The Cruise-Part 1

OK, so several have emailed wanting details about the cruise...so here we go...

Sunday, August 3, Day 1

Our flight was at 6am, so that meant getting up about 3:30 to get out of the house by 4:15 so we could get to BNA by the allotted hour before flight. The good thing about Steve walking with a cane was that we got to board first and with Southwest, that's a real perk! The flight was probably not even 1/2 full which made since at that time of morning on the weekend. We arrived in Tampa right on time at 8:45am local time. We went to baggage claim and got our bags and then carried them to the TGIFridays in the airport to get breakfast. After that, I sat an surfed the net while waiting until time to go. A taxi took us to the Carnival Port and then we stood in line to get everything set. It wasn't too bad though as we were there WAY early. We did get to board the boat early but did not get into our rooms until 1:30. We were automatically upgraded to a balcony stateroom which was a nice surprise and even though it was a partially blocked view (lifeboat), we truly enjoyed it. Soon as we got on, we went up to the Lido deck and had lunch overlooking the water (before embarkation). That was nice and Jenna just thought the whole hotel looking boat was awesome. Our boat was the Carnival Legend.

After embarkation, we just looked around the boat and got ready for dinner in the main dining room. I guess being obsessive about planning paid off because check out the view from our table in the dining room....
We went to bed early since our day started so early. Oh, and the other thing to note is my lifetime watch battery died about the time we got on the boat. UGH

Monday, August 4, Day 2
We slept in since this was just a day at sea. We ate breakfast in the main dining room and then tried to go to the pool. Well, by the time we got up, got breakfast and got up to the pools, they were jam packed. I had woken up with a really stiff neck. I had the same thing happen to me 3 years ago when we moved into the house. I must have strained my neck while moving and that time, when I woke up, I literally could not move. I had to roll off the bed and crawl to the phone to call Steve. After a couple days with heat and a muscle relaxer, it was better. I didn't have it to that extent on the cruise, but after a few minutes at the pool, my neck started really tensing up and I was in a fair amount of pain. So, back to the room we went, hooked up Steve's TENS unit (an electrical stimulation unit for pain) and a heating pad and took some pain reliever and after a while felt like I might could get up off the bed. This was the first formal night, so we started getting ready for dinner. Here we are... After dinner we went to Camp Carnival for a while and Steve and I wandered the ship and stopped by to drop some buckage in the casino. I won back my $20. Steve spent about $5. After that, we picked up JG and went to the show and then to bed.

Tuesday, August 5, Day 3-GRAND CAYMAN

We had to get up pretty early so we had room service breakfast. We left the boat for our excursion at 7:15am. The bus first took us to the Turtle Farm then on to one of my favorites... the city of Hell. It's really not much there, but the city's name is actually called "Hell" and you can send a postcard to yourself which is postmarked from Hell. I just thought it was hilarious and so I sent my BIL and myself a postcard (it's not arrived yet). Then we went on to StingRay City which Grand Cayman is very well known for. The stingrays are extremely docile and swim right up to you. It was a 20 minute boat right to the middle of the ocean to get out of the boat. The water was about 4.5ft deep and so we all got out. But the waves were choppy, yes even in the middle of the ocean, and it was hurting Steve to try and stay up. I was holding Jenna and it was hard to hold her and keep myself on my feet. But we did get some good pictures.

OK, I know that's only a couple days, but that ought to give you all some reading fo the time being. I have other things I want to say about today and then I'll post more about the cruise...