Carnival Legend Day 2

Our second day on the ship was at sea. We had booked a spa appointment when we first got on board for 10am this day. We did the $89 special which included a facial, scalp massage, neck & back massage with hot stones, and a foot massage. They used my favorite product, Elemis. We ate the homemade pizza for lunch. It was so good. We then went to the "15 minute" 1 hour shopping talk. She talked for 1 solid hour about all the stuff we were going to learn from her in her "15 minute talk." I finally left to put my swim suit on while Vince stayed for the drawing. We didn't win anything. The pool water was actually warm, which is a first for me on a cruise ship. And it wasn't at all crowded - another first. I laid out for a bit and then decided to go work out in the fitness room. I did the bike for 30 minutes while Vince napped in the room.

We got all dressed up for Captain's night and the first formal dinner. We took several pictures. They served us lobster, shrimp, prime rib, etc. After dinner was a nice jazz show. Our towel that night was the elephant.

This room had so much gold decor that it tinted our pictures.

This is Freddy the mascot of Carnival Cruise Lines.

Carnival Legend Day 1

We arrived in Tampa by 11:30am. It took us a few turns around the area to figure out how to get in the parking garage. This was the worst port as far as organization and ease of getting in and out. We paid $98 to park and walked across the street to the port. We walked up to the front door and the guard looked at my passport & told me my maiden name on the passport did not match my cruise ticket last name. I had thought about changing my passport, but I knew it may not be back in time. I didn't even think about bringing my marriage certificate or birth certificate. I had my driver's license, SS card and voter's registration. He finally let me go up to the desk. The lady that checked out paperwork at the desk never even noticed the names & let us get on board. Whew! We immediately called Vince's parents to be on notice in case we need our marriage license faxed to someone (but thank goodness we never needed it).

As soon as we boarded, we ate lunch. They had a huge buffet (4 actually) that had different types of food (Asian, Deli, Rotesserie, Mediterranean) and a salad bar and dessert bar. Our rooms were not ready until 1:30pm so we ate first thing.



We sailed out on the day of our 1 year wedding anniversary. For Vince's anniversary gift, I surprised him by upgrading our cabin to an extended balcony cabin. This was our view.

At 3:30pm, we had to do the drill. It's the first time ever that we didn't need to wear the life jacket. They said the rules had changed that week. Nice. They showed us how to wear them, much like watching the flight attendant on an airplane buckling a seat belt.

As we sailed out, we passed tons of huge oil companies. Some had nice pictures painted on the tanks.

For dinner, we ate in the Truffles dining room. The chandeliers were made of glass. In fact, there were glass decorations all over the boat. For our first dinner, I had strip steak, mac & cheese, and black forest chocolate gateau dessert.

As we were walking to the show after dinner, we caught the sun setting and watched it settle over the horizon.

Before the show started, we played a trivia game. Vince was one of 3 winners with the most answers correct. He won a "piece of ship on a stick" (a trophy). The show was a nice little welcome show with some singers and dancers. They didn't allow cameras.

After the show, we wandered all over the ship. We found the chapel & the library.

Along all the corridors were many sexual pictures and naked people. This was one of the most explicit.

And then we came back to our room and found our first towel.....um...animal? We decided it looked like something entirely different. I'll let you guess what we thought it was.

We then ventured to the nightlife areas and found the Firebird Lounge. There were 4 Asian guys there singing everything from Spanish Ballads to Dave Matthews and ZZ Top. They were really good.

To finish up our first night, we stopped in at the disco, Medusa's Lair. The decor all over this ship was really great with lots of attention to detail.

Vacation Day 1

Vince & I took a well deserved vacation this past week. We drove to Spring Hill, Florida on Friday evening and got there around 11pm. On Saturday, April 10, we ventured to one of our favorite little beaches, Pine Island. The weather was a bit overcast, but was sunny at the beach. It costs $3 per car to go to this beach.

On the way to Pine Island (which is all of 10 minutes from my parents' house in Spring Hill), we stopped at a biker's restaurant to eat fish & chips. We ate outside on the deck, next to the swamp which had a real alligator in it. The signs said do not feed the alligators, but of course everyone was. Good thing we were several feet higher than the water. We also saw a boat which looked like it was loose & coming down the road straight towards it. It ended up being a boat on wheels that someone was driving like a car. So weird. I didn't get a chance to get a picture of it.

We did however get a picture of the fin swimming in towards the swimmers at the beach. Everyone kept saying it was a dolphin, but it never jumped or came up to breath. It just stalked like a shark. I'm convinced it was a shark.

That evening we settled into the Spring Hill house and watched a Clint Eastwood movie and ate PBJs and popcorn. We also changed out a few burned out bulbs & cleaned up the house before we left the next day.

My Checklist

I've been making a checklist for the cruise trip we're going on. It will be for 8 days, 7 nights. Luckily, Vince's parents will be house sitting for us so that will be a great relief. So on to the list. I'll have to take dress clothes for the evenings (2 nights of which are formal dinners), shorts for the day, and some layers for the cool areas on the ship, such as the theaters. I'll also need swim suits, cover ups, and my new wet suit. And of course I'll need shoes for all my outfits.

Vince has been helping me think of all the things I'll need for the cruise that I don't normally pack for trips. One of those things is a power strip cord. Each cruise I've been on has small rooms that only have one outlet in them and sometimes it's in an odd area so your curling iron is no where near a mirror when you plug it in. This is a great tool to have on board.

Another item is my small folding step stool. The showers are usually really narrow so you can't bend over & shave your legs & there is nothing to prop them up on. It's a wonderful prop to have in the shower.

Binoculars are also wonderful to have so we can spot sea life & other ships in the distance. We're also taking things such as Ziploc bags, rain slickers, water shoes, suntan lotion, bug repellant, passports, medicine (i.e. Immodium AD & Dramamine), hats, goggles, and more.

One other important item to take is our set of walkie talkies. The boat has no cell coverage on board so if you get separated it's so difficult to find the other party. This will be our first attempt at using them on board so I hope they work out well.

If any of my readers can think of other items that will come in handy, feel free to comment.

New Workout

So the P90X retry died in February along with most of my motivation. I quit back when I we got bad colds & sinus infections. So now that I keep looking thicker, I've decided I definitely need to get back in shape. I tried a new workout video tonight from the Biggest Loser. Trainer Bob led me in a hard core 30 minute cardio workout. It was a really good workout. Hopefully I'll keep my momemtum for a while.

Easter Weekend

Vince & I met at the Blu Martini in downtown Greenville on April 15, 2008. We had not been back since then so we decided to go visit the spot that connected us. We were in the 4th booth against the wall during our 6 minutes while speed dating. They've taken out the booth seating and replaced it with a hard wood bench in a u-shape. It was still cool to relive the memories & get pictures.

Downtown Greenville was hosting a band and party when we arrived, but they were 5 minutes from stopping so we sort of missed out on hearing the band. I think we heard one song before they stopped.

A few months ago, we attended an open house for the Drury Inn on Woodruff Road. They gave both Vince & I a free night's stay good through April. We decided to stay Thursday & Good Friday night since I didn't have to go to work Friday (although I did have to work from the hotel some). They gave us an awesome suite. They also had an indoor/outdoor pool, but it had 100 kids in it so we passed on the swimming. I asked one group of 8 girls why they were there. One girl was having a birthday. I never thought about hosting a birthday party at a hotel, but with an indoor/outdoor heated pool, whirlpool, free hot breakfast, and free dinner, it sounded like a pretty good idea. (Only not so much for the rest of the guests staying at the hotel.)

One cool thing about Easter weekend is that Vince & I were married on Easter weekend last year. Also, my friend Suzie gave us a tree to symbolize our growth in marriage. And it's Easter...so that in & of itself is fabulous. We love that we share our anniversary with the savior's resurrection.

I met Suzie for lunch this week at the Olive Garden. She reminded me to take a picture of the tree each year. And April is a great time of year to photo the tree since that is when the pink blossoms are on the tree. Vince figured out the self timer on my camera and set up the tri-pod for our annual picture with the tree. We dressed up for Easter Sunday so I got a few extra shots as well.