Our life, our way

So as of last week, its official. Brian and I are headed on another cruise! This time we are taking my mom. She’s pretty excited. I think she wishes she had some of her friends that would go with her but she is excited nonetheless.

Back in college, she told me she want to go on a cruise. I had researched it a bit and realized that she better do it soon before they started requiring passports. It seemed to cost a fortune to me back in the day and we never made it.

Now that I know the truth about cruising and vacationing on a ship, it truly is my vacation of choice. Too bad, I can’t get everywhere by ship.  There is just something relaxing about knowing that no one is gonna call you. I miss the internet a bit but it forces me to not rely on my computer to be my source of entertainment. We get to spend quality time together. We chat and talk.

And its comforting to know that I can enjoy a cheap cruise line like Carnival for a quick get away.   I plan on trying the other lines like Celebrity and Holland or Princess one day, but for now, in our current financial situation, its nice to know Carnival is there.

For the price of what we paid for airline tickets to Seattle for two last year, we booked a 4-day cruise for 3. We selected the Carnival Fascination again because we’ve been on it before. Our hope is that a familiar ship and port will help us make Mom’s first experience 100% relaxing.

I don’t foresee her doing too much at port. We might see if we can get some shopping in. I think bingo and the casino will be big.

Bahamas here we come!

Okay, so its a bit delayed…well maybe really delayed. But here are pictures from our trip to Seattle to visit Lauren and Mike and also to join them on a cruise to Alaska! They are books. You can click on image and be able to flip the pages.

Returning from our second cruise, I felt I should write a little something about our experience.   We again chose Carnival because we had such an amazing experience last March to the Carribean. This time is was on an older ship, the Carnival Fascination, headed to the Bahamas. Half Moon Cay is a Private Island owned by Carnival’s sister line, Holland America. We also stopped at Nassau, Bahamas.  Motivation for this particular ship and itinerary was

1. It was in Jacksonville, FL and thus within driving distance. No flights needed. Yay!
2. You can’t beat the price. We originally were going to go in Jan which would have only been $600 for the both of us. But due to work schedules we ended up with a Feb cruise for $750 for both of us for 5 nights.

Embarkation/Debarkation:

We arrived at port around 10:30am instead of the 12pm listed in the Carnival paperwork. It was a good thing we did too because the place was starting to fill up. Overall, getting on board was quick and easy. I was worried about debarkation since we bought more liquor than the allowed duty free amount. The morning of debarkation, we had to go meet a customs agent and declare our items. I told him I had 8 liters, he initialed it and I was off. I didn’t have to pay any duty on it. After that, we basically walked off the ship and through customs with a 2 second delay just to had them the customs form. Much easier than we expected.

Half Moon Cay:

We seriously thought about getting an excursion, but after reading all the reviews we decided to just enjoy a beach day per everyone’s recommendation. I really wanted to do the horseback riding on the beach. It just sounds romantic but I guess reality might have been different. We had to tender in and since we got up late, we had a little trouble finding an “ideal” location to settle in at. But as we kept walking further from the tender, we were able to find some lounge chairs. The water was absolutely beautiful! It was shallow enough that I was comfortable hanging out in the water with Brian for quite a while. Staff from the ship brought food ashore to cook lunch for us. BBQ, burgers, hot dogs, etc. Not excellent but not bad either.

Nassau:

We were planning on getting up early and taking a bus over to Adastra but since we were on vacation that didn’t happen. LOL. We got up in time for lunch on board and then headed to the Gangway to get off and wait for our bus to go “Discover Atlantis.” I have to say the place was beautiful. The dig and Aquariam was really nice. We wish we could have seen more of Nassau itself but that can be for another trip.

On Board:

As always, we drank our fair share of alcohol. From the wonderful forums, we did find out that we can order liquor from Bon Voyage to have waiting in our stateroom. We opted for a bottle of Absolute Vodka. Speaking of stateroom, we had an ocean view. We really just wanted an interior. This is just suppose to be a cheap get away after all. But the upgrade fairy called and tried to get me to move up to a balcony for a fee. I opted to take a free upgrade to ocean view instead. I guess they needed the interior rooms to sell. The ship was full.

We opted for “Your Time Dining” so we can just eat whenever. The first two nights were loved the food but were disappointed in the wait staff. They weren’t very interactive. On our third night, we were seated with a wonderful head waitress named Nanka. We had such a good time we requested her every time afterwards. The beauty of your time dining allows us to sit by ourselves when we want or choose to share a table when we feel like being social. We sat with others one night and they were all very nice.

Carnival has changed a little since we last cruised. They have implemented a comedy club on all ships. There were two comedians on board and a show or two every night. That’s where we spent a good bit of our evening. Tommy Drake was amazing! Scotty K was pretty awesome too. Most nights we arrived early to get good seats but Brian didn’t want to sit in the front row for fear that we would be a target of a joke. By the last night, Brian decided it wouldn’t be bad and opted to sit in the front. Well……that would be the night the front row was targeted just a little more. Brian got called a red neck. After picking on Brian for a while, Scotty K pulled me in. I can’t remember the joke but it had to do with Philipinos and Vietnamese. It would have to be that moment I had to go to the restroom. As I got up he asked if I was offended.

Scotty K: “She must be Philopino.”
Brian: “No, she’s Vietnamese” (the entire room laughs as I quickly walk out)
Scotty K: “oh!!!! Me Love you long time!” (yes, of course….right?)

It was a great time!

Overall:

There were several things that could be approved and it was definitely not as awesome as our first cruise. We will eventually try other lines but will to Carnival again. AND we would even go on the same ship and same or similar itinerary again.

Feb 24, 2011 – Brian and I got the opportunity to watch STS-133 Shuttle launch from Titusville, FL. It was Discovery’s last and final mission. We were fortunate to find a very quiet location with shade. It was fairly empty when we arrived whereas the beaches and Space view Park was already packed. It was perfect!

We cruise in 189 days! Woot!

Oddly enough that is one of the things i enjoy about Carnival’s website. I log in and it tells me how many more days I have until we cruise. Weird…dorky…I know.

So where are we going? ( If you much ask then you must not visit our main site much)

We are headed to the bahamas. I’m so ready for a vacation. 5 days away from the world. No cell phones.

I am a bit saddened by the idea that I can’t go ahead and pick excursions. Apparently that kind of stuff is not available until somewhere between 90 to 120 days before the sailing date. I guess last time we did book a lot later.

We could have waited since we were going with past guest rates and not the early saver deal but the big thing was the rooms were filling up and the ship is smaller than before. We didn’t want to end up in a room that wasn’t ideally located.

It wasn’t bad but last time the floor below us was the casino and on the last night we could here the players screaming as they won. Wasn’t horrible but this time we picked a floor that is buffered on top and bottom by more rooms. Lets see how it works. We also wanted to make sure we were mid-ship. Lauren had a room at the front of the ship last time. It was not bad but you could definitely notice a difference in the amount the room moved. Fingers crossed and here’s hoping it will be yet another great vacation!

I’m not quite sure why it happens, but where ever I work, people seem to try to befriend me. They come to chat in my office and they ask me to lunch all the time. So here my problem.

I will tell them no and they ask why. It’s not that I don’t want their company…it’s because I don’t want to spend the money. Then I’m asked where all my money goes. hmmmm….SAVINGS!

Then there is also outside of work. Friends ask me to come visit them. They ask me to go on vacation. I wish I could go every time. But I can’t. Not that I can’t pay for it. I have savings…I have credit cards. There are so many that will charge anything to a credit card. I am floored by this!

People give me weird looks when I tell them what my vacation budgets are. I am very proud that I can have a vacation for a fraction of what other people pay. That means I can have more of them!

Fortunately, Brian feels the same way as I. He doesn’t think I’m cheap. In fact I think he is also very proud of me when I save us money. We get to do more trips with each other and save for our future. We have debt to pay off and if we keep up with similar spending habits a year from now then all that went to debt is now straight into savings. I feel so lucky that my husband is on the same page with me on how we will spend our money. He isn’t the best and keeping track of our budget so I handle it but I make sure he knows what I’m up to. No secrets, no surprises. We act as a checks and balance system.

So yes, we spend only 1k on Disney and stay at a value resort. If we were off to the beach then the hotel room is important as we might spend more time at it, not if we will only shower and sleep there. We would rather cruise a month before the Caribbean gets busy with spring breakers. The weather is in the 80′s in Feb and cruise prices are half what they will be March-July. So we have less heat to deal with less money spent. Sounds like a win, win to me.

So for everyone that thinks my husband and I are cheap….well, perhaps we are. But we get to enjoy more time together. We can make more memories. And we’ll be able to save for little ones when we are ready to start a family. We can buy the house of our dreams that is suitable for our whole family and lifestyle! More power to everyone that want to live pay check by check, or better yet use credit cards to make ends meet. That is not our style. There is a time for everything. If one person is laid off, we might not be as comfortable, but we would be okay. If we both got laid off then we will last for a little while before we might have to turn to credit cards. But they should never be used to supplement life unless you are about to go bankrupt or need to put food on the table. And not because you are in that situation because you are living outside of your means.

We want to be ready for emergencies. We want to be ready for life changes (good or bad). We want to be able to provide for any member of our families.

There are many things I love to do in life but I would sacrifice it all and even be somewhat sad but all would be right in the world to see that I could do something for someone I love. Why can’t everyone just stop being selfish and sacrifice for the greater good. If you love someone you will do anything you can for them which includes preventing them from sacrificing for you.

So a few weeks ago we went on our first cruise ever, together or separately. Both a little hesitant. Some folks rave about it and some think it is better to stay home on the couch with a cold beer.

We were cruising with some good friends. So no matter what the cruise would be like, our company would be great!

Much to our surprise, we loved it!!!!!! If you haven’t been on a cruise, you should so go!!! I will write more about the elements of the cruise later but here are some pics.

Does anyone actually read their passport? Did anyone ever notice the part that tells you to make two photocopies before you leave home? Leave one copy at home and one with you in a different location than your passport. Hmmm….I sure didn’t.

But I remember a long time ago, someone told me to make photo copies of my credit cards front and back. You are suppose to call the number on the back if you lose it…but if you lost the card, how do you know what number to call?

So as we prepared for our first “international” travel together, I told Brian to give me his passport because I wanted to make copies of his and mine. I made two and put one set away and packed one in our suitcases. I figured it couldn’t hurt.

Never did I know that I would “lose” my passport between leaving my home and making it pass the security gate at the airport. We took a chance and hopped on the plane to FL. I mean, our luggage was on its way there anyway.  Fingers crossed, I approached the Carnival agent at the airport. It was packed and I had to wait for what seemed like forever to speak to the agent. His first question was “Do you happen to have a copy?”

Me: “yes”
Agent: “Do you happen to have it with you?”
Me: “yes!!” (the crowd of people surrounding us asked in unison, Why would you have a copy? as if I were crazy.)
Agent: “You are good to go then”

It wasn’t until later did we analyze Brian’s passport and realize that it says in your book that you should make copies and do just as I had done. I did it as a precaution but OMG, I’m so doing it everytime from now on.

So everyone that is taking a cruise or doing any kind of traveling abroad, CLONE your passport and leave copies in various places. Preferably with a family or friend that can email or fax a copy to you in case you lose your original and the copy you had with you.