Caribbean Cruise - Part 1

Hi Friends,
I finally got some time to sit down and write in detail about my Caribbean cruise vacation. So where should I start? I'll start by how and why we decided to go on cruise. My uncle and aunt have already been on 3 different cruises before and they were planning to go on one this year so I had told them to let me know once they decide on a location. Me and my brother were interested in taking a trip on cruise ...doesn't matter what location. My uncle decided on the Western Caribbean Cruise (via Carnival cruise line) which was from July 26th to Aug. 2nd, 2009 and cruise was leaving from fort Lauderdale, Florida. So there were 7 of us, my uncle, aunt, me, my brother and my 3 cousins. Since we had to fly to Florida, we flew in to Fort Lauderdale a day before our cruise since the air tickets were little cheaper that way and we stayed in hotel for a night. It was 7 days cruise and we visited Cayman Islands, Isla of Roatan, Belize and Cozumel (Mexico).

We got ready in the morning at our hotel and left for the port of Fort Lauderdale. Normally they start check-in around 12 and that's why we got to the port around 11:15-11:30 pm to beat the rush but guess what? There was already a line all the way out the door for check-in. First thing first, you have to tag your bags (with the tags the cruise give you), so when you reach the port, first thing you have to do is give your bags to the porter so he can transport them directly to your rooms and you don't have to carry them with you through check-in. There were two points of check-in. At first stop, they check your registration and passports and make you go through the scanner (just like at the airports). This was quick but then the real fun is the second stop for check-in. This was LOOONG. We could see the ship from the windows of the check-in register. Excitement was building up :). Once we got to the check-in desk, we again had to show our passports, and the lady gave us our room cards which was also our visa card on the ship. You don't use your credit card on the ship. Instead when you sign up for the cruise, you give your credit card number and they give you something called "sail and sign card" to use on the ship. If you want to buy anything, you use your "sail and sign" card.

Done with check-in, we proceed to our rooms, but unfortunately the rooms were not ready yet so we had to go straight to the deck (9th floor). We were hungry and as first time cruisers, I was excited to see the deck. Music, food, drinks, pool, slide, and bunch of kids! Yes, that's right! There were about 2 - 3 separate pools and they were all full with kids and their parents. But it was amazing! Tip #1: There will be waiters all around asking you if you want a drink (alcohol) and once you take it, they'll ask you for your sail and sign card to charge you on it! So make sure that you ask before getting a drink because drinks (soda and alcohol) are not free on the cruise! We got something to eat. My biggest concern on the cruise was food! Being a vegetarian, you don't get many choices...in fact, there are hardly any choices. All the food on the deck is free and all you can eat!

So after while, we were able to check in to our rooms. We had a 4 person cabin. Let me tell you one thing about these cabins! They're not big at all. 2 beds on each side, 2 small cabinets, 1 dresser, 1 bathroom (very small :(...hahaha) and 1 fridge (don't drink anything from that fridge because you'll be charged on your card later). I guess all of us hit our heads on the bunk bed once and if that wasn't enough, I even hit my head on the mail box stand outside our room :P. Luckily my uncle had an ocean view cabin and their room was twice as big as ours. So we were in their room most of the time :) enjoying the view of the ocean. It was time for the cruise to sail but before that the cruise manager made an announcement for all of the people to go outside on the 3rd and 4th floor for a quick life jacket training session. It was crowded like CRAZY! I could not see anything besides the 10x10 inch square area I was standing in.

Now before we can relax, our first task was to look through the excursions/tours of each island and decide what we wanted to choose. Tip #2: It's better to look at the list of excursions before you go on the cruise, this way you can book them right when you get on the ship or you can even book them ahead of time before getting on the cruise. Reason being is that there are limited spots on each tour and if the location is popular, they go fast. So it's better to book them as soon as you can. Since it was first time for me and my brother, we were having hard time choosing because half of the excursions...no..almost 75% of the excursions had something to do with knowing how to swim and both of us didn't know how to swim. Looking through all the tours and analyzing for almost 2-3 hours, we came up with the following excursions:
On Cayman Islands, we took the tour of "Best of Cayman Island tour".
On Isla of Roatan, we took the tour of "Pirates, birds, and monkeys" (my favorite excursion).
On Belize, we took a holly crap 6 hours looooooong tour of "Altan ha and River Wallace".
On Cozumel, Mexico, we took the "Adventure park, zip-line and snorkeling combo" excursion (another favorite one).

So after tiring 2-3 hours of discussion deciding the excursions, it was already time for dinner. Wow...the dining hall was just amaaazing! Each table has two waiters, head waiter and assistant waiter. They were very nice and friendly people. My uncle had been on carnival before and they have gotten indian food on request so I was hoping it would happen this time too. We were told that every night there is at least one vegetarian dish on the menu and luckily the first day we had an indian vegetarian dinner :) :). Just thinking about the dinner makes my mouth watery. We talked to the dining manager lady who was also super nice and told her if we can get indian food all 6 days. She said that most of their cooks are indian so that shouldn't be the problem. I almost jumped in my seat hearing this because believe it or not, food makes big difference in your trip...well it does in my trip :P. Dinner was amazing the first night and it made a great start for our trip that had not began yet. To welcome everyone on board, there was a welcome show by the musical crew of the cruise and welcome from the cruise director Tex. Really funny guy. He told us about the excitement coming up on the next couple of days with exciting performances from comedians, juggler, magician, and of course, from a hypnotist. It was night already and I wanted to go on the deck to take a look at the view at night. Apparently, the deck looks pretty at night since everything else around it is solid dark. You can't see anything...not even a single wave! Our first and last day was going to be on the cruise, so there was a lot coming up the next day. We called it a night earlier that day and went to bed.

Soooooooo if you're still awake and not bored by my introduction of the first day, stay tuned for the coming posts of island experiences! Tata!