My first trip out of the country was on a cruise, and I went to the #Bahamas, it was a 3-day #cruise. Back then I used a travel agent to book the trip. I still have no idea where they got the money for our booking and how they made a profit. All I had to do was get my butt to the Pittsburgh airport, fly to Florida, then from FL airport, looked for signs for some van, got on that van then got dropped off at the port, then just looked for the ship name, walk up the plank, give our name, leave our luggage and walked on board. I was under 21 and took alcohol in a #Scope mouthwash bottle, so I remember being nervous they would go through my luggage and take it. When you walk on the boat it is beautiful, a floating hotel, truly.
A cruise is fun, but the pool gets packed, you have to drop a towel first thing in the morning, and by afternoon, everyone is on top of each other.
I did a #Carnival boat, so kids were running around, and splashing in the pool.
The bars and drinks are expansive if you don’t get a drink package. But since I had that Scope bottle, I got non-alcoholic drinks and poured in my own fun.
At night on the boat, sometimes you would walk past a bar and it had zero people, but the bar beside it was bumpin', the cruise-line really amped up the parties for different times and the location of the evening.
I remember the ‘captain’s dinner’, You were to have formal attire, even a gown was suggested, and boy there were people with gowns on but most people were casual- closed-toe look. There would be entertainment, as a show and was pretty good. Even at the pool, there was entertainment, the usual game show for newlyweds.
For your rooms, if you don’t get a room with a view, you are down at the bottom of the boat, in small hallways, and the bathroom and shower is all a one level floor and about a single size bathroom, and the room is tiny- just a bed, a place to put your suitcase and that is it.
As for when I got off in the Bahamas, it was hard to navigate, you are pushed into a large hall and walk past tables of excursions available. I went on an excursion (already booked via the travel agent), it was a dolphin encounter and was amazing, hosted by a great, legit company, though many of the companies are getting a lot of slack now to let all dolphins roam and swim free and stop the paying for entertainment).
There were excisions you could pay for in the large hall that was still open and many people trying to sell you things when you walked around, if you made eye contact, it was too late, if you let someone put a hat on your head or a bracelet on your wrist saying they want you to have it or you look beautiful with it, you better get your wallet, because they are saying "now pay me for this".
But after, you could walk the streets of the Bahamas, I took a wrong turn and ended up with army men with rifles in their hands telling me I wasn't allowed to go, and "not that way", you know, really safe.
We tried to find the beach, but again, another way for them to make money, the boat didn’t drop you off at a beach, you had to get transportation there, many people found this out so just walked a little and ended up in a small rocky area that was overpopulated from every other ship that was docked. For shopping, you could walk up 1 or 2 streets, but they were full tourists and not authentic merch.
Then there was entertainment right beside the doc., a Senior frogs, but drinks were just as, if not more, as expensive than on the boat, they also offered food, but you already paid for the food part of your cruise so it was stupid to not go on the boat for dinner again, and at that rate, you wouldn’t have got back on the boat to get back off to go to that 1 bar for entertainment.
In the morning, the cleaning crew is up, and everything smells like bleach. I remember getting in the hot tub in the morning, on top of the boat, and my skin burning from the bleach.
You sometimes feel the ship move, but not really, it’s not like you have to catch your balance or hang on to anything at sea. But there are bags open that line the stairwells if you need it.
Wow, I really sold this. Seriously though, give it a try, I was young and naive and had booked through a travel agent, so anywhere I turned I was up to pay for more entertainment.
Side note, thank goodness for Facebook to see all of the old pictures.
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