Bahamas!

Really honestly it is an understatement to attempt to use "amazing", "awesome" or any other single word to explain the time that we had aboard our cruise to the Bahamas. It was more than we could have asked for and we come back to Oregon absolutely spoiled and full of God's blessings. Here are some snapshots from our stupendous time, but just know...it really is beyond words :)

1st Day
Miami and Beyond!

In Miami waiting for boarding time, we took a walk down the LONG pier in search of sun screen for the two white Oregonians :)

The ships were amazing!

It was a gorgeous walk so we decided to get our cameras out and play a little.

Yes, we're photo nerds, but its our hobby and this IS play for us :)

Miami

Finally on the ship! (they made us put our cameras away as we went through customs :( We couldn't believe how many cruise ships were lined up, we counted at least six different cruise lines!

Hanging out on the back deck waiting for our stateroom to be ready :) We we're going on 34 hours of being up! We REALLY needed a shower!

So we decided to do a camera tour of our ship & get to know it.

The very center of the ship, the "atrium". I loved the glass elevators!

They went up 12 stories (they began on deck 5 and went up 12!)

Taking a load off :)

Just one of the quiet little places to sit...well come weren't so quiet :)

Another lounge

The hallway through which we entered.

Throughout the course of the 4 days this wall was lined with pics, yes we fell victim to their plan and purchased an incredibly overpriced picture :) (I love it!)

A cool little room to go play games and it was attached to a library :)

The architecture and thought they put into every little detail was just beautiful

One of the two main dining rooms. We ate here 3 of the four nights and for lunch once.

The main theater! There were two shows here every night, they were so much fun.

This show was our favorite! The comedian/ magician was hilarious! We were rolling over laughing half the time.

They also had a Broadway piece show with dancing and singing from 5 different Broadway shows put together and on the last night they did a variety show with comedy, dancing and singing that was just awesome!

This was where the espresso bar was. The coffee on board was almost un-edible, and that's a lot for me to say. So i did break down a got a latte once :) I had to pay extra for it, but it was worth it :)

They had ping-pong, basketball hoop, volleyball net, full arcade, and a bunch of other stuff I did get pics of.

Top deck looking toward the front of the ship (I learned that was Aft :) )


My favorite place on the ship! While Joe was in his conferences this was my sanctuary! Two big pools...

And four hot tubs :)

Then up on the front of the ship there was another splashing pool and a hot tub right to the right of this picture.

The hot tub is right behind Joe, I just loved this pic, the only thing that could have made it better if he would have been in the swan dive position with Titanic music playing :)

OH THE FOOD!!! The following is just the lunch buffet...this buffet was changed for meals but was open almost 24/4 (we weren't there 7)

Deli station

Fruit

Salads

Meat (and to the right is the grill)

Wok station :)

Breads, soups, and awesome cheeses

Oh the deserts! Yum!

This was taken on our last night in the main dining room, but i just wanted to make your mouth water. It was an amazing German chocolate cake! (and you can't see the ice cream i had to get to go with it :))

The second big buffet on the back of the ship

The drink line

To the left of this picture is a big open seating that you can look out over the ocean and enjoy your meals :)

One of Joe's fav places :)

What can I say, its easy to make him happy :)

Going to our room, I thought it was incredibly kind of them to have the fishes always facing the front of the boat. It helped you not get lost :)

our little friend that was waiting on the bed for us :)

Our state room!

Looking from the bed

The bathroom is through that door, and that was our little couch...we never actually did sit on it though :)

The five by five bathroom. Just don't try to turn around :)

2nd Day
Grand Bahamas!

So we were so exhausted the second day because we had been up for so long that I slept in while Joe went to part of his conference so we didn't' actually get going until after noon. Then we decided we'd go off the ship and try to go into the actual town. But when we got off we didn't have any cash. After trying the ATM that wouldn't even recognize our visa card, we decided to just walk around here...

And after 20 mins we decided to get back on the ship :) It was an awesome day we just vegged on board, ate a lot and I think we even took a nap :) It was a rough day :)

3rd Day
Nassau

After Joe's morning classes we were scheduled for an excursion to swim with the stingrays!

Waiting to go

Nassau from the ship, it was gorgeous, I could barely believe the vibrancy of all the colors!

Atlantas water park. You should google it! We didnt' get to go but it looked amazing :)

Our ship to take us to the excursion.

Even in the ahamas!

Looking back at our ship

Coming up to the island

They felt soo weird, I even got to hold on!

This was the rough part :)

Then we went for a walk and found another beach just 100 yards away that no one was on...we fixed that :)

But not for long, we had made some friends at the wireless reception the night before and ended up joining them...

We had a blast!

I love beach volleyball!

Heading back to the ship for our Anniversary dinner..we paid a little extra cover charge and ate at the nicest restaurant on the ship. It was a steak house and I got a full plate loaded with Alaskan King Crab that they even cut down the middle for me so all i had to do is slide my fork along and get three inch CHUNKS of the most amazing crab I've ever tasted (and that's not even sharing the details of the appetizers and deserts, Ill be nice :) )

Day 4
Almost Great Stirrup Cay

We were supposed to go on to an island this day but the wind was too rough and the ended up canceling passage onto the island due to the fact that the tender boats couldn't make the exchange. It was no loss though, instead me and a friend I had played volleyball with the day before sat out in the wonderful sun all morning (while our guys were in their class)...

It was especially rough with the fun live band playing all day, and the pool in front of us :)

After our guys got out, the four of us enjoyed amazing bbq on deck...
Then we all retired for an afternoon nap, met back up with a huge group for dinner and proceeded to have an amazing last night! It included karaoke, the finally show,a game show, comedian show, more karaoke, lots of dancing, a toga party, and ended with us all talking in one of the lounges until 2 am! Such great friends and such a fun night!

And with that our cruise came to an end.

It was sad to see something so spectacular end...but we new when the sun came back up...we'd be on our way home to our little girl...and that made all the difference :)