Cruisin' the Pacific!

I figured that most of the reason that I have published my life online is to show off the things that I’m doing. So it’s only appropriate that I insert a little summary of my recient cruise.
The cruise started 4 days ealier for me. I had to pack with luggage for not only the cruise, but also for camping where we went to pink coral sand dunes state park in southern Utah. There was some hiking and climbing and other exciting things. We rolled down a huge mountain of sand where I ended up with sand everywhere imaginable. The sand there seemed to stick to every inch of my skin which was quite amazing.


The first night we stayed off the beaten path where we found a level piece of ground to park a tent. The next night though, we realized we could use a nice shower as well as a real bathroom and running water, so the second night, we stayed at a camp ground.

We then drove through to St. George for church, Vegas to stop and say hi to friends, and then it was on to LA. We stayed with the parents of some friends and by noon the next day we were playing on the beach and dipping our feet in the ocean as well as a little sand volleyball.

We boarded the boat around 2:30 pm. Everything seemed to go smoothly. Dan hadn’t been feeling well so they had him go to a back where they checked his temperature. But we successfully boarded the ship. I went and found my room to drop off my luggage and then went almost immediately to the Lido Deck dining room where the food buffet was located. This was the place that I could go to get food anytime I wanted, and I really mean anytime! It was a beautiful thing. From there, most of that night was spent wandering. I didn’t sleep well the night before so I was tired and decided to take a nap around 8. Dan said he would come by and wake me up for an evening of fun. Well, I ended up sleeping through the night. I found out the next day that I had missed out on a night of dancing and partying. Most of the adventure was having the swing dancers in our group (which our group consisted of 18 people, 4 were guys, the rest girls, and just over half of the group were swing dancers) went and danced late. I really do wish I had been there. I woke up the next day and went to breakfast again in the dining room (which was the same routine for each morning).

Each day was unique, but did have similar things that happened. The main one being dinner. The first night (Monday), we asked them to seat 11 of us. We waited a few minutes, and while waiting, listened to a guy sing some Bob Marley.

Then we were taken in and sat at a table right at the front of the dining room. This ended up being the table and waiter that served us dinner every night. We really liked all the servers and appreciated their enthusiasm and sharp wit they shared with us.

The second day, we were anchored off the coast of Catalina Island. After breakfast, we took a small boat to the island. The weather was cool and beautiful. The sun was out just enough that it wasn’t too hot and not too cool. We wandered around the city for a while looking at many of the little shops and bought different little touristy things. I also bought some Dramamine because of the constant rocking. We played a lot on the beach with the volleyball and frisbee.

I took a lot of pictures trying to get good pictures of everyone involved at least once, then I realized that, wearing normal clothes wasn’t smart to do, so I rolled up my sleeves to see if I can make the farmers tan into more of a farmers transition. We played and soaked up the sun and it was amazing.

We went back to the ship and ate dinner and the evening wasn’t too eventful. I chatted with a couple of the girls a little that night and was in bed by midnight.

On the third day (Wednesday) I went out and spent some time in the hot tub while some of the girls sat out in the sun getting a little more tan. I ate probably 4 more times randomly throughout the day. I spent probably 2 hours at the pool. It wasn’t really warm out by the pool, but being in the hot water it was nice. I went to shower and the others in the party were dancing with the jazz band again. I missed their first set because I was showering, but when I came back, I was fresh and extremely ready to dance. So I took the opportunity to dance my heart out and it got extremely hot and I was quite sweaty but the dancing was amazing. The band kept playing very fast songs so it made it hard to keep up, but we had planned to have lessons so as people began to gather around to watch, we would invite them into our reserved room to teach them how to dance.

The lessons were fun to watch (and to teach for those who taught) and other passengers would often stop us and tell us that they had been practicing in their rooms or other places. It was great. Dan even admitted to being a star on the ship being stopped by many different people who instantly recognized him as the dancer from the first day of the cruise. That evening was dinner as usual and a few other activities and then I went to bed. I was tired after getting sun burned. Next time I sit in the sun like that, I’m thinking I will want to wear sun screen.
Day four consisted of more hot tub soaking where I met people who had been on many many cruises before and taught me how to find cheap cruises. There was more dancing, and some teaching (that I wasn’t there for) and I ended up taking a nap for a little bit as well.

Many of my evenings were spent walking around the ship looking over the water behind the ship and feeling the wind blowing up over the front of the ship. I took a few pictures of the night sky that captured the feeling of what it was really like to look out over the ocean and see no land at all but to soak up the pure serenity.

Overall, I had a phenomenal experience on this Carnival Cruise. From the meals to the showers, everything was wonderful. Every staff member that I came across seemed more than happy to help and fully willing to get me what I needed. I came to my room every night to a towell animal on my bed.

If I had my choice, I would take a cruise every summer. It was an experience that I will never forget. In the end, the thing that made it most amazing was the incredible group of friends that went. I hope they all know how much I love and appreciate all of them.