Last week I embarked on a much needed, long anticipated cruise to the Bahama's with 3 good friends. The husbands, the kids, and the housework all stayed at home.
I was going to write a long post giving the entire debriefing of my Bahamian vacation. Instead, however, I think I will just hit the top 10 highlights.
1) I was upgraded to FIRST CLASS on my flight from Detroit to Orlando. Unfortunately, being pregnant, I couldn't take advantage of the free alcoholic drinks, so I had them keep the sprite and water refills coming. I got a pillow, my own blanket, and lots of snacks. It was heaven.
2) My first reaction to the cruise is that it was Cheesy. We were on an older boat with lots of neon and early 90's decor. The show on opening night, a tribute to riding on the Carnival Cruise Sensation: The Fun Ship and flying beach balls didn't help.
3) Waking up in the Bahama's on Monday morning helped immensely with the Cheese-factor of the cruise ship.
4) The Lucayan National Park was really cool. Underwater cave systems, kayaking, secluded beaches, baby raccoons, and seeing where they filmed Pirates of the Caribbean are some of the highlights.
5) The show on the second night was awesome even though it was cheesy: An 80's Music Review including selections from Flash Dance, Madonna, Prince, and Dirty Dancing and . . . I'm forgetting a whole bunch.
6) I didn't like snorkeling just like I thought I wouldn't. But it was nice to swim in the ocean.
7) I still regret, and will probably always regret not buying that ruby necklace in Nassau.
8) As a designer, I'm having ethical regrets about buying Designer-Knock-offs at the market, even though I love my new handbags and I got a great deal on them.
9) No matter how nice the weather happened to be in Michigan, I guarantee you it was much nicer in the Bahama's.
10) The ship had the most comfortable beds you can't even imagine. It was like being wrapped in a cloud.
One more: The buffet food was horrible. However, the plated meals were excellent. Especially the Indian Vegetarian dish we had on the last night.
Now for some facts:
1) All the vegetation on the Bahama islands comes there from Hurricanes.
2) There are no natural mammals on the islands. There are wild horses from shipwrecks years ago.
3) The water is very shallow all around the islands. The coral surrounding the islands helps protect it from hurricanes and tsunamis.
4) Bahama, orignally Baja Mar, means shallow waters in some other language (Spanish?)
5) Bahamians eat the most chicken per person out of anyone in the world. There are no cows on the islands. It would be too expensive to have them because all of their food would need to be imported.
6) The cruise ship served more than 12,000 meals a day
