Let me just start off by saying what a blast we had on the cruise! We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, eating constantly, seeing all the shows, getting tons of sun, traveling around and getting closer to our family. 
We had a pretty big group who went: Kyle, Leah, Nick, Dad, Mom, Grandma, Grandpa, Mark (my cousin), Aunt Debbie (the closest thing my mom ever had to a sister!), Grandma Chris (Debbie's mom), Aunt Faye (Grandma Chris' sister), Bobby (Debbie's half brother), and Karen (Bobby's wife).
So take a deep breath because this is going to be a long post! Kyle and I left work a little early on Friday to start our drive down to Orlando, Florida (7.5 hours). We stopped half way and then woke up and finished the drive Saturday morning. My parents and Nick flew in Sat morning so we met them at my Uncle Johnny's (my moms brother) house in Orlando. (Grandma & Grandpa flew in earlier in the week to spend some more time with Uncle Johnny). My Aunt JoAnn is a travel agent and had booked everything for us, including a 15 passenger van with a personal driver to get us to the port. So Ralphie drove us there and dropped us off curb-side service! 
The weather on the first day was pretty overcast, but we still had fun touring the boat for the afternoon and getting a sense of where everything was located. 
Kyle & I were on the first floor (which we LOVED since it was so close to everything!), which was pretty close to the water but we loved being able to look out our window and watch while we were docking and everything.
Here is our room:
Saturday night we all met up at our assigned tables and dinner and met our servers who would be with us for the whole week, Ni, Hero & Pande. We were the late seating for dinner, so everynight we went to the late show which started around 10:15. 
The ship we cruised on was called the Carnival Glory... the Funship. The show was based all around the word "fun" and was just hilarious... you should have seen Kyle's and Nicks faces. All in all the dancing and singing was cheesy, but entertaining for sure. The show room, called the Amber Palace, was very very pretty.
Sunday we woke up to a Day at Sea, which is basically where they host tons of activities and people can do whatever but you just can't get off the boat. We woke up and went to one of the many buffets to eat breakfast. Then we all just layed out on the boat, read books, and ate some more! 
Aunt Debbie, mom and I ventured to the Amber Palace where Butch, our cruise director, was hosting a dance class on Disco Line Dancing.... haha it was very funny. Little did we know they were recording the whole thing and playing it on one of the tv channels, so we got to see our moves for the rest of the week!
Here are some of our moves:
After disco we all headed to the upper deck to watch the guys play in some adult dodgeball. It was hilarious hearing grown men yell YOU ARE CHEATING, I HIT YOU!!! haha Mark always got hit first and was out within seconds. Nick's aim was terrible, and Kyle was Mr. Aggresive always running up to grab the dodge balls with no fear.
We went to dinner again with everyone. Our group was divided into 2, 8 person tables but we just switched it up every night to get to hang out with everyone.
Kyle & I:
Grandma & Grandpa:
Mom, Nick & Dad:
The servers would sing & make us all dance most nights which was entertaining!
The show the 2nd night was a comedian, who was pretty funny. He had an adult rated comedy show later that night which none of us really found any good, but atleast we tried it out!
The next day we all woke up in COZUMEL! None of us had booked an excursion so we went shopping right at the pier and then took a taxi to Paradise Beach to snorkel and get some sun.
The cruise ships are HUGE... ours was 12 stories tall and over 3 football fields wide! Literally a floating city. Everytime I woke up I had to remind myself I was on a boat!!
3 amigos:
We came back to a nice dinner, where Grandma sat with all the young people. We had a great time! There was a Las Vegas style show, where the dancers wore THONGS... we all felt like it was unnecessary but I guess it's art?! After the show we all went to gamble a little in the casino. Grandma and I had NO luck, but then we hear CHING CHING CHING CHING.... and dad has a huge smile on his face because he had just won over $300 on the slot machine!
Tuesday was BELIZE! We all signed up for a snorkeling excursion that took you out on the barrier reef in Turneffe.
It was really fun and we got to see a ton of colorful fish and even a stingray! We took an underwater camera with us but haven't gotten it developed yet! After snorkeling for over an hour the ship dropped us off at Banister Caye Island for an hour to lay out an get some sun. It was a beautiful island and we had fun taking some pictures!
After we were dropped back off on the cruise ship we all took another boat into the city and toured around a little bit. When we got back to the boat after our day trip in Belize, Kyle and I got ready for the Supper Club! Since it was our 2 year anniversary we had made reservations to go to the nicest restaurant on the top floor of the boat. 
It was a 5 course meal, plus the waitress kept bringing us out 'compliments from the chef' to fill us up even more. We had such a great time, eating for over 2 1/2 hours!! We met up with everyone at the show that night, to watch JUSTIN ILLUSION. He was hilarious but his helper was an awesome dancer, so that was fun for me to watch! And this night we came home to a MONKEY, our favorite towel animal of the week!
The next day we woke up in COSTA MAYA, Mexico! We all booked an excursion to travel and tour around the Chacchoben Mayan Ruins. Unfortunately Kyle and I were not feeling well, as some kind of food from the day before did not agree with us! We slept on the ride there, but by the time we got to the ruins were able to walk around and "take in the air ya know".
At the top of the stairs is where they would sacrifice people/animals... ew!
Jump shot:
When we got back to the port, we actually changed into our bathing suits and went to the pool/shopping area that was right there. It was so relaxing, even Grandma and Grandpa came off the boat to meet us!
Kyle & Mark found hammocks! 
Nick, Mom & I laying out: 
Matching hats for dad & grandpa: 
When we got back on the boat it was "formal night" so all of us had fun dressing up for dinner: 
Nick & Mark starting SPLITTING all their entrees. They would order about 3 appetizers, and about 5 entrees... these boys can EAT! It was hilarious watching these two.
There was a hypnotist this night, which I DID NOT fall for. I felt like everyone on the stage was just pretending. He told this woman to skip the number 8 everytime she counted her 10 fingers. It was funny but I still think she was pretending!
Thursday was our other day at sea. We all read, layed out, dodgeball again, and ate a ton. They brought in another comedian who was a hilarious guy from Atlanta. We enjoyed listening to all his funny stories.
Friday we woke up in NASSAU, Bahamas. We ordered room service since we weren't allowed to get off until 10:00. We loved sitting in our room with our comphy robes on!
We had not booked an excursion for this day either, so we took another taxi to Atlantis on Paradise Island and had a ball touring around this amazing resort. They have an aquarium downstairs, a huge water park, tons of shopping and more! Check out that mantaray!
We then walked to a nearby beach behind Atlantis called Cabbage Beach. It was SO nice and the water was SO clear you felt like you were in a pool. By far the clearest water I've seen!
After the beach we took a taxi to the straw market, where you can get ANYTHING for cheap. Everyone hassles you but that's half the fun I guess. Since it was our last night for dinner we bought Ni (our server) a birthday/thank you present. She was so embarrassed having to sit down, but we were by far her favorite table and she "says" she's going to email us... we'll see!
Her and Mark had a special connection:
We all said our goodbyes since we were leaving at 9:00 am the next morning! What a wonderful vacation we had, that was TRULY relaxing. No dishes, no planning, no drama, no cooking... that's what a vacation is all about!! Kyle and I would definitely recommend doing a cruise to anyone! ESPECIALLY if you are traveling with other couples or family. Just because you still get time to yourself every now and then in your room or doing excursions. So much fun!!
I took so many pictures so feel free to look at my picasa album! Thank you for all the anniversary/happy cruise messages you guys!
This year we ended up not doing any decorations or Christmas tree, since we counted that we would only be home 9 days in December!!! Well as you all know we had one day to get ready for Christmas! We literally unpacked our stuff from the cruise, threw in a couple loads of laundry, then repacked warmer clothes for our trip to Raleigh.
Bake some cookies and cinnamon buns:
Cuddle with Tyson who we missed so much while we were on the cruise:
and wrap all our presents!
(Puck tried to help):
All ready for Christmas now :)
Bake some cookies and cinnamon buns:
Cuddle with Tyson who we missed so much while we were on the cruise:
and wrap all our presents!
(Puck tried to help):
All ready for Christmas now :)
