4th Anniversary Trip -- Cruise to the Bahamas

Every year for our anniversary Brian and I like to go on an international trip to escape from the world for a bit and celebrate. Since we went to Europe in February we didn't want to go on another big trip, but still wanted to get away for a few days, so we ended up deciding on a short, 3 day cruise to the Bahamas. We were able to find a cruise that left on our actual anniversary, leaving from Port Canaveral (only about 2.5 hours from Jax), so we went with that one. It was on Carnival Cruise line, so it was a pretty reasonable price too. This was our first cruise, so we didn't really know what to expect, but we were up for the adventure and just looking forward to getting away together for a few days.

We started the day with a great breakfast at Metro Diner in downtown Jax and then hit the road, complete with a "4th Anniversary" playlist on our iPod.

While the first part of our cruise (before we even set sail) was a nightmare, and we didn't even know if we'd be able to go on the Cruise due to Carnival's mistake, we had a good time. You can read more about the fiasco here, but for this post, I'll focus on the actual cruise.

The ship we went on, Carnival Sensation, seemed a bit outdated. It looked like it was straight out of the 80's. Our room was pretty nice though; we opted for the ocean view room and were really glad we did. We think we would have felt too confined without the window. The bed was pretty comfortable too, so there really weren't any complaints about the room.

You're assigned a dinner time and table that you can choose to partake in, or you can go to one of the buffets. We were under the impression there were only large tables available and we'd have to sit with a bunch of strangers, but we got lucky and were able to get a table for two which was nice. The dining room is pretty bright and noisy so the ambiance isn't terrific.The food was pretty decent; not awesome, but decent. There was a pretty good selection at dinner. All of the food is included in the price of the cruise and alcohol is extra. You're allowed to each bring one bottle of wine or champagne per person on board, so the first night, on our anniversary, we payed the $10 corkage fee and had the wine we brought served at dinner. I also surprised Brian with a "Happy Anniversary" cake at dinner, and since the traditional gift for the fourth wedding anniversary is fruit and floral, I also surprised Brian with chocolate covered strawberries in the room, in addition to the floral board shorts I gave him earlier that day. I purchased the cake and fruit from the cruise's online store where you can purchase different items before you even set sail which is helpful for setting up surprises!  

We set sail around 4pm on Thursday evening and then arrived in Nassau, Bahamas at noon on Friday. We decided at the last minute to book the catamaran snorkeling cruise excursion and were really glad we did. As soon as we got off the ship in Nassau we were escorted to the catamaran and took off. We stopped near Rose Island and snorkeled for about an hour. The water was beautiful and the reef we snorkeled at was awesome as well. On the way back it turns into a bit of a "booze cruise" with music and all-you-can-drink rum punch. Overall we had a great time and are really glad we went.

It was about 4pm by the time we finished with the snorkeling trip, so after we walked around the Straw Market and downtown Nassau. It was a nice little stroll, but there really isn't a ton to see / do in downtown Nassau. We eventually made our way back to the ship in time for dinner. Since there wasn't much more for us in Nassau, we stayed on the ship for the rest of the evening. We went to one of the shows which was somewhat entertaining but a bit hokey, and also went to a comedy show which was actually pretty funny.

The next day was a day at sea so we had a lot of down time which was nice. There's an area on this particular ship called the Serenity Deck where only adults are allowed and they play relaxing music. The main part of the ship where the only pool is located was always crowded with a ton of people, usually had an announcer doing some sort of game with the audience, and had loud hip-hop music playing. Since we wanted to relax, we spent most of our time at the Serenity Deck. It was nice to have this lower-key option. (I realize that made me sound really old, but hey, we love our relaxation!) Both Brian and I felt like the days seemed so much longer during the cruise. It was extremely relaxing which is exactly what we wanted, so that was great.

Brian was concerned he'd get sea sick so he came prepared with Meclazine (comparable to Dramamine but it's not supposed to make you as drowsy) and Sea-Bands. Fortunately, he didn't need either and was just fine. The boat is so big you can't really tell you're on water. The only time that I felt the ship moving was when I was in the shower which was a bit odd.

We were scheduled to arrive back at Port Canaveral at 7am on Sunday. They offer different options for debarkment, one of which was a later departure time based on your cabin section (around 8:30am for us), so we were able to have breakfast on board and take our time leaving which worked out well.

We decided the best word to describe this particular cruise is "hokey". The decor was pretty bad, the shows weren't awesome, there were random pirates who came around at dinner trying to take a picture with you holding a sword to your neck, there were a ton of photo booths with terrible background options, and the "entertainment" was pretty silly. With all that said, we definitely made the most of it and really enjoyed getting away for a few days, disconnecting with the rest of the world, and just relaxing. We certainly won't be sailing with Carnival again, and I'm not sure we'd do a cruise this short where you spend most of the time on board and only go to one port. We're actually already talking about a cruise with our families over Thanksgiving on a different cruise line that will take us to four locations, so we'll see what we think about that experience...

Since we got off the ship so early we decided to take the scenic route home up the East Coast of Florida along U.S. 1 and A1A. Brian knew of several nice State Parks along the way so we pulled into a couple of those. We also stopped at a couple of local markets on the route and managed to find some boiled peanuts for the trip which makes any drive better! I think it took us a total of 6 hours to get home (including lunch in St. Augustine), but we really enjoyed taking our time exploring new areas since it's not something we get to do often.

And that's another anniversary trip in the books! I can't believe we'll be celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary on next year's trip...