NYC to Bahamas

June 2010

We are both retired as of this past February and this cruise was an example of the kind of thing we figured we'd be doing.  Taking advantage of a last minute deal.  The absence of a work schedule meant we could jump on the deal that came to us via email from Travelocity.com just five weeks before.  This trip was a day longer and cost $500 less than the New England cruise we were on last fall.  So how could we pass it by....

In addition, the cruise involved 2-1/2 days at sea on either end which meant more time to simply relax and catch up on our reading.  Days at sea are also more flexible since we wouldn't be getting up for a shore excursion at a specific time.  Each day was taken as it came with our primary objective being to simply chill out and enjoy life aboard a cruise ship.

Carnival sails from the cruise pier along Manhattan’s west side which is very much to our liking.  We wanted to leave our car in Kutztown and take the Bieber bus to the Port Authority in Manhattan which is less than a couple miles from the dock.  An inexpensive cab ride.  Best of all, no driving near the city.

Carnival still conforms to some protocols for the evening dinner but, fortunately, has introduced some flexibility.  For instance, there still is an early and late seating at specified tables for those who prefer it BUT they also have a "Your Time" dining schedule.  We signed up for "Your Time" dining which meant come when you want and they would fit you in where ever there were empty seats.  Sharing a table with different cruisers turned out to be a very enjoyable experience for us and we would most certainly do it again.  We met a lot of interesting people and heard some great stories in the process.

Two evenings were billed as "Cruise Elegant Dining" which were a concern for us since we did NOT want to pack dress up stuff like a jacket and tie, etc.  Cruisers were encouraged to wear suits but wording allowed us guys to get by with dress slacks and shirts which is exactly what I brought.  I was amazed at how few men were wearing suits so we were at ease the first night.

This cruise was taking us into some warm weather areas so we knew there would be some beach and pool time along the way.  We dug out those bathing suits that haven't been worn since our Chesapeake sailing days ten years ago.  They were in very good shape and still fit so into the suitcase they went.  It should be noted that water in the Caribbean is SPECTACULAR especially at Half Moon Cay which is a private island owned by the cruise line.  In addition, there were three pools (each with a hot tub) on board which, interestingly enough, were drained and refilled every day.

For the photographers among you:  We wrestled over just what to bring for camera gear and ultimately decided to just bring our Point & Shoot cameras.  We knew that some beach and pool time would involve leaving some stuff unattended and the P&S cameras would fit more easily into a beach bag.  Both of our P&S cameras were outfitted with polarizer filters, a must in the Caribbean.

I mentioned earlier that one of our objectives was to catch up on our reading.  For Kathy this was the first trip with her Amazon Kindle in tow which was a big improvement over carrying a bunch of books.  I am a magazine reader and had a bunch of them providing ballast in the bottom of a duffle bag.

Our initial intention was to perhaps check email a couple times during the cruise but for the most part remain out of touch with everyone back home.  All of this came to a halt midway thru the cruise when we got one of those satellite phone calls ($9/min) informing us of a death in the family.  Arrangements were made via cell phone ($2.50/min) and email ($.55/min) which is pretty amazing when you consider we were at sea on a cruise ship.  Ain't technology amazing!

We took about 500 images between us and offer a few here for you to look at.  Clicking on these images will take you to a larger view located on our flickr site.  Each image also has a caption describing the image.  You will also find, if interested, information on the camera used and the meta data.  Images taken with a Canon A620 were Joe's and Canon S3 IS were Kathy's.

The Departure:  Leaving from New York City can be exciting in itself.

The Ship:  These ships are pretty amazing and have everything one could ask for aboard.

Ports of Call:  There were only three ports visited on this cruise.  Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay, and Nassau.  We did some geocaching on the first two which, especially on Grand Turk, drove us to check out the place.

Reading:  The sea days gave us plenty of time to catch up on our reading.  Kathy read 3 books on her Kindle and I managed to get through 5-6 magazines.

 You are encouraged to poke around on our site and send a note to tell us that you were here. Comments about the page are also welcome. Just click on the mailbox.