Pic Spocket

We are back from our first cruise. We actually thought going in that we would not like the concept of a cruise, but it turned out that we really enjoyed our vacation.  The boat was nice, everything was well organized and the food was great. We had a decently sized room, with a large balcony in the front left side of the boat. We got also good luck with the weather. While it was kind of windy for most days, the sun was out and the temperature comfortable.

Also, this type of vacation helped me stay in line with my ‘diet and exercise’ plan. While it was very easy to eat too much of the wrong type of food (especially on the buffets), there was always healthy options available on the menu of the sit-down restaurants. Also the fitness room, located just above our room, was really great with a wall of windows in front of the cardio machines from which I saw several of the sunrises while exercising. The equipment was pretty much all new too. I did not take any weight in vacation, which is a first.

It is really amazing to realize the degree of organization it takes to get above 2000 passengers out of a ship, and the same amount of new passengers on board on the same day in addition to the replenishment of everything else (food, drinks, etc.). Overall, it was really well organized. We virtually did not wait. It was a bit overwhelming on our first few minutes on board: you have barely one foot in, that you have a glass of bubbles in hand, some photograph taking your picture, and after each couple steps somebody asking you if you’d like to make a reservation on one of the restaurant on board for the evening, or some other things. Good thing this was only for the first few minutes of the boarding process. Once the ‘bottleneck’ passed, you could relax a bit.

This was a 4 day cruise in the Bahamas with NCL (Norwegian Cruise Line). I have uploaded a lot of pictures in the photo album, but I am going to break down the post in several smaller parts on the blog.

DAY 1

We were departing from the port of Miami, Florida. We had a couple of hours to visit the ship and relax before the required safety exercise (everybody going to their assigned safety boat with their life vest).  Sailing time was at 5pm. If you look below, you can see Corinne fighting the already strong wind!

Right about sailing time, the party started on the Fun Deck where the pools are: people dancing in group, to the sound of the live band and the barbecue fired up.

Then, we headed out of the port toward the island of Grand Bahamas. We saw many other cruise ships heading out as well.

As Miami faded away we got a colorful sunset, a good sign for the day to come!

(see all pictures from Day 1)

DAY 2

That’s what’s great about a cruise: every day you wake up in a different place. First stop was at Freeport on the island of Grand Bahamas. This was kind of a strange stop. The ship docked in an industrial port, some kind of shipping platform. This seemed like an unusual spot. Not bad for pictures in morning light though.

The choice of activities for the day was limited. We did not feel like snorkeling yet, so we went with something relax: a visit of a garden called “Garden of the Groves”. This was OK without being outstanding.

We did see a few animals there:

Walking slowly around, looking for pictures opportunities, I could have passed more time than they gave us there. Before heading back to the ship, we stopped in a small shops area called Port Lucaya.

In very close proximity was very nice beach.

Again, we could have passed more time there to enjoy the beach more rather than hurrying back (early PM) to the ship with the organized tour.

(See all pictures from Day 2)

Stay tuned for part 2!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 at 12:09 pm and is filed under Travel, Album update, Our news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.