This past July a bunch of friends and family got together to go on a cruise and we had a GREAT time! We sailed on the Carnival Elation to Bahamas. We stopped at Half Moon Cay and Nassau and then had two days at sea. We ported out of Jacksonville, Florida and had an interesting drive there and back. HA!
We met up with everyone Sunday evening at our hotel in Jacksonville, and then Monday morning headed out to JaxPort to board the ship.
I'd say we were able to get a pretty close parking spot! Our boarding time was around 10:30, but we got their a little bit early and was able to go through the boarding process and get on the ship pretty fast!
We were one of the first people on the boat, but in know time, it filled up fast! The pool remained crowded like this the entire time, with the exception of our two days in port.
Our first meals of the ship were at Guy's Burger Joint and the Blue Igauna Cantina. Those were probably my fave places to eat and I'm pretty sure I had a burrito bowl every day for lunch!
Around 4:00 we joined the Sail Away party and watched as the boat left port and go under the bridge!
Tuesday was a day at sea, so we all had the Tuesday morning brunch wearing our matching shirts for our group picture and family pictures. There was about 35 of us on the cruise!
Wednesday morning we our day at Half Moon Cay, Carnival private island. This day was fantastic! Heather and I made sure we were on the first tender off the boat 9:00 a.m. and had tickets around 8:30 a.m. We had to develop a plan of action the night before! We spent the entire 7 hours out on the beach. The weather was beautiful. It wasn't too hot and there was a nice breeze. And the water...oh my that water! It definitely was paradise!
Heather had us on a 10 miles trek to the less crowded section of the island. I'm glad she did too! It was nice!
We were also on the last tender off the island back to the boat. I could of stayed there forever!
On our days at sea, I spent the majority of my day at the back of the boat on the Serenity deck. It definitely was nice! You had to be over 21 to be back there, so there was no kids. And for the most part, with the except of a few loud ones in our group, it was nice and quite and just peaceful. I spent our entire last day at sea back there. Well with the exception of the hour and a half I was at the spa getting a hot stone massage!
On Thursday we were at the Nassau port. Shawn and I had planned on spending the day at the British Colonial Hilton resort with some day passes we bought, however Shawn got burnt to a crisp the day before at Half Moon Cay and really didn't want to be out in the sun baking again. I understand. We canceled our passes and only lost out on our deposit. We spent a couple of hours walking from the ship into Nassau and around the straw market before realizing how hot it was and that we wanted to just get in the pool on the ship. It was nice too because there was hardly anyone on the boat and we had it to ourselves for a bit.
Once again we had lunch at Guy's and the Blue Igauna. Do you like our $36 souvenir cups with drinks? HAHA!!
Saturday morning we were up bright and early to pack everything and headed off the ship. We had a great time with a great group of friends and are already booked for another cruise next year!
