Bahamas Cruise – Part I

I’M BACK!!!!!

Did you miss me? I missed you guys!! I felt so disconnected on the ship with no phone, no e-mail and no blog! But, I’m back now and can not wait to play catch up!

My cruise was of course amazing and Derek and I made sure to live every minute of it to the fullest. I ended up taking 367 pictures over the past 3 days! I have so much to say and share! In order to keep all of you and myself sane, I will be dividing my cruise recap into three parts. With a post recapping each day.

I hope you enjoy reading about my little adventure as much I enjoyed living it!

Day 1 -

Let’s see… where shall I begin??

We were able to board our cruise ship on Friday at 12:30. Luckily my parents live super close to the port, so not only did we save on parking, but we felt there was no rush to head out. We casually left the house around noon and on the way I snacked on a Strawberry Kashi Cereal Bar.

Since we showed up on the earlier side of embarkation, getting on the boat took no time at all. The longest line we waited in was the one for security to get in the building. Besides that it was smooth sailing.

Around 1:00pm we were officially aboard the Monarch of the Seas, our home for the next three days.

First things first, we had to check out our teeny tiny room.

We had an inside cabin on the second floor. We were going for cheap and were perfectly happy with the tiny quarters. It had a bed and bathroom, which is all we needed.

Next up we headed to the top to check out the first buffet of food waiting for us.

I’ll admit its not the largest display of food I have ever seen, but there was still lots of great things to choose from.

I loaded my plate up with a great big salad and a side of wheat bread.

We enjoyed a lovely view of the port while dining.

Next was dessert!

Dessert is my weakness and I just want to try everything! I had broke a couple of desserts in half and threw the other half away before I sat at the table so I would not be tempted to finish them off.

I believe this was an apple turnover, coconut bar and peanut butter cookie. The dessert were a bit dry, but still worth the nibbles.

We headed straight to the pool after lunch.

I learned a while ago to make sure you always pack a swimsuit in your carry on when you board a ship. That way you don’t miss a moment of poolside lounging!

  

Unfortunately the Muester Drill cut into our pool time.

Not my favorite part of the cruise, but safety first!

After we learned how to properly put on a life jacket and fight for our lives, it was time to set sail and get the party started!

I was caught dancing in the aisle.

Right before I passed out on the chair and woke up to drool on my book, I munched on an apple.

We opted for the late dinner option at 8:30, which I loved because it gave us plenty of time to relax and we never felt rushed to be ready for dinner. The first night we went to the pre-dinner welcome aboard show and I enjoyed a glass of Cabernet Sauvigon.

I nursed my glass of wine and was still sipping on it at dinner.

I always love the whole experience of eating dinner on cruise ships. The staff is always so kind, helpful and make the whole experience worth it. Derek and I ended up being seated at a four top with another couple. They were interesting to say the least. He was an older gentlemen from Orlando and she was a younger thai woman straight from Thailand.

They were very sweet and always offered to take pictures of Derek and I.

At every meal we were promptly presented with the bread basket. The first night I enjoyed a mini corn muffin and piece of poppyseed bread.

A community bowl of ceasar salad was then placed on the table and I had a small serving.

I ordered the Cream of Pumpkin Soup as my starter.

I think this soup was one of my favorite things I ate while on the cruise. It was the perfect balance of sweet and savory and reminded me of Thanksgiving. I always forget how much I enjoy eating pumpkin.

Derek ordered the Artichoke Spinach Dip as his starter and when our waiter saw me sampling Derek’s dish he brought out one for me as well.

I was perfectly fine just having the single bite of Derek’s but once the new dish was placed in front of me I couldn’t help but have a couple of more chips as well.

For the main course I selected the Fillet of Atlantic Salmon.

The dill sauce on top was very tasty and I was thankful for the plethora of veggies that came with the meal.

As with every meal my favorite part was of course the dessert.

I ordered the Chocolate Brownie Sandwich.

At first I was expecting two brownies with vanilla ice cream in the middle, so was pleasantly surprised to see a chocolate brownie stack placed in front of me. It was very good, but needed a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side. Luckily the waiter agreed with me and had a scoop delivered. I was right the vanilla ice cream made the dessert perfect.

After the meal Derek and I were stuffed!

We made a pact early on to take the stairs on the ship as much as possible. I think the whole cruise we used the elevator maybe 2 times

Taking the stairs up and down from our room on the second floor to the pool on the eleventh was a great way to get extra activity into our routine and help the stuffed feeling disappear.

We also decided a nice midnight swim would help as well.

We were actually kicked out of the pool before midnight, but it was still fun while it lasted.

On the way back to our room we ran into the 70s disco party in the atrium where a half naked indian was cutting loose in the elevator.

Good times!!!

Stay tuned for Part II and our adventure in Nassau!!