Our first cruise…
It was Wednesday, 25th Jan 2012.. 4:30pm.. We had
to fly from Philly to Orlando
the day before our cruise. Our cruise was from Port Canaveral (Florida) to Bahamas. We caught the flight on
time. The one-stop flight felt long and frustrating. But we coaxed ourselves thinking
about the fun that was going to begin the next day. We reached airport on time
and went to our cousins palce to stay overnight.
Thursday, 26th Jan 2012.. We got up at 7am. After
a little lazing around we decided to wake up and get to work.. The day felt
long and finally it came to 12 noon. We had our bags ready and were super
excited about taking the cruise. This is it! We carried only 2 pieces of hand
luggage. We did not carry any check-in bags. We decided to buy water bottles on
the way just before boarding the cruise. It was an hour and half drive from cousin’s
place to the port and we couldn’t wait to get a glimpse on it… Like the Status
of Liberty can be viewed from quite a distance we expected to view our vessel
from quite far off. The GPS was narrowing down and our excitement increased. We
stopped for few minutes to buy water and ginger ale and continued the drive
looking east to west for a glimpse. And finally far far away we found it! And
whoa it looked huge! It was tough to imagine that a thing so massive, with so
many storeys, carrying so many people and an enormous load of supplies was
actually a ship and one that we are going to board! The first sight of
Carnival’s signature wing on the cruise’s deck got our adrenalin up and
running. We could wait no longer and rushed to surrender our rental car at
Avis. The warm weather of Florida
was welcoming and as we enjoyed the breeze the courtesy shuttle took us to
Terminal B in Port Canaveral where Carnival Ecstasy was waiting to pick us up!
The shuttle dropped us a few meters away from Ecstasy. The
sight of the cruise was breathtaking. I had never imagined I would travel in a
cruise so huge, so trendy, stylish and royal! ‘Royal’ is the word! We were
welcomed by the staff of carnival – all neatly dressed and extremely courteous.
We had to show our cruise boarding pass (print) and passport for verification.
They had provided ice tea and lemonade for the passengers who travelled from
far away in the hot sun to board the fantastic cruise. The warm welcome put us
at ease and we were happy to step in. The first stop was the lounge where our
documents were further verified and we introduced ourselves formally to the
Carnival staff. Once the documents were scanned and verified we were off to the
next lounge were a quick photograph was taken. We moved further on to what
looked like a ‘gate’ in an airport, and soon we realized the ‘gate’ was taking
us across water into the cruise. We both decided to take a pause in front of
the ship and take a deep breath and get ready to enjoy the fun ahead.
Like I mentioned before and I may even mention it many more
times in the time to come, the cruise was MASSIVE. We had imagined some shake,
some jerk or simply anything (!?!) symbolic to make us feel like we were
standing on the cruise. But there was nothing. No shake, no jerk, no tilt, no
wobble, simply nothing. We felt like we were on land – just a very rich piece
of land! We were then standing on Deck 3 – the Gangway deck – which is commonly
used to get on / off the ship. We passengers were made to enter via one
entrance while another bigger entrance on the side of the ship was used to
commute the supplies. Deck 3 was simple, it contained elevators to take us to
our respective decks upstairs. Forgot to mention, while our pictures were taken
in the lobby we were given 2 cards (one each). It was a blue carnival ecstasy
card which had our names, the deck we belonged to, a table number (for dining
perhaps! We dint know then…) and something called a ‘muster station’. We had
assumed it to be our access key and made sure to hold it safe. So at deck 3, we
took an elevator and went straight to Deck 7 – the Empress deck where our room
was allotted. Our room number was E62 – Ocean view room – which had a peep
window for us to look out into the ocean. This being our first cruise we dint
want to venture into a balcony room (and get scared at the very sight of water)
nor did we want to book an interior room (and get nightmares thinking what is
outside the ship). So ocean view room sounded perfect, and indeed it was….
Empress Deck was overwhelming! It had colours and wallpapers
all over. The rooms were divided as odd numbers on one side and even numbers on
the other. We opened E62 using our access key and the first look was
surprising. The room was smaller than I had imagined. But the room contained
amenities that I had never imagined! A queen size bed, neatly stacked, 4
pillows, a luggage sheet (for us to keep our luggage on and not dirty the
mattress) a water bottle, few coke and other soda bottles, a welcome brochure
from Carnival, the day’s agenda, a tv, 2 beach towels, many other regular
towels, 2 bathrobes, a small restroom with a stand-on shower, the basic
freshener-kit and a big wide open
peep-out window with drapes to lookout into the ocean during sail. The room was
just perfect! Though the room ‘looked’ small it contained all that any person
would need and it was quite comforting.
Any person who had watched the Titanic movie or any other
movie featuring ships would know which areas of a cruise to look out for, to
get the best views of the outside and we were no exception. We took a small
while to get settled in our room and we were soon all set to venture into all
the parts of the cruise. We wanted to stand at the grills of the cruise and
wait to watch the crowd outside as our cruise started to move. We had reached
the ship around 2:30pm and the ship was set to sail at 4:30pm. We were having a
merry time hanging around different parts of the ship –
Deck 8 – The Atlantis – It had a restaurant named Wind star,
a theatre named Blue sapphire, a dance floor – cum – pub, a chineese restaurant
Deck 9 – The Promenade – It had the upper deck of theatre
blue sapphire, separate play area for kids, a mini theatre, Serenity and the
Casino.
Deck 10 – The Lido – It was
the gateway to ‘the outside’ of the ship. It had the swimming pool and major
food courts.
Deck 11 – It had a separate play area for kids (different
age group), 2 table tennis boards on one side of the cruise
Deck 12 – It was the upper most deck of the cruise. On one
side it contained golf course jogging track and the grill to the front of the
ship, on the other side it contained the famous water slide and other games
Around 4pm the captain of the ship made an announcement and
we were separated into groups. The groups were asked to move to their
respective ‘muster stations’. Now the muster station information on our access
card made sense! We quickly moved to our respective stations and we were given
brief instructions on safety procedures while cruising. We were also taken to
the areas where the lifeboats were stationed and were given instructions on
using them in case of emergency. Soon it was 4:30pm and we started to sail! As
I had mentioned earlier there was no jerk or shake of any kind and it was a
smooth sail from the Port Canaveral. We were standing at the grill in the front
of the ship and as it comes in the movie Titanic, we saw dolphins jump in the
water ahead of us. There were few other ships docked at Port Canaveral and we
wondered if they were coming along. We slowly overcame the fear of water and
took our time to relax and enjoy the ship. We spent the evening roaming to all
different parts of the ship and understanding where we were. There was a show
arranged that evening in the blue sapphire theatre. The show was called
‘Welcome fun ship’ and the description mentioned music and dance. With no prior
notions, we attended the show. The show began with the cruise’s entertainment
crew introducing themselves and also introduced 2 lead stand-up comedians who
were going to make shows in the next 2 days of the cruise. Later there was a
live band playing amazing music, 2 singers (with the best voice) singing a
medley of songs about having fun on the cruise which was accompanied by a group
of very talented dancers who changed their costume and steps and moves almost
every minute. The show was mind blowing and we were taken to a whole new world
after the show. If this was not enough we later went to Wind Star (Deck 8) to
have dinner and we were surprised to see many Indians at work. We had
pre-ordered Indian food for the cruise and we were excited to have some good
food then. We had rajma, dhal, khadi and rice for dinner that night and it was
quite soothing. We enjoyed the rest of the night hanging around the terrace,
the lido deck and different other parts of the cruise before we slept. It was a
great start for a first day and we couldn’t wait to know what was planned for
the rest of the trip. The schedule for the second day was already at our bed
and we were even more excited looking at it. We were reaching Nassau, Bahamas
the next day…!
We wanted to get up early but as usual we woke up at our own
pace. The morning has never been so beautiful before. The look outside the
ocean view peep-out window was spectacular. The clear blue water was everywhere
around and there was no sight of land anywhere. Suddenly we realized it was a
bit scary to have water everywhere. But soon we found we had company. There
were more ships coming our way. They were other agency-cruises which were also
sailing to Bahamas.
It was quite relieving to see other ships travelling in the same route, for God
forbid, in case of any emergency we knew there were people to come and save us!
Slowly and lazily we were off to explore the ship again and without any delay
we reached our first pitstop – Lido Deck – food courts! Continental breakfast
was at its best. The buffet contained all that anyone would dream of for eating
in a breakfast. There was salad, fries, burgers, cut fruits, veggies, sweets,
milk, yogurt, icecream, omlette and what not! Trust me, I have named just a
FEW! While having a great hefty breakfast we noticed Australian Open Mens
semifinals being aired on tv and it was an un-droppable match – Djokovic Vs
Murray. The match was quite interesting and we sat glued to our chairs watching
tv. We were curious to know the result of this match as well as the result of
an other match (Nadal Vs Federer) to find out who were going to compete for the
finals the next day. After hours of nail-biting moments the match came to an
end and we knew the result. The finals was scheduled the day after – Djokovic
Vs Nadal. We made up our minds not to miss it. There were still couple of hours
left before we reached Nassau.
We decided to have some fun till then and entered the Casino. We played slot
machines for a long time and also enquired about Slot tournaments going to be
help in the next few days. A little more gaming and finally we decided to get
ready and pack things for Nassau.
Around noon we saw the port approaching and we were excited. Our ship was going
to dock from 12noon to 8pm so we had only that time to roam inside Nassau. The
disembarkation went smooth as we carried our room keys, passports and other
things (in backpack) and set foot on Nassau.
The place was noisy, busy and people were buzzling around the island in all
directions. Our little homework at home helped us and we quickly made way to
the lobby (reception) and enquired about bay street.
We walked into the streets of Nassau, gazed at the bay street, straw market
and other small shops on the way and briskly made our way to the nearest bus
stop. Like in Chennai we quickly waved at a bus and boarded it and were off to
the most important attraction in Nassau,
also a very important tourist spot in the world – the Atlantis. The bus stopped
just at the entrance of the bridge to Paradise Island.
There were many ways to cross the bridge – water taxi ($4), cab ($4). We chose
to walk the bridge! Thanks to the 4 cans of Ginger Ale and 4 water bottles we
carried we finally crossed the bridge. The view of Atlantis was breath taking
and we could wait no longer to get inside.
Atlantis was famous for a variety of reasons - the resort,
the casino, the aquarium, marine village and most importantly the location and
the beach. We had done some homework earlier on which tourist pass to purchase
and how to plan our time at Nassau.
We had narrowed down our selection to Atlantis after a few other
considerations. We had wanted to visit the Sheraton group of hotels and enjoy
their beach and facilities (they charged $25). Else we were planning to visit
the Blue Lagoon which was a separate island on its own. We had to take a water
taxi from the paradise island entrance and travel to the blue lagoon. It
contained its own beach with hammock, chairs, umbrellas, tubes and various
other fun equipments. It had few food stalls on the coast and it also provided
a dolphin adventure activity where we get a chance to swim and spend time with
dolphins. The entrance fee for blue lagoon was $54. After valuing the different
options and checking directions in Nassau map,
we noticed that Sheraton was way across the west end of Nassau while Atlantis was at the far east.
Considering the amount of time our ship docked at Nassau we decided to visit Atlantis and the
nearby beaches.
Cabbage beach is a public access beach right beside Atlantis
and we had read good reviews about the place in our homework. While the sun was
out and shining we decided to enjoy the beach first before visiting other
areas. Cabbage beach was wonderful as we had heard and we spent relaxing
2-3hours at the beach. We simply spread out towels on the sand and laid down at
the shore for some time and later we couldn’t resist watching the clear blue
water. We changed to swim clothes and spent quality time swimming, dipping and
dancing at the beach. After few hours of thorough fun at the beach we walked
towards Atlantis. Little did we know that the ticket counters close at 4:30. By
the time we reached Atlantis the counters were closed already and thanks to his
extremely good negotiation skills, we were able to coax the owners and purchase
2 tickets to their aquarium ($34). The aquarium of Atlantis was called ‘The
Dig’. It was an underground aquarium where apart from sea world, different
archeological artifacts were on display. They were the things and equipments
used by the explorers of Atlantis many decades ago. The place was historical at
the same time giving brilliant views of a variety of sea animals. The trip was
totally worth it! It was beginning to get dark already and we slowly ventured
into other areas of Atlantis. Normally those areas would require an entry
ticket for visitors but our luck favored and we happily ventured into all the
areas, no questions asked.
We visited the lobby, casino, beach, water theme park and
other areas of Atlantis and had a merry time. The Atlantis was absolutely
beautiful and it made the day quite memorable. Time was fast approaching and we
were ready to start our way back to the ship. Before we left Nassau we wanted to buy some memorable from
the island and so we left Atlantis. Luck was totally our side as we found a
free shuttle from Atlantis to our ship. We got down just near our ship and
ventured into the streets looking to buy a few things. After half hour of
shopping we bought a face mask for our sister and decorative wind chimes for
ourselves. Nassau
was a great experience and we had no mind to leave the place, but our cruise
was equally welcoming, so with a heavy heart we left for the cruise. Just
before boarding the ship we enjoyed surfing using the free wi-fi at Nassau reception lounge.
And when it was time we were back on Ecstasy.
The ship was warm and welcoming and the eating-mela began in
full swing. To make the day better there were a number of shows lined up for
the night. After enjoying the excellent Indian food at wind star and few other
snacks at lido deck we attended few comedy shows that night.. We attended all
the shows and with a happy heart, slept peacefully that night.
Third day was more
exciting than the other days I should say, coz this day was an all-in-ship day.
The ship was going to sail the whole day and we were going to have fun in the
ship. Initially before we boarded the cruise I could not imagine what maximum
can happen in one day, now I realize one day is not enough! There were so many
activities on the ship – one day would not be enough to enjoy them all. But we
did our best and had our share of fun in abundance. It was a bright sunny
morning and we got up and had a lazy breakfast. Then we strolled around
different parts of the ship watching the different activities around. People of
all ages were having fun of their own kind. We saw kids in the pool, adults in
the hot tub, people just sitting by the corners and enjoying the splendid view
of blue water around, people grabbing bites, some crowd in the casino, some
checking out the pictures taken by cruise crew and some like us – taking a
pleasure stroll.
We then noticed one of the table tennis boards free and
decided to check our skill on the game. I never knew that I could play table
tennis so well! The game gave us so much fun that we had no minds to stop. We
played 4 games, made our own rules, excused each other for our mistakes and had
thorough fun. Later we went to the sports park area of the cruise and played
golf. Needless to say we were good at Golf too. There were people jogging
around us on the jogging track and we had our share of fun playing the 10 golf
courses set up on the front of the cruise. After hours of games and fun we
decided to try our luck at the casino. Slot machines are so easy to play, no
big math, no calculations, no predictions, no combinations. All we needed was
money and time to kill. The way the casino operated was also new and
fascinating. We had to our access card before we began to use a slot machine.
We can input some virtual money onto our card and play with the amount
inherited. At the end of our game depending on whether we win or lose money,
the casino cashiers will settle the amount. We needn’t carry cash or credit
card inside anywhere in the ship. Our access card was the key to everything
inside the ship.
We don’t remember how much time we spent at the slot machine
for time just flew. It was soon time for lunch and we went to windstar to enjoy
a feast. Windstar was welcoming as always and I couldn’t resist my temptation
to enjoy a hefty Indian meal. They were so courteous; they made us fresh food –
rice, dhal, potato curry – and served us the delicious menu within 15mins.
While we waited for the Indian food he ordered a garden enchilada. It also
tasted good and it helped us kill time till our main order came. Lunch was sure
hefty and our stomach and hearts were full.
There were a number of comedy shows and other fun shows
arranged for the evening hence we decided to take a break and sleep for a
while. But the lunch gave us some strength and we decided to venture into other
areas of the ship once again. There was one part of the ship we have been
waiting to get our hands on, but hesitated as I was little scared. It was the
waterslide park of the cruise. There were 2 massive water slides at the back of
the ship. A big yellow water slide that had many loops, one of them even
extending little outside the ship walls – that was one of the main attractions
of the ship. The other comparatively smaller blue slide which did not have any
loops but one straight slide downwards. Both the slides ended in a pile of
water and there were small showers beside the slides to keep us wet. We had
heard of the water slide attractions while doing homework but the very sight of
the yellow slide gave me a scare. Though I am quite fond of water sports and I
was very eager to have my fun in this area, I decided not to try the yellow
slide. We made up our minds and decided to give the blue slide a try. We
quickly changed to our swim clothes and came up to the slides. The blue slide
was fantastic and I couldn’t stop having fun. We were completely drenched in
water and the slide was so much fun. We decided not to try the yellow slide and
instead spend more time on the blue slide. It was a fantastic experience and we
had major fun in the water. After an hour of soaking fun we went to our room,
little tired. As planned earlier we wanted to sleep for a while and gear up for
the rest of the evening. We slept for about an hour.
We got up around 6pm and I remembered in a flash that it was
the ‘formal’ evening that day. Each day the agenda for the next day was being
made available to all passengers, as I had mentioned earlier. In the agenda
they also mentioned dress code for the next evening. Usually the dress code
would be ‘Cruise Casuals’ and we were allowed to dress up in casual summer
dresses. But the dress code for that night (28th Jan) was ‘Cruise
Elegant’. We were supposed to wear elegant, formal dresses for the evening. The
dress code applied to those who wished to have dinner in the restaurant (Wind
Star). There was still a small population who wished to avoid the restaurant
and had dinner at the Lido deck watching the
blue water around. Initially before boarding the cruise, I too had a similar
idea. I wanted to skip the formal night and wished to hang out else where on
the cruise. But he decided otherwise and so we carried formal attire with us,
for that evening. I wore a red cotton embroided cotton saree along with matching accessories. He wore a
blue blazer with light blue shirt and blue formal pant. I should say we looked
smart and elegant in our attire. We took a sneak-peak outside our room just to
check if others were dressed up for the occasion too. And indeed they were. Our
fellow passengers were brilliantly dressed in rich formal attires and the air
was buzzing with lot of commotion and excitement for the evening. The cruise
by-itself gave us a rich feeling and this formal night was taking things to a
totally different level altogether. Very elegantly dresses we slowly made our
way to one of the comedy club shows and settled down in a corner. The comedy
shows were lot of fun but internally we were scared and dint want the comedians
to move the spotlight on us and crack up a joke involving us J I
knew we were being silly but these were small fears that surrounded us. We
watched 2 comedy shows (family related jokes) and it was time for dinner.
I was initially shy to walk out into the cruise wearing
Indian formal dress. I knew I was dressed up elegantly but felt I would not be
able to gel with the rest of the crowd. But soon I was proved wrong. We both
received many compliments that we looked nice, pretty, handsome and smart. It
kept our spirits high and we were beginning to enjoy the attention and enjoy
the evening. We headed straight towards Windstar and I was beginning to get
excited thinking about Indian. The restaurant was all set for the formal night
and the waiters were all dressed up in rich formal attire. We received the
first shock when we were seated in a separate table, and before we knew, the
head waiter came to us, addressed us by our names and wished us a pleasant
evening. The waiters and all crew members of the cruise were from different
parts of the world. They all wore name badges which also contained the name of
their native country. This head waiter was hailing from Indonesia and
we were totally shocked when he addressed us by names. The minute we checked in
to the restaurant (after mentioning our room number) the waiter was alerted and
he studied our names quickly and addressed us politely. It was a great gesture
and we thoroughly loved it. Soon we ordered all the Indian food. We had a bowl
of cut fruits for appetizer, standard Indian meal for main course. The standard
Indian meal usually consisted of a bowl of rice, 1 dal and 2 vegetables. The
dishes used to be of high quality and they were always delicious. That night
the menu was more special. We were served a bowl of rice, a bowl of aloo mutter
(potato peas), a bowl of malai kofta (potato dish)and a bowl of ladies finger
kurma. They were all our favourite dishes and they tasted simply superb. We couldn’t
stop ourselves with 1 serving and so we ordered another. After having a
sumptuous meal we ordered the dessert. On all our nights in the cruise we ordered a particular dessert
– Warm chocolate melting cake, apart from others. This dessert contained a
small bowl which had the warm chocolate cake and it was served with a scoop of
vanilla icecream in the side. It was one of the most delicious desserts we have
ever tasted. We fell in love with the dessert so much so that we ordered it ‘by
default’ everyday, apart from other desserts.
The dinner was soon coming to an end and I could hardly even
rise from my seat after eating so much. It was then that we received another
surprise. The head waiter approached us again and this time congratulated us
for our Anniversary. My husband had mentioned that this was our 2nd
wedding anniversary trip, while booking the tickets (which was almost 1 month
earlier). The cruise crew had made note of the same and they were waiting for
this moment to surprise us. We were totally taken aback as the chef mentioned
our anniversary and we simply sat there spellbound. Soon 2 other waiters joined
the head chef and brought us a small cake with a candle lit on top and asked us
to cut and celebrate. The head chef soon clapped, grabbed attention of all
fellow passengers who were having dinner around, and announced our anniversary
and sang a song. It was a truly memorable moment and we were too spell bound to
react. We quickly blew the candle and kissed and celebrated the moment with
tears on eyes. It was too touchy and we couldn’t thank everyone enough for
making the night very special for us. It was one of the best dinners we had and
one that we will never forget.
After the dinner we went personally to thank the head waiter
and others for making all the arrangements for the perfect surprise. It was a
beautiful surprise initiated by my husband, well executed by the cruise crew.
Hats off to all! We spent rest of the evening watching few more comedy shows.
We changed to casuals little late in the night and attended few other comedy
shows and came back to our room almost around midnight. On the whole it was a
fantastic night, so touchy that I cant express in words..
The next day began with mixed feelings in our minds. On one
side we were totally excited to visit another island of the Bahamas, Freeport.
On the other, we were getting to feel upset that it was the 4th and
final day on our first cruise and we will have to deport the ship very next day.
We were so upset to leave the ship that at one point we even decided to stay
inside the ship and not get down to visit Freeport. But soon we coaxed
ourselves that our next cruise trip shouldn’t be too long and we will
definitely have more such experiences to cherish. I was secretly imagining how
much fun our kids would have when we bring them along in the next cruise trip J
So with heavy hearts we soon made up our mind and decided to have another blast
of fun at Freeport.
The day began at the usual pace and we slowly got dressed up and moved to Lido deck to have breakfast. Needless to say, we had a
hefty breakfast with all that we could imagine – cereal, milk, fruits, nuts and
what not! (oohh…my mouth waters as I imagine the scene now…). It was broad
daylight soon and it was almost nearing noon when we were reaching Freeport. I was enjoying
the sight of island shore approaching us slowly as we stood on the side of the
ship.
Our earlier homework revealed that Freeport
did not have as many hotspots as in Nassau
but we did have few key places to visit. The main attraction in Freeport was the beach
and the market place adjoining the beach. The place was called Port Lucaya. The
place had a vast stream of many domestic and international shops covering food,
clothing, gifts, internet café etc. Anybody
who visited Freeport
will not miss Port Lucaya and the beach. I will come to details on Lucaya a
little later, as we visited another attraction before that. The next major
attraction in Freeport is the Garden of Grooves.
As the name suggests, it is a garden with a walking trail which has many
grooves and it is a place of serene beauty. We had done quite a bit of homework
on the attractions at Freeport
but we had no idea how to get to those places. As soon as we got down we
quickly found our way through the crowd and located the sign board which said
‘reception / lobby’. We rushed our way to the lobby only to find out there was
nobody in the room. We asked some fellow travelers nearby on directions of maps
and they pointed us to a nearby wall where many brochures and pamphlets were
kept. We grabbed a map and tried to locate the attractions we had in mind. It
wasn’t an easy task and so we asked some natives on directions. We learnt that
Lucaya and Garden were far apart and we needed some mode of commute to visit the
places. We had several options – rental car (they charged $75 for the day),
scooter rental ($40 for the day) or walk! As you would agree with me, walk
wasn’t the best option. And there was no other public transportation we could
make use of. Hence we narrowed down to car or scooter. Life in US is totally
dependent on car, so we thought we would make use of this opportunity and drive
a bike. I was hoping the bikes weren’t too sophisticated with many shift gears
and pedals and brakes. Thankfully the bike was more similar to Scooty Pep (in India) and I
was most comfortable riding it.
After paying the rental amount, we got the helmets on, the
security gave us instructions on how to ride the bike, which lane to be riding
on, where to fuel our vehicle and most importantly how and when to get back
home. We listened to all the instructions attentively and soon off we went
biking! Now, I had never imagined in my life that I would be riding a bike (as
similar as Scooty Pep) on foreign soil where we visited for the first time and
whose directions we weren’t even sure of! It was a crazy idea but we had
enormous fun. Soon we forgot all the tearful moments on the ship and thoroughly
enjoyed the bike ride. Initially he drove the bike and I sat at the back
holding a map in hand and giving him directions and soon we switched positions.
The ride was long, roads were smooth, we lost directions a few times, but still
it felt amazing. We went past Port Lucaya and drove further and reached the Garden of Grooves first.
I had read about the Garden of Grooves
earlier but we still we had no clue what was in store for us at the place. With
open mind we went to the garden and got an instant discount at the entrance
ticket counter. It was a beautiful garden with all kinds of flowers and trees
around. The atmosphere was calm and serene and the beauty is
indescribable. There was a walking trail
which took us through all the regions of the garden and we slowly made our way
through the dense garden with the help of a map. There were ducks and turtles
on the way and we gazed at the beauty, took pictures and had a pleasure filled,
stress relieving walk inside. I still don’t remember how much we spent inside
the garden but when we came out, I remember we were relaxed, refreshed and
contented at heart.
It was already past noon and we started to take the long
ride back to Port Lucaya marketplace and the beach. The ride on the way back
was better than the onward ride as we had overcome the fear of being in foreign
land, fear of obeying traffic rules, fear of foreign cops (!), fear of losing
directions and so we began to enjoy the ride. Soon we reached Port Lucaya
market place. After parking the vehicle we first wanted to visit the beach and
it was slowly getting dark in the area and we were worried it was going to
rain. The beach was as beautiful or even better than the Nassau beach. The water was crystal clear and
felt warmer. Since we already took a dip at Nassau we decided to things easier here and
rested on the shore. The sound of water, the sight of blue clear water, the
warm waves touching our feet, the sun glowing at the sky above, it was so
soothing to our mind our body. We spent few hours at the beach and we felt
totally relaxed. Soon the clouds were getting thicker and I wanted to get back to
the cruise before it rained, so we decided to do a quick shopping and bid adieu
to Freeport. We visited many shops in Port Lucaya market place. We were able to
get the wi-fi password from a shop and access free internet. We sent an email
to friends and relatives on how much fun we had. Soon it was time and we left
the place and enjoyed rest of the ride back to cruise deck.
It was 3 in the afternoon and we were about to return our
bike. We had developed a special love for the ride and we were so heart-broken
to return the bike. We did take a few pictures with the helmet and the bike
before we returned
Once inside the ship we did not waste a minute and headed
straight towards Lido deck. The previous night
we had wanted to try Mangolian food at the food court but the back-to-back show
timings and formal day events were so tight that we could not make it to the
food court. Today as we headed to the Lido
deck I hoped secretly that the Mongolian food was available – and indeed it
was! It was a very pleasant surprise and our joy knew no bounds. The food
tasted normal and not-spicy but we loved the fact that we did not miss tasting
it! It was a great feeling and we had a hearty meal at Lido
deck. Soon after lunch we checked the time, realized the cruise would sail away
only at 5. There was still about 45mins left and we decided to quickly get down
the ship again and do a quick shopping. Frankly speaking I was a little scared
about the immigration and boarding-back-the-sip procedures but still we made a
quick decision and ran for a quick shopping. We checked out all the shops near
the dock and browsed through all the fancy items on display. Though ultimately
we did not buy anything from the shops, we were so excited to have debarked the
ship for the quick shopping. It was a fun filled experience and we had a
memorable time. Soon it was time, our hearts were content, we boarded Carnival
Ecstasy again and bid adieu to Freeport.
Back at the ship we slept for couple of hours and spent rest
of the evening loitering around the different parts of the ship and watching
all the fun activities. We even watched the famous Hairy Chest contest of the
Carnival cruise. Later that evening we watched another dance and drama show
from the cruise’ entertainment team – it was called ‘the Dream Voyage’ show.
Needless to say the dance and drama and music were so amazing, I was almost in
tears. We caught up with few more comedy club shows, enjoyed yet another
mouth-watering Indian dinner at Windstar and slowly made our way to our room.
Our hearts were heavy and we had no mood to sleep that night. We quickly
dressed up casually and ventured out into the cruise again and took many
pictures. It was getting late in the night and we settled down at the casino.
Another ‘quarter machine’ was up and running and quite ‘welcoming’. We decided
to try our luck yet again and spent few hours at the machine. We did not win
any jackpot but we the fun we had the casino was priceless. It was almost past
midnight and we slowly walked to our room. We needed a good night sleep as we
had to get back to routine the next day.
As always our rooms were made ready and there were clear
instructions on how we should debark the ship the next day and how we should
handle immigration. For non immigrants like us, the cruise had arranged a
separate immigration process at 6am the next day in order to avoid crowd at the
entrance of the ship while debarkation. The processes and procedures were
simple but very well planned and we had no worry about the debarkation. With a
smile on our faces we slept that night in E62.
The next day was the toughest day we spent on the cruise. It
was the day we had to debark from the cruise. The 4 days we spent on Ecstasy
were unimaginable and indescribable. It had turned out to be one of the most
memorable experiences we ever had and we were so longing to take another cruise
very soon. With heavy hearts, we left for the immigration process at 6am and it
was very well planned and executed by the crew members. We did not have to wait
in long queues, no crowd, no commotion around. We were neatly seated in the
grand lobby (arena) of the cruise and the immigration panel were on stage.
One-by-one we moved slowly to the next available immigration officer on stage
and got our formalities cleared. It was very well organized and it has been the
best immigration process we have come across, till date. Soon we took a shower,
packed our bags and had a hefty breakfast one more time at Lido
deck and were all set to debark the cruise around 9:30am. It was so tough to look
back at the cruise before getting down, but we were sure this wasn’t going to
end there. We will definitely come back for more cruise experiences and will be
more than happy to pen down our sweet memories here…..
