Saturday, June 15, 2019

Let's Cruise!


Last week my best friend, Lauren, and I took our annual best friend trip. In 2018, we went to London (you can ask me how that went) and this year we decided to do something fun…. A CRUISE!

We boarded the Carnival Freedom for eight days of salty air in our hair, lots of laughter, excitement and the thrill of traveling again. Our cruise was AMAZING! We had very little complaints throughout the week. When we first boarded the boat we had a little mishap with our room but the manager Bianca took wonderful care of us. Our cruise had so many components to it and I cannot wait to share with y’all . The days went as followed:
Day 1: Leave Texas
Day 2: Sea Day 1
Day 3: Sea Day 2
Day 4: Dock in Honduras
Day 5: Dock in Belize
Day 6: Dock in Mexico
Day 7: Sea Day
Day 8: Back in Texas

Day 1: We decided to drive down from our home to the port which was a short drive compared to many who flew or drove 30 hours. We stopped at our favorite gas station BUCEE’s and grabbed some snacks and drinks for the road. When we got to port, we parked our car, grabbed our gear, and walked to the boat. After handing off our bags, we boarded the boat and ate some lunch at the buffet. When we were finally allowed to go to our room we jumped at the opportunity. Our room was a cute little exterior room on the second deck with a twin bed, a couch bed, two windows, a vanity, three closets, and a little bathroom. It had plenty of space for the two of us. After unpacking, we ended up walking around the ship and getting to know the important places (food, drinks, games, theater, and pools). We met our fab cruise director, Emma, from England and a few other wonderful people working on board. We watched our first show in the theater (Welcome Aboard), ate dinner, and ended the night with lots of laughter. 


Day 2: Our first sea day was eye-opening. We have a morning meeting with Emma who explained all the fun events on board for the day. She gave us helpful suggestions about things to do and see and how to get around the ship easily. I have to say that Emma really knew how to gain an audience’s attention. I thought she would have made an amazing kindergarten teacher and that’s what she use to do! We thought about heading to the pool on our first day but decided not to and joined a bunch of games and shows throughout the day. That night we sat down and watched the Love Aboard show. It was really cute for couples. We decided to hit a (PG) comedy show by the famous Chaz. It was a fun first day on the sea.
Day 3: Man oh man, is it nice to be able to sleep in and not have an alarm turned on. We went to the morning show once again and loved laughing along with Emma. Lauren and I decided to brave the sun and tan for a bit. Since it was a sea day, everyone was out and about at the pools and hot tubs. So I do not know about you, but I honestly feel like hotties are useless during the summer time. Since we were in the middle of the Carribean, they should be cooling tubs, not hot tubs. Anyways, we went and found a spot to lay out with a beautiful view of the water. We were out for about an hour and both got roasted. Needless to say, we spent the rest of the day indoors. The show tonight was an 80’s Pop to the Max. It was filled with popular songs from the ’80s and I have to say it was a great show. 

Day 4: Today was the day we had been waiting for. Or rather the day that I had been waiting for. We docked at Roatan Bay, Honduras and took a bus for about an hour to Anthony Key’s Resort. Our small group of 8 had the privilege to have a dolphin action swim. Now I have been swimming with dolphins before (in Cancun) and loved every second of it. This time was so different. All of the dolphins are bred at the resort and trained with trainers who know that they are doing. They are in little bays with ocean access when given. These little lagoons are right off the ocean which gives the Dolphins a feel of living in the ocean. I loved seeing how huge the lagoons were for the dolphins. They are given so much space to live in. When our turn for the action swim came, they allowed the two of us to experience the dolphins together and alone. We were given about an hour in the water with the dolphins. They took pictures the entire time and had a package ready to purchase at the end of the event. The resort had several other dolphin experiences but I feel like the one we had was the best one. We were able to swim with them, learn about our two boys (the dolphins), and did not feel squished by people around us. I recommend this excursion to anyone going to Roatan Bay in Honduras! When we finished with the excursion the two of us did some shopping, picture taking, and went back to the boat to eat lunch. See we planned it just right so we would not have to pay for any extra food on the trip and saved big. The show this night was a fun family game show from Hasbro. It was so fun to see people chosen from the audience to jump on stage and play along. Once again Emma made the show with her cute jokes and fun personality. 



Day 5: Belize was the one place I have not been to (on this cruise anyway) and I was excited about seeing a new country. We docked early and gathered together in the theater with everyone going on an excursion. We had to be water shuttled to the island and bused for an hour to Chukka where our excursion was. Lauren was so excited for this day (as was I but dolphin swimming beat everything for me) and when we got there we were not disappointed. Our tour guide Willie was hysterical. You could tell he really loved his job and showing people around his beautiful country. He even taught us a little bit of their language (Creole) in the bus ride over there. When we got to Chukka, Willie, told our group to show off and be loud and proud to be apart of the group. Every time our group name was called (you can ask me the name), our group cheered and hollered loudly. Chukka housed many excursions that the cruise was apart of. We did a private cave tour, lunch, and zip lining. Now it was not really hot (it was in the 80s) but it was 100 percent humidity. We got to zip line first going through five lines at various heights and then we did the private cave tour. They split us into a small group of 6 or 8 for our cave tour. Our group of 6 were led by Jorge and he had a plethora of knowledge about the cave. The spring fed water in the dark cool cave was a nice welcome to our hot and humid selves. The tour went by quickly and before we knew it we were in line for Belizian beans, rice, and chicken then back on the bus. The show on the boat that night was my second favorite one yet - Carribean Dream. It got everyone in the mood for Mexico the next morning. 



Day 6: We docked in Cozumel, Mexico with three other Carnival boats. Before leaving the boat, we grabbed breakfast and to our surprise, the crew had placed a towel animal on all the lounge chairs on the deck. Over 100 towel animals filled our view and all so very different. We decided to not do an excursion and just shop around and chill on the boat. So we grabbed our freebies, souvenirs, t-shirts, and headed back to the boat. This was the day I was finally able to test out the water slides on the boat. The other days the lines have been so long. Lauren and I were one of the few people on the boat and it was really nice to grab lunch and chill by the pool without a mass of people around. The show that night was a piano melody mixture followed by a glow out party on the deck with friends and other passengers. Such a fun filled night!



Day 7: This was our final day on the boat. We had another sea day as we headed back to Texas. We slept in after our fun late night and watched the debarkation information show. We supported St. Jude’s children hospital while lounging at the pool. It was a chill day for everyone while they got ready to get back to reality. That night was my favorite show out of all of them. All the shows were really well done but tonight’s show took the cake. They did a lip-sync battle between two cruise passengers who auditioned at the beginning of the week. Ironically we found out that morning both passengers were professionals. One was a professional hip-hop dancer and danced with the Rockets at times as well as internationally. The other was a Singer who is releasing her first album this fall. They are both so talented that it made the show like the real LSB on TV. The show crew, Emma and Neil (our Bingo director) had their own versions of ’90s and ’80s hit LSB as well before they announced the winner. It was a perfect end to a great week. 

     Needless to say, the Carnival Freedom crew made our vacation. From fixing small problems to making us laugh and interacting with the passengers, you could tell they loved what they did. I know people who have gone on cruise’s before where the director was not so interactive and fun or the crew was rude, but that was not our case. Our room steward called us by name and made sure we had everything we needed throughout the cruise. The excursions that we booked through the cruise were well directed and had us worry free. They cared about the safety of all passengers and knew we all wanted to have fun. I highly recommend a cruise for people who want to go and have fun and not worry about anything. I loved our week on the cruise and loved spending some time with Lauren. Happy 21st girl!!