Day 2: A Day at Sea

Day Two! What a great night of sleep in a MOST comfortable bed with MOST comfortable pillows! I did NOT want to exit the softness of my dreamland, but there was a very hungry camper who was ready for an adventure! Daddy had a spa massage scheduled first thing that morning, so Grandma, Stryker & I got dressed and headed down to the breakfast buffet. We stuffed ourselves with omelets, french toasts, pancakes, sausage, bacon, fresh fruit... Anything you wanted! I love breakfast and I was in heaven! After breakfast, we headed one deck up and let Stryker play on the water park. Unfortunately, he was a tad short for the slides, but he had fun in the sprinklers while I soaked up some sun.

 

He loved that whale tail!

 

 

After awhile, he got a little bored and came to sit in my lap. He likes to have his picture taken and I like to have lots of cute pictures of him! :) He is sucha a ham!

 

 

 

Daddy found us on deck shortly after this and Stryker commenced to playing in the water again and even made some friends. 

 

We headed up to the suite for some order-in lunch and then it was time to take Stryker down to Camp Carnival. We had him pumped to play with kids his own age for a couple hours. We dropped him off and headed down to the pool for some relaxation for Mommy & Daddy. We watched people dance and participate in silly contests. We grabbed a bite to eat alone and then picked up our little guy. He said he had lots of fun, but had no interest in going back. Guess he figured we were having too much fun without him!

That evening was formal evening. Everyone eating in the dining room is requested to be in formal (ish) wear. Another highlight of the evening is meeting the Captain. Stryker was thrilled to meet the Captain of this boat and couldn't wait. We found in right away on the Promenade Deck.

After pics witht the Captain, we headed down to get cocktails near the dining room. Stryker used this opportunity to pose for me some more since he was all dressed up :) I adore that 'model' face!

 

Stryker & Grandma

 

We noticed everyone headed into the comedy club and decided we had enough time before dinner to see the act. We took a seat for the family friendly show and snapped a few pictures.



Someone please tell me why I can't get this kind of grin in pictures with Mommy?!?!?!

The show was alright... I'm sure the non-family friendly would've been a hoot :) It was time for dinner so we headed into the dining room and found our table. Of course, Stryker went straight to eating the bread and butter. We ordered him a special drink, but it turns out he's not a fan of Pina Coladas (virgin of course).

After dinner, we headed back up stairs found our nightly towel animals. Daddy & Stryker decided this was an ant-eater... Hmmm....

Day 1: The Start of Our Cruise Vacation

We woke up early this morning and were SO EXICTED to head down to the Port of Charleston to board the MS Carnival Fantasy for our 5 day cruise! Granny came and picked us up so we didn't have to drive down and park our car. Daddy loaded up the van with all of our luggage and Stryker & I got a before picture :)

 



 

When we arrived downtown, we unloaded on the road and dragged our luggage (all 6 pieces!) to the shuttle so we could be driven over to the boat (Charleston really needs to rethink their terminal situation if they plan to keep this cruise business up). Anyway, we timed the shuttle bus perfectly, b/c we were seated and it was time to take off! We were excited, can you tell?!?!?!

We were pleasantly surprised at the ease of check in & getting onboard. Since we were upgraded to the OWNER'S SUITE (YEAH!), we were escorted up by a special concierge (oh la la!). When she opened the suite door (complete with DOORBELL no less!), all of our jaws dropped. It was beautiful! Here is a few pics of our new home on the sea for the week:

 

Our Master Bedroom with panaromic windows and a super big King size bed!

 

 

Uh.. Yes, this is our BATHROOM! Walk in shower and jacuzzi tub!

 

 

Double glass bowl sinks... classy!

 

 

HUGE walk in closet for all our stuff

 

Stryker making himself at home in the living room

 

A shot of the dining room and front door from the living room

 

Our bar

 

On our private balcony overlooking the Lido Deck

 

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The view from our room

 

Of course not 5 minutes in to the trip, we have our first injury. Stryker opened the bathroom door and didn't realize how heavy they were; resulting in smashed fingers :(  We put some ice on the hand and he watched out the window for a bit and was good as new in a matter of minutes. He didn't want to pass up the opportunity to explore the big boat and get his first taste of pizza and ice cream!

 

 

Our boy, Co-Pay :)

 

 

First stop, lunch! Stryker chose Pizza and Ice Cream

 

 

After lunch, we found the waterpark on the back of the boat and walked around onboard to explore the main promenade deck

 



 

 After we got our fill of waiting in lines for the elevators and checking out what was onboard so far, Stryker was ready to hit the pool.... And so were we! We changed into our bathing suits and hit the Lido Deck for some Pre-Sail Pool time and of course Drinks of the Day!

 

 

Our Suite Windows from on deck

 

Nothing like a Drink of the Day to officially start vacation!

 

Our little fish

 

Crazy Corona Bottle!

 

He had to snap a few shots with my phone of the "Big Whale Tail"

 

And you have to make sure you got the shot you wanted :)

 

 

 

What a 'Daddy' Look!

 

After hanging on deck for awhile and a nice swim, it was time to head back to our suite and have our own Sail Away Party! We lounged on our private balcony and watched and waved as we left our beautiful city. 

 

 

 

 

 

Pretty soon it was time to get ready for dinner. Daddy decided a bubble bath in the jacuzzi tub was in order! He and Stryker filled up the HUGE tub, added bubbles and walah! Daddy's a funny guy!

 

After baths and dressing, I wanted to get some shots of my handsome little guy on our way down to dinner. This is his "model" look:

 

I wasn't thinking when we booked an 8:15 dinner reservation for the week when we were now traveling with a 3 year old. He did pretty good most nights though. His favorite part was the bread and butter course. He ate so much butter!

 

Apparently 'model' shots were not on the agenda with Mommy.

Note: He also passed out on my lap approx 10 mins after this picture was taken. Tired little guy!

 After dinner, we headed back to the suite and changed little man into his PJs. As soon as we got him ready to snooze, he was awake again (after sleeping through dinner!). There was a 'Welcome Aboard' show at 10:30 so we headed down...Stryker in his PJs carrying blankie all the way :) We were entertained by the cruise director, a couple comedians and a sneak peak of a Carnival Show. Stryker loved every minute of it.

 We headed back up to the suite afterwards and Stryker got to see his first towel animal. He thought that they were pretty cool surprises waiting on us nightly :)

 

 

 

Day One was exciting and exhausting all rolled into one. This Mommy was looking forward to a Day At Sea the next day to relax!