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Another Stacy and Paul Adventure: Our Group Cruise on the Carnival Ecstasy!

stacycakes1

By stacycakes1,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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stacycakes1

stacycakes1

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Well hello my dear cruise critic friends! I'm back with a new adventure to share.

 

For those of you who are meeting me and my hubby for the first time, my name is Stacy (34) and my husband's name is Paul (34). We are both absolutely in love with cruising (and each other, tee hee) and I am so happy I get the chance to relive my cruise experience by sharing it with all of you.

 

A little background on Paul and I… We live in Logan Square, a neighborhood in Chicago, and we are always up for getting away from the cold weather and heading down south for a little rest and relaxation. We both work in the event/training industry. Paul is an AV geek and I am a training manager. We love to travel and both of us were ready for this cruise.

 

We are ready to set sail, arggggggg...

IMG_0396.jpg

 

The last cruise we took was for our honeymoon aboard the Carnival Magic with stops throughout the Mediterranean (check out that review too if you haven't already at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1597451 ). We decided to wait a while to cruise again because our honeymoon was such a HUGE trip. Plus, the benefit to waiting for this cruise was we would now have time to enjoy Thanksgiving with my family in Florida prior to sailing so it was worth the wait!

 

Now this trip was a bit different for me and Paul. After cruising so many times by our lonesome selves we decided it was time to invite our friends along! I was the organizer of the trip (I will later be referred to by my friends as Cruise Director Stacy) and we were able to "convince" 16 of our dearest friends from Chicago, Michigan, Georgia and Florida to join us. Here is the Itinerary from our trip:

 

Day 1 – Flight to Orlando, Florida

Day 2 – Thanksgiving with Family

Day 3 – Arrival of our Cruising Buddies

Day 4 – Embarkation on the Carnival Ecstasy!

Day 5 – Freeport, Bahamas

Day 6 – Nassau, Bahamas

Day 7 – Half Moon Cay

Day 8 – Day at Sea

Day 9 – Debarkation, Boo

Day 10 - Flight Home

 

Those of you who have read my previous review will know I like to tell you about my ENTIRE adventure from start to finish. This may annoy some of you who prefer when people get right to the point and talk about the ship. If that sounds like you (please don't complain, it will make me sadL) you may want to skip to the onboard stuff a few posts in, sorry!

 

Anyway, here we go……

 

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stacycakes1

stacycakes1

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It was definitely fall here in Chicago when we left for our cruise! It hadn’t snowed yet but I still couldn't wait to get out of the cold weather and head towards the warm Florida sunshine!

I spent a few days packing and weeks getting everything and everybody ready for the trip. Being this was a group cruise I had a LOT of organizing to do. Here are some of the documents I created to organize everything and also some of the Carnival information and Port information I sent out to the group to get a few of the first time cruisers ready to go:

Attendee General Information Sheet.pdf

Packing list.pdf

Parking Info (Radisson).pdf

Parking Coupon (Radisson).pdf

Our Excursions.pdf

Nassau Information Sheet.pdf

Hilton_Nassau_Day_Pass.pdf

Half Moon Cay Information Sheet.pdf

Freeport Information Sheet.pdf

Freeport Resort Water Sports and Activities.pdf

golf-brochure.pdf

Bon Voyage Menu and Pricing.pdf

Bottomless Bubbles Unlimited Soda Program.pdf

Casino Information.pdf

Debarkation Info.pdf

General Information and Tips.pdf

Main Dining Room Information.pdf

Spa and Salon Info.pdf

Stateroom Phone Info.pdf

1 - Breakfast Menu (Room Service).pdf

2 - Breakfast Menu (Main Dining Room).pdf

3 - Lunch Menus (Main Dining Room).pdf

4 - Dinner Menus (Main Dining Room).pdf

5 - Dessert Menus (Main Dining Room).pdf

6 - Room Service Menu (24 hours daily).pdf

7 - Barista Coffee Menu.pdf

8 - Indoor Bar Menu.pdf

9 - Outdoor Bar Menu.pdf

10 - Wine by the Glass Menu.pdf

11 - Wine by the Bottle Menu.pdf

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stacycakes1

stacycakes1

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I know it is A LOT of documents! Most of you will know most of the stuff I just posted but if you are planning a group thing now you have everything in one place and for you begginers out there some of these may come in handyJ

 

I also decided to make a little something for all of our friends as a memento and chose to design cups/travel mugs for everyone to use while on board. I gave each member of our group a "cruise" name and found a picture to go with the name. For example, my name was "Sundeck Stacy" and Paul's was "Porthole Paul"

 

Here is a picture of the front of the mugs…

 

IMG_0785.jpg

 

 

And pictures of the back of the mugs (My brother in law Brian's mug and our friend Anthony's mug)...

 

IMG_0786.jpg

 

IMG_0784.jpg

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stacycakes1

stacycakes1

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Thanks all! This trip is no where near as exciting as the one I wrote about last time but will hopefull still be a fun read:)

 

Yes, I am an EXTREME planner! It is part of the fun of vacationing. I also had a few newbies to cruising coming along with us so I researched a bit and pulled stuff I thought might help them prior to sailing.

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stacycakes1

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I worked in the morning before we were leaving for the day because our flight wasn't departing until 5:00pm. It was super hard to contain my excitement while I worked and I couldn't wait to get going!

We live and work right off of the EL train that goes from the downtown area to the airport so getting to the airport that evening was super quick and easy. I love hav

We were flying on United Airlines but I had actually bought the tickets through US Airways. There was some complications with our flight home because of this but I will get into that more laterJ Our flight to Florida was right on time that evening and everything went smoothly though.

As soon as we landed I could feel the warm breeze and silently cheered inside! Florida is where I grew up and it always feels great to go homeJ

My sister picked me and Paul up from the airport and we were at my parent's house in no time! It was already pretty late so after a brief chat with the rents we were off to bed to get some sleep before stuffing ourselves with a yummy Thanksgiving meal the next day.

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So I am not going to go into too much detail here. I don't really have any pictures to post for these two days but I did want to mention themJ

Thanksgiving day was great! My family decided that because we all don't "love" turkey we would make Prime Rib this year and just make all of the Thanksgiving fixings to go with it. My grandfather, my two sisters and their families and my Mom and Dad shared the day with me and Paul. Football and the parade was watched and the day was truly memorable.

The next day (Friday) was the day that our out of town guests would be arriving. Our cruise did not leave until Saturday and everyone was flying in a day early in case there were any plane mishaps. Paul set out around noon to pick them all up.

The first to arrive was our friends Jeff and Jackie. Jeff is Paul's best friend and was the best man in our wedding. They live here in Chicago and we see them often, especially because Paul works with Jeff. We were pumped that they would be able to join us on this trip!

Here is Jeff and Jackie…

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An hour after Jeff and Jackie arrived, our friends Courtney and Roy's plane came in. Paul grew up with Courtney and Roy and I met them years ago even before I met Paul! They live in Paul's hometown of Grand Rapid's Michigan and we were so excited they would be joining us on this trip!

Here is Roy and Courtney…

545000_3659482724543_1117804654_n.jpg

The last to arrive hat day was our good friend Troy. We met Troy a few years ago when we moved to Chicago. A teacher friend of mine introduced us so we could get in on the poker games he held at his house. Well we hit it off and are great friends today.

Here is Troy…

165490_10150846423502190_1371600000_n.jpg

The rest of the group was either driving in the next morning or already lived close by so I will introduce them later.

After everyone was picked up from the airport we headed to my parents house for some fun. My Dad and Jeff jammed on their guitars and we started our vacation off with a couple of drinks and a few card games.

At around 11:00pm we all decide it was time to turn in so that we would be rested for the next day. We would all be meeting at my parents house at 8:30am to head to port Canaveral.

Next, we finally get to the fun stuff!!! It cruise time baby!!!!

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