Our Western Caribbean Cruise....

Hey guys! Happy Tuesday! How are you today? Good, I hope! I have been cleaning my house all day long!!! But, I am happy to report that it looks so much better! I'm still tackling the mountain of laundry, but it is not as big of a pile! LOL!!

Anyways, I know many of you said you wanted to hear all about our cruise...so I thought I would write up a blog post with pix about our trip. We took a Carnival Cruise (Carnival Fantasy) to the Western Caribbean December 28th, 2009 through January 2nd 2010 that left out of Mobile, AL. We visited Cozumel and Calica, Mexico. It was the trip of a lifetime for us and absolutely fabulous!!!!!! It was our first cruise. We loved every single minute of it and highly recommend a cruise to anyone who is interested. As a matter of fact, we already have our next one planned. For my birthday in October, we are going to travel to New York, New York to board one (Carnival Glory) headed for Boston, Portland, Halifax, and St. John. It will be a 7 day cruise and if possible we are definitely doing a balcony this time around. We had a ocean view stateroom on the recent cruise and although it was wonderful, we want our own balcony for this next go round!! This cruise was so much fun and so romantic! I enjoyed it so much!!!!

If I had to tell you anything that stood out the whole trip, the first had to be the whole dining experience in the evening. It was absolutely marvelous! The food is fabulous! You get an appetizer, a entree, and then dessert. It was all so good! Our waiter and assistant waiter were both so nice and really took the time to talk with us. The Maitre' De (totally probably did not spell that right....LOL) also came around every night to ask us how our day was and if everything was ok. You could tell they really actually enjoyed their work. They (the whole staff onboard ship) made you feel like a king and queen. It was amazing! Then secondly, the shows! I had so much fun watching the shows each night. Also, all of the activities they have planned! There is never a second of the day there is not something to do. They have all sorts of fun games and activities. Even for the kiddies! It was awesome to see all they do with the kids. They have a special little club and you would not even know there were kids on the ship. Now Brandon and I love kids and don't mind them in the least, but let's face it...some people do not like to be bothered with kids on their vacay. Either way, a cruise was perfect. We were told there were 702 kids onboard ship with us, we rarely saw any of them. They have fun activities and special places for them to go. But if you want to join in the fun with them, you can. Then there was also special things for the tween's to do...even a little club they could hang out and chat at. So all around, a cruise to me is the perfect getaway for a family or for a couple! So my words to you are...TAKE A CRUISE!!! You will simply adore it!!!!

Now on to the pix.....

Now, for the pix. First, I am going to share with you the 4 that I actually purchased on the ship. These are out of order on my computer, but I thought I would share them first and then go in order with the one's Brandon and I took.

Ok, first up. On every cruise, they have a elegant night where you can really dress up. It was so weird to see Brandon in a dress coat. I don't think I've seen him in one since our wedding....7 years ago!!! He was so handsome. But on this night, you can have pictures made with the choice of your backdrop. I chose the backdrop that mimics the stairs leading into the dining room on the famed Titanic ship. I love that movie and knew I wanted our pic made in front of it. Since the pictures were so costly, we chose our favorite one and only purchased one. But they were having a special on the canvas prints. So for $55 we got this portrait printed on a 16x20 canvas and received the 8x10 for free. I was so glad we did this. Brandon and I do not have any portraits of ourselves except at weddings or dances (prom) in our house. So now we will have a nicer one of just us. I can't wait to get it framed!!! But I scanned the 8x10 so you could see. It looks like I need to clean off my scanner, so I hope you can see these first ok.

Next, we chose to purchase our debarkation photo that they took of us as we were boarding the ship. Not my favorite, but I liked that it had the date, where we went, and the ship on the picture. I can't wait to scrap this one!! I think I am going to do a special album of this trip and keep it separate. I need to find some tropical papers/embellishments. If anyone has any suggestions, do let me know! :)

They took this little photo of us before we boarded the boat to travel out to sea for the Atlantis Submarine.

Now this picture was too hilarious not to buy. During our visit to Carlos N Charlies (which I give details later on in the post) they took this pic of us. They handed us this huge wooden heart to hold and snapped a few photos. Now why on earth this says 'happy sex' on it, I have no clue. But it was too funny! I had to have it! I am going to put this in our bedroom. They put it in a special frame that has a monkey on it and says the name of the restaurant. It was $30, which in my opinion was way to high, but we are on vacay, so I let it slide. LOL.

Now....on to the pix that we took......

Once we arrived in Mobile, we had to wait in a really long line just to get into the parking deck. The first sight of the boat, I had to snap a pic. It was so exciting!!!!

Here I am up on the top deck as we set sail....

Here is my Brandon up on the top deck as we set sail for Mexico. He was having so much fun and I was so elated!!! Brandon works so hard and he so deserved this wonderful vacay more than me. I kept thanking him the whole time we were onboard the ship. He is the best and I am so happy we shared this trip together!!!


A fellow cruiser was nice enough to snap a pic of us together. We had just picked up our drinks and went to the front of the ship on the top deck to see the ocean. It was such a fun moment!! So romantic too! After being in the car all day, my makeup and hair could be better, but I did not care at this point! LOL.

The little tug boat was just too cute next to our ship. If you know me, I have a thing for tiny stuff. So when I saw this itty bitty boat next to our big ol' ship, I had to snap a pic.

Brandon caught me sippin' on a mixed drink as we are sailing out of the bay. Yum! Waiter! Two please! LOL

Here is the view from the Upper Deck. This is the back of the ship with Mobile Bay in the background.

Mobile Bay

Me as we were cruising out of Mobile Bay. It was soooo cold! I had to borrow Brandon's jacket. I had left mine in our room

Brandon....

The sunset as we cruised out of Mobile.

Now I know some of you have cruised before, but I thought I would post some pix of our stateroom just in case there were some out there who have never been on a ship and were curious. Now, I was pleasantly surprised. Our room was a lot bigger than I expected. It was very roomy and very cozy. Our stateroom steward was absolutely fabulous! I loved her to pieces! She was so fun and was the best to keep our room neat and tidy. As I mentioned before, we got a Ocean View Stateroom. The window was very large and it was wonderful to wake up to see the ocean. Our bed was so comfy. I could of stayed in there for weeks!!! The boat did rock some, but not much. Brandon nor I got seasick. To us, the swaying motion was almost like a rocking chair. It literally would 'rock' you to sleep if you sat for too long. LOL. As you can see, we had our own TV. The channels were out of Denver, Colorado, which was weird to us, but whatever. They also had a lot of 'Carnival' channels that tell you about things going on onboard ship and views with live cameras of different places of the ship.

PS....excuse the glare on the window from the flash. Brandon took these. I told him not to use a flash, but you can't tell men anything! LOL

So as you walk in the door, this is what you see...

Now, from the other side, you can see that we had a little area for getting ready...a vanity almost. This is where the only plug in located in the suite is located. So if you do decide to cruise and are like me...take a surge protector to plug up your hair dryers/curling irons/flat irons. I got ready here everyday and it was so fun! Then on the right you see 3 doors. These are the closets we had. We had plenty of space to store our things. Then on the left was the bathroom, which was small, but not as tiny as I expected. The shower was very roomy and I loved it. Then there was a smalls ink and the toilet. Now, the toilet in itself was an experience! If you have ever flushed on a ship, you will know what I mean. But Brandon said he wishes he had a camera to take a picture of my face when I flushed the toilet to see what it sounded like when we first entered the room. It is so loud!!! I started laughing and joked with Brandon. I told him...'you better not flush that when you are sitting on it....you might lose something you need later!' ROFL! I know! TMI (too much info)...but too funny not to share with yall!

Our towel critter on night #1. I believe this is supposed to be a walrus???

Day two was spent at sea. We spent this time exploring the ship. We visited the casino, hung out up on the deck, played putt putt, ate some fabulous food on the Lido deck, and then dressed for dinner. After dinner, of course we had to see the nightly show. All of the shows onboard ship were fabulous! I think that was one of my favorite parts. There were no camera's allowed in the lounge, so no pix to show of that. But know they were so awesome! They also had some adult comedy 2 nights on the ship and it was downright hilarious! I laughed so hard! It was the best time!

While exploring the ship on day #2, one of the 'fun days at sea,' we wanted to check out the casino. Brandon and I both have never gambled. Gambling is illegal in Alabama and it is just not something we grew up with. I know here in PA you can do lotto and stuff, but we never do. So we had to give it a try to say we did! LOL. So here is Brandon in the casino trying to figure it out. Luckily, the staff in here is so helpful and explained it to us. We only set aside $20 for this. Sad to say, we are not good at this! Ha ha! But it was fun and something new...

Go Brandon Go! Win some dough!!! He actually did well!!! Me on the other hand....

My first time gambling....rofl! Luck be with me!!! It so was not! Brandon had won $11 at this point. I lost all of it and then some! Ha ha! I am not the gambling type of person, but hey...I had to try it just once! I was so confused! But it was fun to watch other people...

The sun setting on day #2 was gorgeous! I loved the rays poking out of the clouds and shining on the sea.

Brandon enjoying the sunset on day #2....

Our towel critter on evening #3...I believe this one is an elephant.

Here is our ship docked in the bay at Cozumel. It looks big, but you should of seen the ship next to ours. It made ours look tiny. This is the Carnival Fantasy and I believe it is the oldest in the Carnival line of ships. It was built in 1990, but it was fabulous! It was gorgeous on the inside. Everything had been updated and we loved it!!!

Once we were docked in Cozumel, Brandon and I headed off for our shore excursion. We decided to do the 'Atlantis Submarine' excursion. You took a boat from the Harbor for a 15 minute boat ride out to the reef. Once there, you boarded a submarine that held about 65 people. Each person had their own little porthole window. The views were great! It was so exciting to see the reef and all the fishies. We were told that they sometimes see small sharks and stingrays, but sadly, we did not see any during our dive down. Here is a view of the submarine from the boat. Isn't it cute?! I loved it!

Upclose of the little submarine....

About 30 feet down, we spotted 'Dori' (from 'Finding Nemo')....LOL! The kids onboard were all so cute! They were all 'Mommy...I see Dori! I see Dori!' The colors of the reef were not like I expected. I expected more color, but there really was not. It was mostley all tones of blue, green, and brown. Our guide was the best! She was so informative and we learned so much!!

View of the reef about 55 feet down. This was so much fun! I've always wanted to go scuba diving, but this little submarine was the next best thing. It was like you were swimming with the fishies.

Here is a view of the reef at about 100 feet...

After our shore excursion, we hopped in a taxi and headed to the Hard Rock Cafe for some lunch. They gave you the cutest glasses to drink out of. Here is Brandon...

Here I am at Hard Rock with my cool glass!

Did you know that the smalled Hard Rock Cafe in the world was in Cozumel, Mexico??!!! I did not....well not until we ate there for lunch during our day in Cozumel. The food was delish!!! I had some kind of Twisted Macaroni dish and Brandon had some kind of BBQ steak thingy. Both were fabulous!

The whole peso thing was so funny and slightly confusing to me! For example, here is a pic of our ticket from Hard Rock....our food was $526.00....peso's that is. I just found it interesting. Brandon thought I was nuts for taking this pic, but I don't care. :)

Here I am workin' a sombrero!!! ROFL! No, I did not buy one, but I had to try one on!!! Anywho, the shopping in Cozumel was tops too! Loved it! Anything you wanted, you could find it and at a very reasonable price! All of the people were so nice! I don't know why, but I was so surprised. I mean, I know they are nice because they want you to buy stuff in their store, but even when you did not purchase anything, they still were chatty and friendly. Loved it!

Brandon enjoying his last beer before heading back to the ship. He already has a scrapbook page in mind for me to do of this picture. He was drinking a beer by the name of 'Dos Equis.' We had been noticing the commercials for it here in the state for sometime. A rather stupid commerical, but it talks about a man who never drinks beer, but when he does, it's 'Dos Equis' and this makes him 'the most interesting man in the world.' So as we were standing here enjoying the ocean air and colorful people, Brandon mentioned that I needed to do a layout about him being 'the most interesting man in the world.' LOL. Yall know my husband and scrappiness right....he is so tuned in to notice things that I should scrap. Gotta love him!!!

The shoreline of Cozumel. The picture does not do it justice. It was kinda overcasty, but it was still so beautiful! The water and the beach was stunning!!! Love love LOVED Cozumel! Yall gotta go!!!!

Here is Brandon back on the ship after our day out and about in Cozumel...

Here I am back on the ship after a long, hot day in Cozumel....so ignore the shiny face and messy hair! LOL. That's the coastline of Cozumel behind me...

View of Cozumel at the end of the day. The skies were kinda overcasty, so the picture does not do Cozumel justice. The water was so beautiful and everything was so colorful!

On day 3 we visited Calica, Mexico. Here is the view from the ship from where we docked. It was a breathtaking view!!! I loved Calica! We decided not to do a shore excursion in Calica. We wanted to wing it. So we first took some pix from onboard the ship. Next, when you get off of the ship, there are taxi's lined up as far as the eye can see. It was $26 for round trip cab fare into the city of Calica. The taxi ride in itself was an experience, let me tell you! The driving was questionable at best! LOL. But we just sat back and giggled the whole time. It took about 15 minutes to get into the city. We got our taxi driver to drop us off near the place we wanted to eat. Calica was filled with all sorts of little shops and places to eat. The beaches were beautiful and all of the people were so friendly. If you have never been, I would say go! It was fabulous!!!! I hope I can return one day!!!

I just had to get a pic of nothing but the water. Isn't it gorgeous? It was like a turquoise blue and I could just stare at it for hours. I've never seen water so clear and so blue. Fabulous!!!

Brandon and I on the deck of the ship before heading to Calica. Everyone on the ship is soooo nice! There was a lady jogging by and she offered to snap our pic. I was so glad! When there are only 2 of you traveling, it's so hard to get pix together!!! But here we are with Calica in the background. Isn't it beautiful? I love love love Mexico!!!

For lunch in Calica, Mexico, we decided to go to 'Carlos N' Charlies.' It was recommended by several friends/family/fellow crew members. We were told they are known for their food and wacky atmosphere. Well let me tell you...they were not kidding when they said wacky atmosphere. It was so weird, but fun!!! The waiters all goofed with you and with each other. It was literally like dinner and a show! Ha ha! They have a live DJ and posters/tshirts/etc. hung all over the walls. So anyways, we were sitting at our table waiting on our food when the DJ plays a really upbeat song and turns it up. Before I know it, a waiter is yanking me up out of my table to dance!!! Actually, all of the waiters were choosing someone from each table to dance with. It was so weird, but fun! I was laughing the whole time!

This was the 2nd waiter I danced with. As you can tell by the expression on my face, I was like 'What in the heck???!!!!' LOL. I can definitely say dancing with a waiter in a restaurant was a first for me! Ha ha! But it was fun!

Here is the outside view of where we ate. It is located on the top floor and was called 'Carlos N Charlie's'. They are known for their food and waiters. It was such a fun atmosphere....like one big party. You could eat either on the inside or out on the deck. We chose to eat on the inside. It was so hot during this day. The food was absolutely fabulous. Of course, it was different than the Mexican food you get here in the states. Brandon had fajitas and I had chicken enchilada's. Both dishes were so yummy!!! But the main thing was all the fun we had! We were smiling from the time we arrived to the time we left. Such a different, fun atmosphere! We would go back in a heartbeat!

Senor Frogs...a very popular dining place in Calica. I believe they had one in Cozumel too. It looked like a blast! But we had just finished eating when we strolled by here and did not go in.

This was the beach in front of Senor Frogs...a popular dining place. I think Brandon and I will go here and eat the next time we go down to Mexico. Can you tell we already are planning to go back? Hee hee! It was that wonderful! Gotta go again!

One of the local beaches in Calica. The water was absolutely breathtaking. It was so blue and the sand was so white. Pure heaven!!!!

Walking down the street in Calica. You can see all of the vendors on each side of the street. A lot of the shops were so much fun to go in. My only complaint...everywhere you went they locals would be outside shouting something like...'Hey! Come in! Best Price.' It got old after a while. Also on this particular day, Brandon was wearing a Alabama football t-shirt. So everyone would shout 'Hey, Alabama! You come inside!' I felt bad ignoring them, but you just had to at times!!! They were all very nice people, just very eager I guess! LOL. But the shopping in Calica was awesome! Talk about great prices! You can get all of your souveniers at a great rate!! They also had pottery and hand painted stuff everywhere. I wanted a plate so bad, but I was being good and did not purchase one. I was saving my money for the pictures they take of you on the ship. They are on the pricey end and I wanted to make sure I had enough money. Of course, at the end of the cruise, I was kicking myself in the butt because after all the souveniers and pictures, I walked off the ship with a little over $200 left! Darn! Next time, I'm gonna purchase me some other goodies!!! LOL

Our towel critter for New Year's Eve. All of these little critters were just so cute!

At dinner on New Year's Eve, they gave us these little hats to put on our heads, lei's to wear around our neck or wrists, and the little things you blow on. Everyone on the ship looked so festive. It was so fun. Brandon snapped this shot of me before we left our stateroom to go up on deck to ring in the New Year.

ROFL! Here I am with my New Year's ensemble....

Here is Brandon with his New Year's hat on in the room before we left to go up on deck. He was crackin' me up with this thing on his head!! He just looked so goofy! We laughed and laughed!

Here I am toasting my glass to the New Year! Let me just say that the only thing about cruising is your hair!!! The saltwater breeze, although fabulous, did not mix with my hair! LOL. The minute I stepped out onto the deck, my hair went all curly.

P.S. I am not a fan of champagne!!! That was so gross! I took my sip when the New Year rang in and that was it! LOL!

Brandon holding his bubbly while awaiting the New Year! It looks like he is giving it a thumbs up! LOL

Yay!!! 2010!!! It was so fun to do the 10 second countdown with all of the other people onboard ship. We counted down and then they blew the ship's horn. So exciting!!! It was an experience I will never forget!!!

Brandon snapped this one of me on the way to our last dinner on the cruise. This is the first time I wore this outfit and he thought it was cute, so he made me stop to snap a pic. That's my husband! Always thinking of stuff like this! Anyways, it was so sad!!! I could not believe we were going to our last dinner. The trip flew by too fast!!!! If I remember right, I had a shrimp and pasta dish and Brandon had some type of Caribbean Chicken dish. They both were so scrumptious!!!!

I hope you have enjoyed this little post (or should I say looonnnnggg post...tee hee) about our cruise. We definitely had the time of our lives and can't wait for the next one! If you have any questions or if I made anything sound confusing and you want to know more, let me know! I'll be more than happy to answer anything for ya! It was just such a blast! I am so very thankful I got to go!!!

As always, thank you for stopping by my blog! Happy Scrappin' and Happy Cruisin'! LOL