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September 12 - September 19 Carnival Glory Cruise
Introduction
Its 9 AM on Sunday, September 20th 2009 and I'm sitting in my desk chair looking out the window over my balcony, Coe Avenue, the trees, light fog and a glimpse of the Pacific Ocean. Ashlyn is dressed in her warm penguin outfit and is sitting happily in her saucer chirping away while she taunts and rediscovers her various toys. And Mayuko is resting just on the other side delving into her Japanese websites on her laptop. Its hard to imagine that just yesterday we were on the other side of the continent watching the Florida coast come slowly into view as a warm tropical Atlantic breeze brushed through our hair and the warm glow of a tropical sunrise painted the eastern sky. So, here is the story as best as I can tell.
Index:
Day 1-3
Day 4-5
Day 6
Day 7-8
Cruise Ship Tour
Day 1
We actually left our house 20 minutes early and arrived at the airport a couple hours before departure (does that ever happen)? Both the first leg to Denver and the second to Florida went well, Ashlyn and Mayuko slept most of the time. We arrived in Orlando and stayed at the Airport Hyatt Hotel (nothing special really) accept that it was right in the airport. We got off the plane at 10:20 PM, went to get our luggage, and went straight to our room to sleep. The only problem was that one of our luggage (with my snorkeling gear) did not arrive. I was a bit frustrated and worried that it would not make it to the cruise, but Southwest rushed it over the next morning and it was waiting in our cabin by the time we departed.
| NOTE: CLICK ON IMAGES TO SEE FULL SIZE IMAGE | |
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| Some cool streams from the plane window (above) | Ashlyn slept almost the entire flight (above) |
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| Video of Ashlyn and Mayuko Sleeping | Ashlyn teething and excited before the flight |
Day 2
In order to expedite things we chose to go with a private car to the cruise. It takes about an hour and the driver was from Omega Transportation in Florida. He picked us up in a Lincoln town car and had the baby seat ready. He was very nice and professional. We arrived at the cruise line around 12:00 noon and boarded the ship. Boarding was a bit hectic, but somehow we managed to get on board. I was hoping to upgrade to a balcony (which next cruise I take in the Bahamas will definitely be a balcony), however was unable to do so. We then proceeded to eat lunch and explore the ship. I will comment more on the ships design at a later date. It was a warm and beautiful day, however, it was a bit too cloudy to see the sunset. Later that night we ate dinner and got settled into our stateroom. Dinner was absolutely amazing, I was expecting a buffet. Instead we got personalized service in a beautiful restraunt with the best service I have every had in any dining establishment...ever! The food quantity was not too much either, it was just the right amount of portion. In fact, I actually lost two pounds on the cruise. I attribute it to the lack of stress and because we were so active the whole time. Each dinner came with an appetizer, main course, and desert. All the food was absolutely amazing, like culinary artwork... Our stateroom was cleaned twice daily. When we got up it was cleaned, and then after dinner we would return to have it perfectly spotless and organized with two chocolates and a cute towel animal on our bed. As I said before, the service was amazing. In fact our stateroom specialist even helped me change Ashlyn's diaper a couple of time when I had to return during dinner for a special change...
| Day 2 Pictures and Video... (Note: Click on the image to for high-resolution) | |
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-Mayuko, Tim and Ashlyn on deck in Port Canaveral |
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- Me and Ashlyn eating dinner (I'm a bit tired...) |
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- Our first towel Animal |
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- Movie of our first dinner - Its like eating hot fudge with ice cream instead of ice cream with hot fudge |
| Day 2 Bonus Pictures (Note: Click on the image to for high-resolution) | |||
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| Carnival Glory Deck with wing | Carnival glory Deck with Slide | Golden (Main) Theater | Our First Dinner on Board |
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| Our First Dinner on Board | Desert after Dinner | ||
Day 3
For some reason I had some difficulty sleeping and got up at 4:30 AM. I'm glad I did, because I was able to go outside and walk around the entire deck and watch one of the most amazing sunrises I have ever seen. (Now is the time to start playing soft piano music:) Below is the pictures of the Sunrise...
| Day 3 Sunrise (Note: Click on the image to for high-resolution) | |
Deck at night |
First glimpse of sunrise |
Sunrise Starting |
Sunrise over the Atlantic |
Cool ghost picture of me with sunrise in background |
Sunrise with me in background |
Sunrise with color highlighting affects I think this is a pretty cool picture! |
Sun continued to rise |
When we did get up, we had arrived at Nassau. We went shopping and when we got back to the ship, a huge thunderstorm came in and it started pouring down rain. There was also a Volleyball tournament that we started before the rain came. Since the rain was warm, we just kept playing. It was a bit slippery, but I ended up winning the tournament and took first place. After that we had lunch downstairs and watched the rain come down. When I was about to go down the water slide in the rain, a giant lightning bold hit a building on the shore right next to the ship. I decided to wait to go down the slide until the next day.
After we left Nassau, we took a nap and then went to dinner at 8:15 PM. Dinner was awesome-lobster and it was formal night so most people were dressed in their best suites. Unfortunately we didn't bring anything. There were picture places with backgrounds and professional photographers around the ship and we could take nice pictures to purchase on board. We did purchase some pictures at the end of the cruise. We were still recovering from our travel, so after dinner we went back to our stateroom and slept.
| Day 3 Nassau and Dinner (Note: Click on the image to for high-resolution) | |
AVI of it pouring rain in Nassau
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HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - AVI of the show the waiters do at dinner time Download Video |
Mayuko & Ashlyn with the Atlantis Casino in the background |
Atlantis Casino |
Mayuko with Atlantis in background |
Mayuko trying on a shirt in Nassau |
Us with boat in the background |
I won this in a volleyball tournament. It was POURING rain, but it was warm so we kept playing. I took first place! |
Leaving Nassau |
Lighthouse on Nassau |
Just in case you are not sure where I am, here is a map! We went to Nassau, St. Thomas, St. John and St. Martin |
Mayuko had Lobster for dinner |
Our Towel Animal |
Ashlyn and Towel Animal |
Index:
Day 1-3
Day 4-5
Day 6
Day 7-8
Cruise Ship Tour