My long "Sunrise Story" (with pictures) - 10/14 - 10/18

[mlshum]

October 16th – Half Moon Cay

 

I love Half Moon Cay!  It is such a beautiful beach with white powdery sand and crystal blue waters!  It had been several years since we last visited and I was very happy to be back.

 

A quick trip to the balcony showed me that it was a beautiful day with only puffy white clouds in the sky.  It was a perfect beach day!  Ron and I headed up to the Lido deck to get breakfast.  Today was apparently a bacon day as the bacon was in plentiful supply.  We ate and returned to the room to get ready to go ashore and wait until we were cleared to go to the tender.  Since we had purchased shore excursions, we did not need a tender ticket.  The ship was cleared and passengers started to disembark.  We waited just a little while and finally headed down to Deck 0 to catch the tender.  It was about 9am.

 

Sunrise seen from the Sunrise

 

Here comes the tender!

 

Watching sunrise and waiting to go ashore

 

Line for tender on deck 0

 

 

Again, it was pretty obvious that the ship was not full due to the lack of waiting in lines.  We only waited about five minutes before we were climbing onto the tender and heading out to the island.  We boarded and found a seat in the bottom level.  As we were sitting down, I saw a painted picture on the wall of a lighthouse.  I remarked to Ron that it looked very similar to the one we bought in Nassau back in 2010.  We bought the picture from a street vendor named James.  It was one of our very first cruise purchases and still hangs on my living room wall today.  When we got close enough to the painting on the tender, we realized that it WAS painted by James!  We had hoped to see him the next day in Nassau but sadly, that wouldn’t be the case.

 

Here is a photo of the picture James painted that was on the tender…..

 

 

 

…..and here is a photo of the picture I bought in Nassau in 2010.

 

 

 

On the tender

 

 

Everyone WAS wearing their masks

 

 

When we got to the island, there were plenty of loungers available.   We walked down the beach a good distance and settled into a couple of chairs that were shaded.  They would remain shaded for most of the day, which was nice.  We were a little ahead of Liz and Aaron as they started out a little later than we did.  We headed down to the water.  It was a little chilly at first but we got used to it very quickly.  Liz and Aaron arrived in just a little while and joined us in the water.  It was so nice and relaxing to swim and float without a care in the world.  After an hour or so, Ron went back to the beach to read while Liz, Aaron and I stayed in the water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The entrance to Half Moon Cay

 

I pretty much spent the morning just floating around.

 

 

After a while, we were beginning to get hungry and the Island Bar-B-Que had opened so we gathered our belongings and went to find lunch.  I always enjoy the Island Bar-B-Que and, as usual, it was very good.  They were serving hamburgers, hot dogs, jerk chicken and a good choice of sides.  Brownies and cookies were available for dessert.  As would be typical throughout this whole trip, there was very little waiting and the seats were never full.  We were the only ship at the island that day.

 

We were supposed to meet at 12:30 for our shore excursion.  We were still a little early so we browsed around the vendor stalls.  The gift shop was not open and the windows and doors were boarded.  I don’t know if the building had sustained damage at some point or if it was boarded simply because it wasn’t needed at that time.  There were about eight stalls selling t-shirts, beach wraps, hats, etc.  I found it disappointing that most of the merchandise simply said “Bahamas” but never specifically “Half Moon Cay”.  Ron found a small key chain that DID say Half Moon Cay.  My plan was to attach a magnet after we got home.  We would later find a Half Moon Cay t-shirt back on board in the Carnival store.

 

Seating area where we waited on shore excursions to be called

 

 

Vendor stalls

 

 

This shop was boarded

 

 

To be continued........

 

 

 

[mlshum]

We moved over to the seating area to wait for our shore excursion to be called.  We had opted to take a boat out to go snorkeling.  I love to snorkel!  We had done a snorkel excursion once before at Half Moon Cay and it was one of the most spectacular displays of coral and fish that we’d seen before or since.  On this trip, we weren’t taken as far out as before.  There were still plenty of fish and coral, just not as many as I remembered from our previous trip.  Still, we had a great time and I enjoyed every minute of the swim.  Liz had been snorkeling once before many years ago.  This was Aaron’s first snorkeling experience.  They had signed up for a snorkeling excursion at Half Moon Cay on one of their previous cruises but it was cancelled due to bad weather.  They both enjoyed the experience although Aaron had trouble getting his mask to seal because of his beard.  After swimming for about 45 minutes, we headed back to the boat to be taken back to the ship.  It was a great day but I was tired.  On the way back to the ship, the captain pointed out a large barracuda in the water.  I tried to get a picture but it was too far down to see any real detail.

 

So we load up on the boat...

 

 

 

....and away we go!!

 

 

Aaron and Liz

 

 

Ron was using the Go Pro underwater feature and getting the hang of it...

 

 

Ron and I were the last ones out of the water...of course!  LOL  Old people doing stuff!

 

 

Ron's snorkel selfie

 

 

One last shot before heading back.  You can see the boat in the distance behind us.

 

 

And here are photos of some of the fish and coral we saw......

 

Since we don't know the names of most of these fish, they were labeled by how they looked.  This is "bright blue fish"....

 

 

This one is "buncha fish"........

 

 

There's an ongoing debate on this one.  Ron calls it "camo fish" and Liz insists that its "rainbow fish"...

 

 

This one got called "four fish" although I think I see a fifth fish in the distance....

 

 

...and finally, the only one who's name I actually know......Sergeant Major!!

 

On the way back to the ship, we saw the barracuda pointed out by the captain.  I couldn't get a good picture but you can tell that it's pretty large.  This was very close to the dock at Half Moon Cay.  I'm glad I didn't meet it while in the water!

 

 

 

We got back on board around 3:30 and headed for the showers.  Our plan was to have a pizza delivered to the room.  In theory, it should be there about the time Ron would be finished with his shower.  He stepped into the bathroom and turned on the water only to discover that there was NO SHOWERHEAD!  The water was spraying everywhere!  He turned it off and called maintenance to see if they would bring us a shower head.  Apparently, they frequently remove the showerheads for sanitizing and had simply forgotten to reattach ours.  Someone from maintenance showed up and quickly took care of the problem.  I’m glad they sanitize so frequently.   Our pizza arrived and we were grateful for the snack.  I’m not sure why swimming makes me so hungry but is always does.

 

 

Our towel animal was in the room.

 

I'm going with "dog" on this one....maybe a bulldog or a pug.

 

 

I went out onto the balcony for a bit before dinner.  I was taking a picture of the sunset and didn't realize that it turned out like this until I got back home.    I don't know why it looks like there are two suns, but I love the picture.

 

 

 

I hid a couple of ducks just before dinner.

 

Dracula duck

 

Mummy duck

 

 

A little before six, we headed down to the dining room for dinner.  Roby was apologetic about the last two nights and sent a bottle of champagne to our table.  Ron and I don’t drink alcohol, so Aaron took it back to his cabin for later.  Some of our food that night wasn’t quite as good as it normally is, especially the chocolate melting cake, which is my all time favorite.  It tasted like they had left out most of the sugar….or something.  It was OK, just not as good as I was expecting.    The food was good the first night and the last night (I tried a bit of Liz’s the last night to be sure.  LOL) but it just wasn’t quite right on this night.  The table behind us was completely empty and neither the honeymooners or the other couple showed up again for the rest of the cruise.  One of the smaller tables was also empty.  Service WAS more timely on this night and we finished up in a reasonable amount of time.    Again, two songs in the dining room that night.  Please don't misunderstand....I don't mind the singing and dancing, I just question if it's a good idea when it's obvious they're already struggling.

 

 

 

After dinner, we decided to go watch the magician’s show.  We had already met him once during dinner.   He was appearing in the Limelight Lounge where the comedians usually appear.  The room was fairly crowded.  One thing I quickly discovered is that while that particular type of magic is great up close, it isn’t as entertaining which you can’t see everything that is happening.  I wasn’t able to see many of the tricks.  What I did see was good.  The show was an hour long and it was getting pretty stuffy in the room by the end of the show.  Several people got up to leave but we stayed for the entire show.

 

 

After the show, we went up to the Lido deck for our nightly ice cream.  Everyone was tired so we decided to go back to our cabins a little early to rest and relax before our last day in Nassau.  This trip was going by really, really fast!  I hadn’t been on a four day cruise in a long time and I couldn’t believe there was only one day left.  Where did the time go?!?!?!?

 

I took some night time pictures while we were up on deck.  I especially like the picture of the moon!

 

 

 

 

 

More to come tomorrow!!

[Rob-Bob]

Nice review!

[luvcruzing]

Enjoying reading your review.  Looking forward to more.  

[mlshum]

6 hours ago, Rob-Bob said:

Nice review!

 

4 hours ago, luvcruzing said:

Enjoying reading your review.  Looking forward to more.  

Thank you both so much and thanks for reading along!

[mlshum]

One quick addition to yesterday's part of the story before I head off for inspections today....we DID finally make it to the piano bar.

 

Basically, if you want to make it to a piano bar show, I recommend getting there early!  The pianist is name Missio (I think!) and he is VERY talented.  He played some things that were pretty unexpected for a piano.  He played both "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" and "Bohemian Rhapsody" while we were there.  He air dropped his playlist, which is extensive, to everyone's phones and pretty much all of his songs were sing-alongs.  I have been in some piano bars where the pianist only played his own creations and while he was very talented,  I just didn't enjoy it as much as the sing-along type of setting.  

 

 

 

Anyway, it just occurred to me this morning that I had left that part out!  I'll be back later to tell you all about Nassau and a dolphin named Shawn!

 

 

[mlshum]

October 17th – Nassau

 

As we were planning this cruise, the one thing Liz especially wanted to do was to swim with a dolphin.  We booked the “Dolphin Encounter” at Blue Lagoon.  We were supposed to meet our group at 10am just off the ship for a 30 minute ride to Blue Lagoon.

 

So, as usual, the morning started with a trip to the balcony to check the weather and enjoy the view.  It was, again, a gorgeous day.  The weather on this whole trip was absolutely perfect!

 

 

 

 

It was going to be another full day so we headed up to the Lido deck for breakfast.  It was "Towel Animal Takeover" day so I had to stop for a few pictures...

 

 

 

 

 

We were cleared to go ashore by 8:30 so after a quick breakfast, we headed out.  Again, we were the only ship docked that day.

 

 

 Nassau is undergoing some major changes.  A new cruise terminal is under construction.  The photos look great but, at the moment, it’s a bit of a mess.  The sign said it should be completed in 2022 .  As we strolled down the street, we couldn’t help but notice that many of the shops and restaurants were closed.  It appears that Nassau was hit pretty had by COVID and the financial loss from the pause in cruising.  We stopped in several small shops that were open to buy a few things.  I know it isn’t much, but every little bit helps them to get back on their feet.  I hope they are able to recover quickly.  Nassau often gets a bad rap but there are usually a lot of things to do in Nassau.  Today, however, it looked like the ship’s shore excursions are about the only option.

 

Construction underway

 

 

 

 

Nassau, as well as most of the Caribbean islands, has a very strict mask law in place.  You are supposed to wear your mask at all times, inside and outside.  It appeared that most people were complying.

 

 

After shopping for a little while, it was back to the dock to meet our excursion.  This time, we did have to wait in line for a while.  Apparently, most of the available excursions were at Blue Lagoon. (You may have noticed that there are a pretty limited number of shore excursions available at this time.)   After waiting about 15 minutes, we were able to board our boat and head out.  We passed several homes owned by well-known people and then we passed Atlantis.  After about 30 minutes, we arrived at Blue Lagoon.

 

 

Let me pause to say we usually use Carnival excursions mainly because we are absolutely certain that the ship won’t leave if we are somehow delayed.  Delays have happened several times and each time they kept their promise of waiting.  We were supposed to be back on the ship by 3:30 today.

 

Waiting in line for transport to Blue Lagoon.  It took two or three transport boats to get everyone to the island that had purchased an excursion.  It was a pretty ride along the Nassau coastline.

 

 

The boat was fairly full

 

We passed Atlantis along the way....

.....and got a really excellent view!

 

Blue Lagoon is not adjacent to open water.  The only channel to open water is where the boats come and go and you aren’t allowed to swim in that area.  All of the swimming areas are very shallow.  I wasn’t able to find any place where the water was higher than my waist.  There was an area with inflatables where it was deeper, but you couldn’t swim there.  It was only open to those using the inflatables.  The use of the area, as well as lunch, was part of the ticket price.  Masks were required at all times unless you were in the water, in your beach lounger or eating lunch.

 

Beach and inflatables in the distance

 

Beach

 

Lunch area

 

Walkway

 

Lots of shade

 

Dock area 

 

 

 

There were a lot of loungers on the beach and many of them were in shady areas.  We found four loungers under some trees and settled in.  It was pretty warm if you weren’t in the shade, but it was a very comfortable temperature under the trees.  A coconut (or whatever it was!) did fall right beside where we were sitting.  I’m very glad we weren’t hit as it was heavy.!

 

 

Liz with the coconut (or whatever it was).  We had to open it to see what, if anything was in it.  Nothing whatsoever.

 

 

Our dolphin swim was at 1:00 so we decided to go to lunch a little before noon.  The lunch menu was similar to the menu at Half Moon Cay….hamburgers, hotdogs and chicken sandwiches with sides.  Everything tasted great.  Lemonade, tea, water and fruit punch were included and soda and alcohol was available for purchase.  Dessert was NOT served with lunch but you could buy ice cream or candy at the gift shop.

 

 

After lunch, the guys settled in to nap in the loungers.  Liz and I sat around for a while but, as typical with me, that didn't work for long. 

 

Clowns to the left of me....

 

Jokers to the right...

 

 

 

....here I am, stuck in the middle!  (I never look good in a pony tail, please overlook that! LOL)

 

 The two of us decided to explore more of the island. 

 

 

We stopped in a gift shop....

 

...and decided this turtle would never fit into our luggage to take back home.

 

You can rent various items at this location.

 

 

We headed out past the boat boarding area and crossed the bridge where we could see another group with the dolphins.  We kept expecting someone to stop us, because it looked fairly deserted,  but no one ever did.  As we walked along, we realized the water was deeper and began to discover the areas where the animals were kept.   We crossed the bridge and turned left.  Just below us to the left were a couple of dolphins swimming through a narrow channel.  These dolphins were not part of the show at that time and just appeared to be playing and swimming on their own.  To the right was a larger netted enclosure. That is where the stingrays were being kept.  There were some very large stingrays and a group was interacting with them at that time.  A little later, one of the stingrays would swim very close to the bridge where we were standing, turn on its side and “wave” at us.

 

Here are two dolphins in the channel

 

Here are stingrays

 

This guy even stopped by to wave at us!

 

 

To be continued.......

 

 

[luvcruzing]

You look very cute in your ponytail.  👍

[mlshum]

1 hour ago, luvcruzing said:

You look very cute in your ponytail.  👍

Lol. Thank you!  I always feel self conscious but it’s definitely the way to go on an active day, Beach day or just hot temps.

[mbglib]

Thank you for your review.  I am thoroughly enjoying it.

[mlshum]

2 hours ago, mbglib said:

Thank you for your review.  I am thoroughly enjoying it.

Thank you so much for reading along.  I really appreciate it!

[mlshum]

Liz and I continued on our walk with the theory that "it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission."   Since we hadn't really seen anyone who WASN'T involved in an excursion experience, we just weren't sure that the area was open to the public.  It turned out that anyone could walk back through the animal habitats, it just turned out that most people didn't.  In my opinion, other than hanging out with Shawn the Dolphin, this was the best part of our Blue Lagoon day.

 

 

We continued on past the groups that were interacting with the animals and found ourselves over a larger lagoon.  There were a number of dolphins in this lagoon.  Liz was ecstatic!  She had been looking forward to dolphins for months and now she was surrounded by dolphins!

 

This was the area where people were actually interacting with the animals

 

 

Here's the path we continued to follow

 

 

Looking across the lagoon.  I think that area was accessible from the photo shop where you bought your pictures after you were finished.  You cannot take your camera or Go Pro with you during the interaction experience.

 

I think this may be Liz's idea of Heaven.  She grinned more than day that I've ever known her to grin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Liz and I are surrounded by dolphins

 

One of the zoologists was also standing on one of the bridges and was answering questions.  Apparently, the lagoon on the right housed mother dolphins and their cubs. (They swim in pairs as you can see in the photos above.)  Full grown dolphins were housed on the left.  They were definitely in a good mood that day swimming, playing, jumping and generally coming up out of the water to be friendly.  It was great!

 

 

We continued a little further down the path.  We could see another enclosure in the distance.  It did not appear that any activities were going on in that location at that time and we were the only ones there.  It was the sea lion enclosure!  One of the sea lions was napping with his head extended out on a bench.  He was sleeping in exactly the same position as Liz’s dog, Handsome!  LOL  Above the napping sea lion was another enclosure with what looked like large round tubs.  The sea lions were lounging in these tubs.  One was sitting up with one flipper along the edge of the tub.  It looked exactly like he was lounging in a bathtub.

 

Sea lions swimming around

 

It has apparently been a long day and was time for a nap

 

This guy was just hanging out after having finished his bath

 

 

I think at some point I'd like to come back to Blue Lagoon to do the Sea Lion Encounter and walk over to see the sharks.  It isn't a great place for swimming, but the activities are excellent!

 

 

We also met a random hermit crab along the way

 

 

 

 

On the way back, we asked the zoologist where the sharks were kept.  We learned they were housed on the other side of the island.  Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to go see them.  We went back to our loungers, gathered up the guys, took them on a quick trip across the bridges to show them what we’d found and went to interact with dolphins.  After waiting for more than a year to meet her dolphin, the time had finally come.  Liz had been swimming with the dolphins years before when she cruised with a friend and her family, but this was going to be a little more "up close and personal" than just swimming.

 

 

There were six people in our group; the four of us and another couple.  We were all led down into a pool and lined up across a ledge.  The dolphin trainer, who was fantastic, was named Randy.  Almost immediately, we met the star of the show…a dolphin named Shawn.

 

Shawn was a ham and acted like he was having the time of his life.  He posed for a picture with us.

 

 

Randy told us that Shawn was a 24 year old male born there at Blue Lagoon.  His mother was the oldest dolphin there.  She was 58.  I got the impression that she was pretty much retired, but Shawn was definitely in his element!  He was quite the showman......show dolphin??  He acted like he was having as much fun as we were!

 

 

The first thing he did was to swim the length of our line.  We all petted him across his back a couple of times and again across his belly.  He introduced himself to everyone.  He gave one lady a “kiss” and then gave her husband a “raspberry”.  It was so much fun!  I really didn’t think I cared if I did the dolphin interaction or not, but I LOVED it and would do it again in a heartbeat!  The best part is that Liz was absolutely glowing.  Ron commented later that it was the only time he’d ever seen Liz “giddy” with excitement.

 

 

Shawn danced with everyone.  He did tricks.  He jumped out of the water, WAY out of the water, like 20 FEET OUT OF THE WATER!   He  did flips.  He hugged everyone.  He gave us a “high five”.  It was fantastic and so much fun!   If you have ever wanted to do ANYTHING with a dolphin or if you want your kids to have this experience, I can't say enough about Blue Lagoon.  It was AMAZING! 

 

Shawn gave Aaron a hug.  Aaron really enjoyed this, too, as you can see...but check out Liz's expression!

 

Then he gave Liz a hug.  I think she would have stayed there for hours if she could.

 

 

Shawn danced with Liz....and danced with all of us.  I'm pretty sure she was his favorite partner.

 

 

We talked to Randy a little while after we got back out of the water.  Like I said earlier, he was fantastic.  He was so funny and it was apparent that he loved Shawn and all of the animals.  I think Shawn loved him, too.  When we all got out of the water, Shawn continued to hang around.  He still wanted to play.  Randy played with him for a minute and he finally swam off to do something else before his next big performance.

 

 Randy has multiple videos on Tic Tok of the dolphins.  He told us to photograph his contact info on his phone and share it with anyone we wanted....and I want to share it with you!   Check him out! 

 

 

In a nutshell......GO TO BLUE LAGOON.  If you like animals, you won't be disappointed.

 

 

I will be back this evening to, hopefully, finish the cruise story for you!

 

 

 

[mlshum]

Oh....I almost forgot the last Shawn picture!!!!!

 

[d-train]

We did blue lagoon about 12 years ago - loved the island, and loved getting to spend time int he water with the dolphins!

 

So worth it!

[mlshum]

47 minutes ago, d-train said:

We did blue lagoon about 12 years ago - loved the island, and loved getting to spend time int he water with the dolphins!

 

So worth it!

That’s awesome!  I’m glad they’ve been doing this successfully for so long.  I had never done it and I thought I would enjoy it, but I didn’t guess how much I would enjoy it.  It was truly a highlight of the trip.

 

Thanks for reading along!

[mlshum]

After we reluctantly left Shawn the Dolphin, we stopped in the gift shop to order pictures and it was time to catch our boat back to the ship.  The next to last boat was leaving just as we go there, so we had to wait for the last one.  It was already around 3pm.  We were supposed to be back on board by 3:30. It was about a 30ish minute trip back to the ship.  You can see why I was glad we had booked the Carnival excursion!   We arrived back at the ship around 3:40.  As promised, they were waiting for us.  As we boarded, they were preparing the ship for departure.

 

 

 

I didn't know Nassau had two lighthouses (maybe more?) but you can see one from the ship when it is docked and this one is located very close to the entrance of Blue Lagoon.

 

 

On the ride back they were playing music and Damien was inspired to dance.

 

 

Nassau in the distance

 

 

Sunrise awaits!

 

 

Our balcony was on Deck 7 right in the middle

 

Let me stop a minute to comment on Carnival shore excursions.  Although I have done it both ways and booked shore excursions independently as well as through Carnival, we USUALLY book through Carnival.  I like the fact that I am GUARANTEED that they will not leave without us when we are on a Carnival excursion.  They will wait for their own excursions but, make no mistake.....if you are on your own and there is a problem or any sort that delays you whether it is your fault or not, they WILL leave you!    There have been at least three times that this has saved one.  On one excursion in St. Maarten, our tour was nearly two hours getting back to the ship!  Our very first excursion on our very first cruise was delayed by about 15 minutes (I was nearing panic!).  This one was delayed by 10 minutes.  While they might wait 10 or 15 minutes ( and I can't really say because I've never been late on anything OTHER than a Carnival excursion) I don't want to risk it.  Besides, the Carnival excursions are usually just fine with me.....and the peace of mind allows me to relax and enjoy the experience without worrying about being left behind.

 

 

Since we were all still in bathing suits, we headed up to Water Works for a trip down the water slide.  It would be our only chance this trip.  After that, I dropped by the deli for a snack to take back to the room and Ron headed down to take a shower.   Our “get off the ship” heart was waiting.  LOL  Fortunately, we DID have a showerhead this time!  I were very tired after a long day so after the shower, I took a short nap before dinner.  On the way to the dining room, I set out my last two ducks.

 

 

 

It always hurts a little to see this because we know it means the cruise is nearly over.  We refer to it as our "Get off the Ship" heart.

 

 

We were, again, the only ones at our table for dinner.  Service was better again that night.  Since this was the last night, Baked Alaska was served.  I had never eaten it before and really enjoyed it.  I will definitely order that again in the future. They did not have the waiters carrying it in while it was flaming.    It was also the night for the singing of “Leaving on a Fun Ship”.  That is one song and dance number that I always enjoy.  It’s kind of bittersweet, too.  It means that the cruise is pretty much over.  It was not a one, not a two, but a THREE song night in the dining room.  As I mentioned, they sang "Leaving on a Fun Ship", which they always do and I like.  They voice from downstairs also sang another solo and the wait staff did one of the normal song and dance to Uptown Funk (at least I think that's what it was because I forgot to write it down in my notes.)  The wait staff really seemed to enjoy the singing and dancing and so I guess it's fine with me, too.  No reason for me to be an old grouch!  LOL

 

 

 

After dinner, we stopped by the photo gallery to pick up our pictures and went to see a last comedy show.  Then we went to see "Vintage Pop" in the Liquid Lounge.   I liked "Vintage Pop".   We thought it was a really creative blend of old and new songs.  I love the use of the interactive screens.  It adds a lot of dimension and movement.  The Playlist performers did a great job and we really enjoyed the show.

 

 

 

We're ready for the show

 

 

The house lights go down and...

 

 

..... it's SHOWTIME!  (Every night in the dining room the Voice would announce in loud whisper that it was "Showtime!".   Every time Ron and I sit down to watch TV or whatever in the even, one of us is bound to whisper loudly, "It's Showtime!"   LOL   We're pretty easily amused!

 

 

The show started with live music.  These people were REALLY GOOD!  They played live music for the entire show.  I personally play piano at our church.  This lady has more talent in her little finger than I will EVER have.  They were awesome and, for me, the best part of the show.

 

 

 

 

Aaron went to the casino to try his luck one last time and Liz, Ron and I went up to our balcony for a while and then to get our last ice cream of the cruise.  I can’t believe it’s over already!   Did we just board a couple of minutes ago?!?!?!?  

 

 We put it off as long as possible but finally it was time to go pack.  Since we had a relatively early flight, 12:36, and our flight was out of Ft. Lauderdale, we had chosen to self-debark.  I had laid aside clothes to wear home so they wouldn't touch anything else during the cruise. These clothes had been as isolated from everything else and kept as far as possible from any potential chemicals so there would be NO possibility of my picking up something that would cause a problem at the airport.  At least, that was my hope.  Packing finished, I settled into bed to read and drifted off to sleep.

 

 

All of the towel animals from this cruise

 

 

 

October 18th – Debarkation

 

We got up pretty early so we could get off the ship as early as possible to catch our flight.  It was still dark when I woke up.  I went out on the balcony one last time and was treated to some beautiful night time views of the lights of the Port of Miami and ships coming into port.

 

 

Miami in the early morning

 

 

The lights of the port

 

 

More port lights

 

 

This is my personal "coming back into port" favorite picture.  I don't know which ship was following us or which one was on the right, but I loved the way it all looked.  The picture really doesn't do it justice.

 

 

Ron and I had booked an airport transfer and Liz and Aaron had opted for Uber.  We met up on the Lido deck for breakfast.  Bacon was being served again.  I guess it was "consolation bacon" since we had to leave.   Everything tasted good.  As we were eating, they were calling self debark by muster stations.  We had muster station “G”.  By 8:30, we were walking off the ship.

 

 

We had experienced the facial recognition debarkation when we sailed Horizon in 2020 and this is another improvement that I really like.  Basically, debarking worked exactly like embarking.  We walked right through the process and barely stopped at all.  In just a few minutes we were outside and on board our bus to head back to the Ft. Lauderdale airport.

 

 

Here's our traditional "now our cruise is over and we are pouting" picture.

 

 

 

The ride was uneventful.  The first stop at the airport was ours so we got off, collected our bags and headed into the terminal.  At that point, I could feel my heart start pounding.  I was nervous about going through security.  I decided to wash my hands and, again, wipe off my luggage handles.  We checked our bag and went to the security line. 

 

 

We waited in line about 15 minutes and finally it was time to go through the scanners.  Deep breath….here I go…..in, out and done!  No problems!  I breathed a huge sigh of relief!  The rest of the trip home was uneventful so I won’t bore you with all of the details.  It was SO good to be back pm a cruise.  Our first “group” cruise was a huge success, even if most of the group couldn't make it.  (We're hoping that will change in the future.)  Ron and I will be sailing again in January on the Mardi Gras and I’m so excited about that!

 

 

So......that's it!  I've come to the end of my story.  Thank you SO much for taking time to read along with me.  I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

 

See you in January on the Mardi Gras!

 

 

 

[runnerinn]

Thank you so much for sharing your cruise experience- I’ve enjoyed following along.  We are *hopefully* sailing on the Sunrise in December with our 3 kids, so I’m glad you tried out the ropes course, water slide, and ice cream as those are the things they are most looking forward to :).  I say hopefully as I feel like all travel plans are held loosely these days- we have a vaccine exemption for our 8 year old, but I’m praying she can get a vaccine soon so that we can all cruise fully vaccinated.  I’m so glad you were able to enjoy a cruise and get to go again soon!

[dchip]

Thanks for taking the time to write this review. I enjoyed your narrative and photos!

Cheers, Denise

[mlshum]

2 hours ago, runnerinn said:

Thank you so much for sharing your cruise experience- I’ve enjoyed following along.  We are *hopefully* sailing on the Sunrise in December with our 3 kids, so I’m glad you tried out the ropes course, water slide, and ice cream as those are the things they are most looking forward to :).  I say hopefully as I feel like all travel plans are held loosely these days- we have a vaccine exemption for our 8 year old, but I’m praying she can get a vaccine soon so that we can all cruise fully vaccinated.  I’m so glad you were able to enjoy a cruise and get to go again soon!

That sounds like a wonderful trip and I know you will enjoy it.  Ron and I always seem to like the active things.  We're not big fans of casino, bingo, etc., so the ropes are right up our alley.  LOL  Fingers crossed for your daughter's vaccine!!

[mlshum]

1 hour ago, dchip said:

Thanks for taking the time to write this review. I enjoyed your narrative and photos!

Cheers, Denise

Thanks so much for following along!

[AKR2011]

Thanks for the awesome review, I loved following along and reading about what you did with your cruise friends. Happy planning for your next adventure 😊

[mlshum]

2 hours ago, AKR2011 said:

Thanks for the awesome review, I loved following along and reading about what you did with your cruise friends. Happy planning for your next adventure 😊

Thank you so much and thank you for reading along!  I appreciate your taking the time.  I know it was long.  LOL

[MPH711]

Thanks for posting your review with some great pictures!

[mlshum]

22 minutes ago, MPH711 said:

Thanks for posting your review with some great pictures!

Thanks so much for taking the time to read along!

[luvcruzing]

I loved reading your cruise review.  Looked like you really had a great time, especially on Blue Lagoon.  Glad you stayed healthy and made it home (and through security) without any issues.

 

I’ll be on the lookout for your Mardi Gras review in January.

 

 

Edited October 31, 2021 by luvcruzing