Hello! Long time no write...but I figured the event of the year was as good a reason as any to blog! This vacation was something I'd been looking forward to for a whole year, and it didn't disappoint! We flew the red-eye to Orlando the day after Christmas, and boarded the Carnival Sunshine out of Port Canaveral the next day.
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| Sail-off party |
The first day was Nassau, Bahamas. Hans and I went to Nassau on our honeymoon cruise as well, but we didn't get to do any excursions that time. This time, we got to go to Atlantis! It was so awesome! There were a bunch of cool slides and stuff, but my favorite part was the lazy river...except it wasn't really a lazy river, it was like a rapid river. There were little drops and fast parts and stuff, and then at one part, it took you right into a slide/water coaster type thing. I definitely recommend this resort to anyone who goes to Nassau :)
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| Atlantis |
The next day was a sea day, and then we went to St. Thomas. St. Thomas is sooo beautiful! We had an excursion to Magen's Bay, which I guess is one of the top 10 beaches in the world, according to National Geographic. It was super pretty: white sand, clear water, palm trees. The only thing is, it rained and it was a little cold. But we had fun anyways :)
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| Magen's Bay |
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| View of Magen's Bay from the top of the island |
After St. Thomas, we stopped in San Juan. I really loved San Juan; it felt very European, which I guess makes sense. We didn't have an excursion here, but we walked around town and visited the two forts: San Cristobal and El Morro. Both were really interesting and cool to see! I definitely hope I can make it back to San Juan again, it's such an interesting city!
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| Loved the cute, colorful buildings! |
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| San Cristobal |
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| View of the city from San Cristobal |
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| El Morro |
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| El Morro |
That night was New Years'! I've never been to such a crazy New Years' party! The whole deck was PACKED with people. It was a lot of fun! And a good excuse to wear a sparkly dress :)
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| New Years' party |
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| New Years' party |
The last stop on the cruise was Grand Turk. Grand Turk is the most BEAUTIFUL place I've ever been to....possibly tied with Coco Cay. The water was an absolutely gorgeous, clear, turquoise blue, the sand was white....it was exactly like you'd imagine an island paradise. I wish we could've seen more of the island, but I'm pretty sure we were just docked at a little beach owned by Carnival, because it was just shops, a pool, a Margaritaville, and the beach. If you wanted to get anywhere else, you had to take a taxi or a bus. But still, I loved being there. I would totally live in a place like that if I could (maybe minus the hurricanes...).
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| Grand Turk |
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| Grand Turk |
The last day was a sea day, and then we docked again in Port Canaveral. A guy that my mother-in-law works with was kind enough to let us stay at his time share in Orlando. It was a Wyndham resort, literally right down the road from Downtown Disney, and it was SO nice. We got to stay there for 3 nights. Unfortunately, Hans had to go home the day we got back into port, but it was probably for the best...he hates theme parks, and I'm sure he would've hated the insane crowds at Disney and Universal! But the rest of us got to go to the Magic Kingdom that Sunday! I love Disney World. It's really just a nostaglia thing, but I seriously had so much fun! And it was cool to see the new part of the park as well! Disney really does such an amazing job with their theming...which they should for how much you pay for those tickets. But anywho, we rode all the good rides (the best ones we rode multiple times), bought some ears, and ate some delicious food (nutella and fruit waffle sandwich?? Yes please!). Overall, an awesome day!
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| Downtown Disney with Hans, Rachel, and Sophie |
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| Downtown Disney with Hans, Rachel, and Sophie |
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| Magic Kingdom! |
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| Beast's castle |
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| Eric's castle |
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| Cinderella's castle, all lit up and icy for Christmas! |
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| Fireworks show while we were riding the Seven Dwarves' Mine Train |
On Monday, we went to Universal. I was so happy, some really nice person at my sister's church paid for her to come with me! Yay! So we ended up splitting for this one. Rachel and I went to Universal Studios, while everyone else went to Islands of Adventure. I've been so excited to go to Universal Studios since they built Diagon Alley...and I was NOT disappointed. It. Is. AWESOME. They set it up like a London street, and then you go through one of the buildings, and there you are in Diagon Alley! It looks exactly like it did in the movie, and they even have the dragon on top of Gringotts....and it breathes fire! Way sweet! So we checked out the shops, got some butter beer treats (frozen butterbeer for me, and butterbeer ice cream for Rachel...OMG SO DELICIOUS), and then we went on the Gringotts ride. It was SO fun!! I enjoyed it a lot more than the Hogwarts ride in Islands of Adventure. I think they fixed all the little bugs and smoothed it out. It was basically the same type of ride (4-D), but it was more of a rollercoaster as well. Very much worth it. So besides Diagon Alley, we hit all the older rides, and then checked out the new Simpsons part of the park, which was also very cool! I got a delicious pink donut (mmmmm, donuts), and we checked out Moe's bar. Everything looked just like the show! I'm really glad we got to do Universal, it's one of my favorite parks :)
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| The front of Diagon Alley |
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| Inside Diagon Alley |
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| Diagon Alley |
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| The dragon breathing fire |
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| Inside Gringotts |
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| Butterbeer! |
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| The Knight Bus and Stan Shunpike! That creepy head actually talked too. Like, as in had conversations. |
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| Duff Man! |
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| Inside Moe's |
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| Homer Donut |
I seriously had so much fun on this vacation! I'm so sad to be back in real life (and back in Elko). But now it's time to start planning for our next vacation.....PARIS!! :D
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