Across Country Trip: Days 19-22

Days 19-22: October 12-16

My step-sister and now brother-in-law invited close family and friends to go with them on their Honeymoon to the Bahamas. Since my brother-in-laws father works for Disney we got great deals on a Disney Cruise to Nassau and Castaway Cay. My brother-in-laws family, my dad, step-mom, step-sister Alisha, Brother-in-law Jason, Sister Jessica, Shannon's friends Brian and Poppy and the Newly Weds all went.

Leaving Florida - view from the ship

Dad, Step-Mom Jeanne, Shannon & Manny (the newlyweds)

My sister Jessica and I on the deck of the ship

One of two towers of the ship

The ship was huge and had Disney Decor, 3 Dining Rooms and a Buffet, 3 pools (one for Adults only), an Art Gallery, a Theater, a Movie Theater, Rout 66 (the area where all the bars were) and wonderful cabin rooms! Dad had warned Jessica and I that our rooms were cheaper so we didn't have a balcony or as nice of a room, but in actually the only difference was the balcony-every thing else was the same! It was huge! A bed, a couch, TV, bathroom, closet and even a vanity. The crew on the ship were so nice!! Every single employee that you passed greeted you and if you had a problem they were always more than happy to assist you! The food was amazing! I even tried Escargot.. not my favorite, but not as bad as one might expect. I ate so much food on the ship-I must have gained 5 pounds!

Me and Jessica at dinner one night

Jessica and I at the last dinner on the ship

In Nassau Dad, Jeanne, Jessica and I went on a catamaran cruise and deep sea snorkeling! I love snorkeling so I was super excited!!! The lady sitting next to us panicked like crazy... it was kind of funny. The crew of the excursion were throwing food to the fish so they call swam around us in schools of fish. It was so awesome!!! The actual island of Nassau was a let down for me. It was more touristy that I expected and people were all trying to sell you things every where you went. It made it difficult to get a feel for local life. I like to get to know the local side of places I visit.

Castaway Cay is an island owned and run by Disney. Its made for only beach play. Jessica and I went on a Sting Ray Excursion. We got to feel and pet the sting rays and then snorkel with them! It was amazing! I learned that Sting Rays can get as big as a 22foot span in the wild. I learned that they are friendly creatures and the main reasons why people get stuck by them is because they step on them and the sting ray reacts by defending itself. I learned that Sing Rays like being pet and are actually friendly. The scary thing was that they bury themselves in the sand so its hard to actually see them and made Jessica and I nervous to step down in the sand while we were snorkeling. It was my favorite thing on the cruise by far!

Every night there were events and live theater plays. The plays were cute and made for kids, but I enjoyed them a lot!! There were also adult activities that we did like a cooking class, napkin folding and towel folding (Our room cleaner folded our towels in a different animal shape every night for fold down). There was so much to do that we could only do a handful of things each day.

One of the live theater shows on the ship

It was a great experience and I really enjoyed it and spending time with the family and most of all my sister.