When I was growing up, each of my siblings got to go on a special trip with my dad. I liked it so much that I wanted to do something like that with my own kids. We changed it a little in that either parent can go depending on the child's preference. Lynnlee asked me to take her and we began planning around black Friday. She wanted to go on a cruise so we booked in when there was a Black Friday deal. She was really great to book it over my spring break. I didn't really want to be gone over her spring break. First reason is that it would be hard for me to make up school and second is what would the rest of the family do while we were gone when they were out of school. Lynnlee had to work hard to get ahead. It was the end of term for her which was a little tricky.
We left early on Monday morning. We flew to LAX and took a shuttle to the Carnival Cruise Port. I was nervous going into the trip because I haven't traveled without another adult in a long time. Lynnlee is old enough that it makes it better but in the end everything falls on me. I was worried we wouldn't find the shuttle or that I would forget an important document. Thankfully we found someone holding up a Carnival sign at baggage claim.
We arrived at the port about an hour before our assigned time to get on the ship. We had 2 options. We could wait outside the building for our assigned time and then get in a short line to get on the ship. The other option was to get in a very long line for those wanting to get on the ship but arriving not during their assigned time. We decided to try that line. It ended up getting us on the ship a little bit sooner so it worked out. While we were standing in that very long line we noticed a lot of college age guys, like more than normal. Since it was my college spring break, I assumed all of these guys were on their college spring break. The only strange detail is that a lot of them knew each other. So then I wondered how so many college guys would know each other. As the first few days went on we continued to see college guys everywhere. More on this later in the post.
Once we got on the ship, we went straight to the buffet for lunch. I was happy that there were signs on anything gluten free.
Then we walked around the ship and played mini golf.
Our room opened by 1:00 which was very fast! We didn't have our luggage yet but at least we could put our backpacks down. We went to an art scavenger hunt, took pictures for the Pixel scavenger hunt, and went on the deck for the Set Sail party. It was a fun dance party. It was sunny but chilly. We had our swimsuits but it was too cold to swim or hot tub. That night we ate in the dining room. They had My Time Dining instead of having to go at 5:00 or 8:00. With My Time Dining you go on the app and tell the dining room when you are ready to eat. Then about 10 minutes later they send you a notice that a table is ready. It was nice eating when we wanted to eat. They had a gluten free menu and the food was very good!
The Pixels challenge was fun and hilarious! You had to go around the ship and take pictures with the photographers. There were 6 locations. Each photographer had you pose together 3 times together and 3 times individually. Some of the poses were fun and normal and some were totally awkward and unnatural. I still get a good laugh when I look at these pictures! I am only posting the most awkward ones.
After dinner we went on the deck for the movie. It was Now You See Me 3. So good! It was chilly but we bundled up and were good.
