When our good friends and board game buddies invited us to go on a short cruise they said "you guys will love it, board games all day and dancing all night!" So we said yes and booked our second ever Carnival Cruise. Our only other one was in the 90's and since then I've not wanted to go on another, actually actively veered my travel agency clients away from Carnival. But we were enticed by friends, games and dance.
After the dance we headed to Long Beach where I'd booked us into the Queen Mary, former Oceanliner -now museum & Hotel for a night. Serious Art Deco Vintage trip back in time! It was funky old and yet fun! In the morning I made Kim tour all over her decks, engine rooms and ship model exhibits. Even though I've toured around her before this was fun and my first overnight.
The cruise itinerary was:
Thursday embark
Friday Day at Sea
Saturday Ensenada
Sunday Disembark
However since we did not get off the ship in Ensenada, Saturday was like another sea day.
On Wednesday we took off fairly early for LA.
Thursday we embarked the Carnival Imagination and checked in, found Jeannie, ate and danced up on the deck 10pm until 1am.
Every night the music was amazing! Sean Morse played guitar and sang outside on the top deck for over 100 people. And he carried the whole crowd! Heck, he rocked it! Sometimes he would be accompanied by Moses on violin and occasionally the late night group which consisted of a bassist and saxophonist. All four of the musicians were avid dancers and it really made them awesome performers for a group of dancers. It couldn't have been easy as it was pretty chilly, windy and the ship was moving a bit in the not so 'Pacific' seas. One of the last emails we got before departing said "the weather looks chilly and possibly wet so bring scarves and rain gear, umbrellas and jackets" my reaction was to say "no way I'm never leaving the ship I will be inside." I had no idea the dances would be outdoors up on deck. Luckily no rain but you did have to keep moving to stay warm. The late night dances were held inside in one of the nightclub venues but I was too tired to stay long any of the nights. We did spend most of Friday and Saturday during the day playing board games which was very fun as well. Got in games of Viticulture, Roll through the ages, Forbidden Desert, Burgle Brothers etc.
Sunday we disembarked had a Cuban brunch in Glendale and gave Jeannie a ride home to San Jose before driving the rest of the way to Sacramento.
Overall it was a super successful trip since Kim had a great time as well and I danced so much my feet still hurt a bit on Tues night when we went to our swing dance in Midtown.
Ps. I'm still not sure I'd recommend Carnival...we had a blast but didn't do anything except with the dance group so I still can't say if it was worth going on without a large group with their own activities. Food was just ok but there was chocolate lava cake! 😋
No comments:
Post a Comment