Aboard Adam was chosen to perform on stage. Every one on stage had to be married and really love their wife. There were 5 men on stage and each had to demonstrate their best Tarzan. Adam was the best.. and not because I'm biased, but because he yelled like Tarzan, did a somersault and swung from an invisible vine. It was awesome. The other guys just yelled like Tarzan. It was up to the audience who would win. It was down to Adam and another guy. Sadly, this guy had like 30 very loud family members in the audience and won.

Day 2: We spent a lot of time in the sun. I entered the Master Mixologist competition. I chose to make a Sour Patch Margarita. I called it "My Sour Sweetie" and it was delicious. It has 2 oz Tequila, 1/2 oz melon liqueur, 1/2 oz triple sec, 1 oz sour mix, 1 oz orange juice. I didn't win but I got a free drink and a coupon for $5.75 off another drink! Totally worth it.

Day 3: Adam and I participated in the Digital Scavenger hunt. There was a list of stuff to do around the ship and gets pictures of it. We won that one. We got Mardi Gras beads. We also went to a meet and greet with Cruise Critic forum members. We got an open bar for an hour and sat around and talked with some nice people. It was fun!

Day 4: HARRY POTTER WORLD! One of the main reasons we took this cruise was because it stopped in Port Canavarel and we really wanted to go to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure to see The Wizarding World of Harry Potter! It was amazing and totally worth the outrageous price. We loved it! We went on all the rides, walked through all the shops, ate at the Three Broomsticks and got a beer at the Hogs Head. We also had time for the rest of the park which was great because there were a lot of cool rides!

Day 5: We explored Atlantis and Paradise Island in Nassau, The Bahamas! Neither of us had ever been to the Bahamas. It is a beautiful island. Atlantis was huge. We spent most of the time in the Casino where Adam finally found a casino game he liked, machine black jack. He was really good at it, too. Cabbage Beach was just around the corner from Atlantis and was a free public beach. There were tons of cruisers there. It was a beautiful beach. We swam and laid out. After being beach bums we went to Senor Frogs and participated in the party! That night on the ship I participate in Super Star Live karaoke. Super Star Live is karaoke with a live band. I sang California Gurls by Katy Perry. It was really cool singing with band, but I think I was a little out of tune because I couldn't hear myself over the band.

Day 6: The ship landed a Freeport on Grand Bahama island. We were only there until 1:30 in the afternoon so we checked out the shops in the port and hung out on the ship. We relaxed most of the day and then that night was the second formal night. We got dressed up, went to all the available ship photographers, and went to dinner. We loved pretending to be models during the entire cruise. We probably took around 100 photos and only chose to buy one from this night. After dinner we went to two comedy shows, one family friendly and one adults only. I got a picture with one of the more famous comedians, Rob Little. I was pretty excited for that, and he was hilarious!

Day 7: Our last day and it was entirely at sea. We started out the morning by watching the cruise director's morning show. I called in with the phrase of the day because I know they send you something and we wanted to see what it was. We went to the towel animal folding demonstration and two shows in the Taj Mahal theater, Broadway 2.0 and Carnival Legends. These two shows were our favorites of the week because they were less showy and more spontaneous and fun. We also took the Gally Tour. The Gally is where the dining room staff prepares the thousands of meals. It was huge! We played mini golf, laid out, relaxed and enjoyed our final day of vacation. After dinner we returned to our room to find our prize for calling in to the morning show. It was a 24K Golden Plastic Ship on a Stick!!!!! The thing we had been trying to get all week! Adam got one on our previous cruise so we were determined to get another one. Mission Accomplished!

This vacation was amazing. I couldn't have asked for anything better. We had a wonderful time and met some really nice people. I would totally recommend a Carnival Cruise to everyone.