1st Day At Sea (Southern Caribbean - July 14, 2014)

We didn't waste too much time before taking advantage of our first day at sea.  It is just so beautiful and relaxing to lay on the deck with the blue skies and the blue water.  Add to sights the sounds of the water, and you could stay there for a long time.  It can get a little hot though!

 We like to take advantage of as many of the on-board activities as we can.  If you haven't cruised much or have never taken advantage, I would recommend it.  Take every opportunity to do something you wouldn't otherwise do.  Adri and I hit the shuffle board area.  A short while later, Alex and I hit the trivia contests.  For those who have cruised, you will recognize the activity slip.  We always had this in our pocket so we could plan out what we wanted to do.  Some may recognize the Team Trivia Die.  In addition to the basic trivias, Alex and I also joined a team for Team Trivia.  We have several "Ships on a Stick" which are pure gold plastic trophies for winning on board contests.  The Team Trivia was four sessions of trivia that went on all week long.  We will get back to this later!

After laying out, hanging out, playing shuffle board, and doing some trivia, we got ready for the first formal night.  Like always,we wanted to get some pictures so we might find one that could be our family photos for the year.  If you haven't cruised or cruised much, I recommend taking advantage of this.  They take tons of pictures and there is no obligation to buy.  With all they take, there is a good chance there will be some you like.  But, a word of caution is that you have to be disciplined.  You may find there are several that you like.  When you consider sitting fees and all of that, the pictures are not that badly priced, but individual pictures are a little expensive so you could rack up a huge expense to your cruise by just buying pictures.  I recommend looking for that family set, etc.  After some quick pictures it was time for the great formal dinner.  

Me and my hot wife at dinner.  Not to be out done by our beautify and handsome children.  Alex and I did the nightly routine of heading to the show after dinner.

No Balcony! :( (Southern Caribbean - July 13, 2014)

Once on the ship, we did the normal "head to the buffet, wander about and grab some ice cream."  We had to go on the 10th deck above the Lido to see the ship off.  It was a lot nicer day than last year when there were storms.  It was just the four of us this time.  We were all in one interior room with no portholes.  We missed mom's balcony! But, it was all good.

 Nice legs, huh!?

Deciding to Take a Cruise in 2014 (Southern Caribbean - July 13, 2014)

Well, after searching several vacation options for the summer of 2014, we finally settled on a cruise.  It seems like cruising is always an option.  One of our family goals is to visit all of the 50 states.  We are doing really well.  Kristi has three and I had four to visit. One of our possible trips was a road trip that would take us to new states.  We always peruse the cruising options and thought we could hit Alaska if we did an Alaskan cruise.  We could cruise, which we always love to do and see a new state.  We found that the airfare out west was as much as the cruise fare so it was really expensive.  The cruise fare was actually pretty good, but the total would have been a lot.

Adri really likes to cruise and was fulling diggin' the road trip idea.  So, we continue to look.  A more expensive option than the road trip, but a less expensive option than the Alaskan cruise was taking a cruise out of New Orleans.  We would be able to hit a new state, Louisiana, and still get to cruise.  This was both a good option and a bad option.  We would see a new state and this would have been on the Carnival Dream - a new ship for us.  But, all of the ports were ones we have been to before.  The other advantage is that we could drive.

In the meantime, I got a new job!  Kristi found a cruise that would take us to three new ports and was eight day rather than a seven day.  And, it was only $408 per person!  The bad thing was that it was sailing out of Ft. Lauderdale and on the Carnival Freedom.  We had been on the Carnival Freedom the last two cruises.  We could get plan tickets that would make the overall cruise the same as the one out of New Orleans.  It was still right in the middle of the trip option costs.  So, take an eight day to three new islands but on the same ship or take a seven day cruise to the same ports but on a new ship.  We decided the new ports.

The following posts will highlight a few aspects of the trip, especially changes made to the Freedom and the new islands/ports.

I am getting the art of doing selfies.  These pictures are from the cruise terminal.  Most reading this will know that drill.