As many of you know, I just got back from my first cruise. Hubby and I had been planning this for quite sometime. We went because of the Social Media By The Sea Conference which took place on the cruise ship. I shared about the my speaking opportunity at the conference in my Previous Post. Be sure to check it out.
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Going on a cruise was definitely an experience. We cruised with Carnival Cruise lines on the Carnival Destiny. I did not realize until later on that Carnival is known for their fun ships where the focus is partying and having a good time as opposed to relaxing. I might not have minded it so much if I wasn’t pregnant and feeling exhausted throughout the whole trip. There was only one quiet place to go on the ship and that was on the lobby floor outside decks on either side of the boat. My husband and I spent a lot of time there on the comfy lounge chairs. We even saw a bunch of dolphins swimming next to the boat on our last day at sea. It was breathtaking. I think there must’ve been 50 of them. And of course, that is the day I don’t have my camera with me! 🙁
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Here is a picture of our room. We were on the 8th floor, mid-ship. It was really a great place to be as far as not feeling too much motion from the boat. I heard that you can feel more being closer to the ends, especially if the water is rough. We had 2 double beds that were put together. It was quite comfortable!
Here is a picture of the bathroom. It was pretty small, but the shower was surprisingly big. And for the life of me, we could not figure out what that machine was attached to the wall. It said something about being a shaver. Anyone have a clue what it does? I totally forgot to ask.
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Our first full day was spent at sea. That was the day I had to speak at the conference. There was so much anticipation and planning that when it was finally done, I wound up falling apart emotionally. I know that it was because of being pregnant. I was just exhausted from all the travel to Miami, hotel, shuttle, first night sleeping on the cruise, being terrible home sick, and then the conference. Everything came down on me pretty hard and all at once. I drove my husband crazy because I could’nt stop crying for over an hour. We wound up getting into a huge fight. Once things finally blew over and we made up, I got a migraine headache that wouldn’t go away for a couple days. It was crazy.
The second day, the ship stopped in the port of Ocho Rios, Jamaica. I was not ready for what we faced there. We had set up an excursion with Carnival to go to the Dunns River Falls and also to Dolphin Cove. They were both nice places, but the people were just crazy. The second we stepped off the bus, we were bombarded. One guy walks up to me and hands me these Jamaican beads made out of beans and says “Welcome to Jamaica… Free, Free..” I said thank you and started to walk away. He stopped me and said “Donation, donation” and then tried to take the beads back. I was pretty shocked. It is kinda funny thinking back on it now. And that is the way it was the entire day. Every person we came in contact with was trying to sell us something. I got approached at least 10 times to have my hair braided, at least 15 times to buy these hand carved pipes that people make there, and the funniest thing was being approached to buy pot! We just ignored them, but I felt like saying “Do I look like I smoke pot?” I mean come on!
Here is a picture of my hubby that I shot really quick as we are fleeing the shopping market maze.
I really wanted to buy stuff as souvenirs, but because of all the pressure we faced, I was so overwhelmed that I didn’t buy anything. 🙁
The area was beautiful though in most areas. Here is a picture of us on the beach at the Dunns River Falls.
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Here is a picture of the falls. A part of the excursion was to actually climb the falls with a group. The treck looked dangerous, so of course we opted out. I didn’t want to kill myself out there. LOL
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I enjoyed seeing several Jamaican music groups randomly playing throughout the tourist area. They wanted money of course, but they were really good, so I did stop to give to them.
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Dolphin Cove was nice as well, but nothing is free so we did not get to swim with the dolphins as we thought we were. They wanted us to pay an additional fee for almost everything there. So we walked around and saw the dolphins from afar. We sat for a few minutes on the beach and then decided that we can eat for free back on the boat so we went back.
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That night we were so worn out that we skipped the shows and went to bed right after dinner. I think that really helped me because the next morning my headache had gone away almost completely. I was so hesitant about the day at Grand Cayman after such a crazy day in Jamaica. But our day wound up being really great. It was definitely the highlight of our trip. I had 3 excursions set up in one. We started out on a small bus tour checking out the island. The bus driver / tour guide was really awesome. He brought us to the town called Hell where there are these crazy rock formations. There was even this little post office in the town. Check out the pictures:
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Then we got to go to a really cool Turtle Farm. They had hundreds of turtles there. My favorites were the HUGE ones. They were like 3 or 4 feet long. Each of us got to even hold a turtle. The tour guide there was great too.
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Our last excursion of the day was Swimming with the Sting Rays. And guess what? We actually got what we paid for! We were brought to a boat and our group was boated a couple miles out in the ocean to a sand bar in the middle of nowhere. We anchored down and then got out of the boat where they were lots and lots of sting rays, all different sizes. We could pet them, hold them, and whatever else. I just stood watching everyone. I was a little grossed out because the sting rays were so slimy. I did touch one and several of them brushed up against my legs. But I did not hold them like some people were doing. There was one woman who was letting them lay on her stomach while she floated in the water.
Unfortunately, we didn’t get any good pictures of our sting ray experience because my camera is not waterproof. Next time I am going to get one of those water proof case for my camera so I don’t have to worry about it getting wet.
This is us in the boat going out to the place they call Sting Ray City.
This picture is the only one that I got of all the people that were already out swimming before we got out of the boat to go swimming too. You can’t see the sting rays, but they were all around the people’s feet. Once we got out of the boat, they came to us from all over.
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The rest of the trip was nice. I finally got adjusted to living on a huge boat. The last day was nice. I attended the last conference sessions, had a really nice dinner (even tried escargot, which I didn’t like) and ended the night with a great show at the ship’s theatre. The dancer’s were great!
We pulled into Miami at 5am the next morning. We were all packed and ready to go. After a quick breakfast we headed downstairs to the lobby to get ready to get off the boat. We had just gotten off the elevator when someone called my husband’s name on the loud speaker asking him to go to the information desk. I went to the desk first and asked what they needed. They told us to wait there and made a call. A minute later there were 4 police officers surrounding my husband and telling me they were taking him without explanation. They almost left me standing there with 3 suitcases. I refused. I told them point blank that I was not leaving my husband. They got mad and said that I could not do that and that I can be arrested. I had no clue what was going on and I started balling and freaking out.
They were totally going to leave me there and take my husband off the boat without me. Finally they agreed to take me too. I am telling you, I did not care about being arrested. I did not want to be left alone. They probably gave in because I was pregnant. So I guess there were some advantages. 🙂
So they escorted us off the boat and to a building where customs was located. I was still balling. They left me in this waiting room with the luggage while they took my husband to an interrogation room (at least that is what it said on the door). The cops came back out to me, pretty pissed, saying that I should be arrested for what I did. But I still didn’t care. They made me freak out even more. Finally some immigration police came over and they were nice to me asking if I was ok and if I needed to go to the hospital, etc. After a while I calmed down. It was hard though because I really didn’t know what was going on. I just knew we had a plane to catch in a few hours.
Finally my husband came out with the officer who explained that there was a discrepency in my husband’s past record history. My husband is not yet a US Citizen (we are working on it). But that immigration office did not have his updated info so they practically treated him like a criminal which was totally unnecessary. I was relieved that everything turned out ok, but also angry that they could not just wait for us to go through the normal customs line and pull us aside there instead of causing so much embarrassment.
So, there ya have it. Our crazy first cruise experience. Looking back, I definitely would not go on a cruise again being pregnant. The cut off to go on a cruise being pregnant is 24 weeks. I was 22 weeks. I had to bring a doctor’s note and everything. It is just too much (without all the drama I went through). But with the drama, it nearly pushed me over the edge.
I came home so utterly exhausted that I could not get along with my mom who was also exhausted from watching my 3 little ones for 6 days. I just didn’t have anything left to give. I feel bad about it for sure (sorry mom).
Cruising is really fun. I would love to go on a cruise again and next time I will make sure I am NOT PREGNANT. Too many hormones!!
But we are home now – safe and sound. I am recovering and resting as much as I can before my work week starts.
So, how about you? Have you cruised before? Any drama? I would love to hear all about it so I can feel better! LOL
I have been on about a dozen cruises and these are
my comments;
1 the thing on the wall in the bathroom is a hair dryer!
2 Jamaica is a pits when it comes to people
Bothering you!
3 I have climbed the falls it is cool but
Treacherous!
4 grand cayman is one of the nicer ports
5 boat excursions are a ripoff! always book
When you get off the boat instead
6 carnival is known for partying and is not a
great line. Princess and NCL are much nicer
7 I can’t recall any drama on any of my
Cruises
.-= wendy wallach´s last blog .. =-.
Wow! Thanks for sharing so much of your experience with all of us. I think you were very brave to cruise while pregnant. I cant’ image because I know that a cruise is a lot to take on. So much to do and see. It’s like non stop.
And while I have never actually been on a cruise as a passenger. I have had the opportunity to work on a cruise ship. Back in college, as a co-op job, I had the chance to work aboard the Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2). I worked aboard in the print shop. I spent a total of 8 months aboard on 3 different occasions. The first was a 3 month span. The second was a 3 1/2 month span. And the third was about a 1 1/2 month span. The third time I went aboard was as a actually favor to relieve a friend who had become ill.
Anyhow, it certainly was quite the experience. So I completely understand how overwhelming it can be. And how much it can really take out of you. As a print shop working we had a few more privileges than some of the other employees so while on board we were allowed to experience many of the different clubs, etc. that some of the others were not. We were also privileged to be able to work out our daily working schedules around upcoming ports. So we were always off at every port. We had so much fun. I don’t know if you recall back in 1993 when the QE2 hit aground off the coast of Nantucket. Well, I was actually aboard when it happened. lol. Another adventure entirely. lol.
I will say that I think cruising is definitely something everyone should experience at least once in their life. On one hand it may be overwhelming, but on the other it is truly amazing. : )
I feel so bad for you! My one and only cruise experience isn’t a happy memory for me either. It was my honeymoon with a man I was only married to for 11 months. We too stopped and swam with the sting rays and I found them slimy, yet intriguing. I wanted to touch them more, but I admit, I was a little afraid.
We had a bad experience as well, not as bad as yours, but still. Our digital video camera was stolen. Mind you our wedding was on that camera, plus the camera cost me over $700 (this was 2001). I was devastated at the time and mad at my husband for putting it in an easy to access bag instead of keeping it with us. I wouldn’t be surprised if he actually sold it then made it look like it was stolen. But, that’s another story. LOL.
Yeah, I would not want to go pregnant! I feel for ya! Hopefully the next one will bring much better memories for you.
I love cruising, we’ve been on 3 so far and it seems my MIL is working on one for our 18th anniversary 🙂
1. Yes, I will never get off the ship again on Ocho Rios, glad I saw Dunn’s River Falls the 1st time. The locals are horribly pushy and I didn’t feel safe.
2. We did the same excursion you did in Grand Cayman and loved every minute of it.
3. Our 1st cruise was filled with drama because Hurricane Frances hit Florida during our cruise in 2004. Our 4 day cruise became a 7 day cruise because the port was closed. Carnival took great care of us though, it was stupid passengers who wanted to get off the boat and go home who caused the drama.
I hope your next cruise is a much better experience! {{Hugs}}
.-= Cindy Schultz´s last blog ..Dole Fruit Bowls =-.
Wow what a trip! Not been on a cruise before never seemed to be the right time. Bravo you pg and all. The immigration thing is just horrible. They are so gruff. I had an equally unpleasant time on the US/Mexican boarder with my British Passport. They were determined I was sneaking in via Mexico. Almost ruined our whole holiday. No reasoning and no apologies. Bummer this happened to you guys.
.-= Melitsa´s last blog ..Your baby can play =-.
OMG Dawn I am so sorry to hear what you went thru in customs. I hate customs. We also had a problem going thru customs. Soncha was detained and taken to another area as we went to customs. She had had a medical procedure before we left where they injected stuff into her veins so they could see things when they took a special xray. We had teased her she was radioactive.
Well some devise the agent was wearing detected that and she had to be taken off and searched. I don’t know if you got to talk to her much but she speaks broken English and was having a hard time understanding what they were telling her. They detained her for about 45 minutes. We were outside had no clue what was happening they told us we had to leave we kept saying not with out our friend we are not leaving
She cried all the way to the airport
.-= Jenny Marie´s last blog ..Social Media By The Sea Conference Speakers =-.
Awe! You poor thing! That’s a lot of emotional upsets for one cruise! Feel so bad for your last experience. That’s insane. I would’ve been the same way and asked to be with hubby. Good for you for sticking to your guns. We felt overwhelmed in Ocho Rios too. I hardly bought any trinkets because I was too bothered. We did climb the falls though. We went with a group and you hold hands the entire way up. It wasn’t life threatening but I don’t think I’d do it preggo either. Better be safe than sorry! Dolphin cove was neat… we we’re actually staying in Negril…so we traveled about 2 hrs. to get to Ocho Rios a couple times during our weeks stay(other excursions). Crazy drivers, I tell ya! Glad you guys had a great time in Grand Cayman. Sounds amazing! Hell looks neat. You look great in all of your pics. We did a Carnival cruise to Mexico and my sis didn’t really enjoy herself much. She was in bed by 8pm each night and didn’t do much on the ship. I wasn’t too thrilled by the cruise either. Liked being on land much better= more to see and do. My parents love cruises though. They go every year! Anyway, Glad you made it home safely despite customs and your interesting adventures. Take it easy and rest up! 🙂
.-= Leslie – La Mama Naturale’´s last blog ..Upcycled Finds =-.
I can’t get over how your husband was treated in customs! Glad it all worked out but how scary to think they can just come aboard and escort you off with no explanation.
We went on a cruise to Bermuda for our honeymoon 16 years ago. Bermuda was lovely but the ship was older and we actually were assigned a room with twin bunk beds! LMAO
Supposedly all the rooms were booked so we couldn’t even get moved but shame on the travel agent for not telling us more details. It was our first cruise so what did we know.
Holy Moly lady! You DID have an eventful cruise! I can’t believe that happened to you and your husband! That’s crazy, but good for YOU for standing up for yourself and standing up for him! I would have done the same. I have heard many stories similar to yours about Jamaica and wasn’t surprised. I’m glad you eventually had a good time and got to see some ocean-life! I’m more glad you’re home safe and sound. The pictures are beautiful and you look fabulous!
.-= Amanda @ High Impact Mom´s last blog ..Labor Day Weekend @ KY State Parks Whrrl Story =-.
Sorry, to hear that you had such a bad experience. The pictures reflect something totally different! I love the pictures! I need to take the time to post some to our site! Next time I’ll remember to warn you about Jamaica! I thought it was great! I’m a northerner so I’m used to being hustled in NY & NJ “lol”. The flip side I was begging in Grand Cayman Island ; $60 bucks for wings, nachos, fries & 3 daiquiris for friends! *lol* Oh yes Carnival is the Fun Ship! Most cruises there’s entertainment & partying! If you’re looking for a more relaxed vacation, you may want to fly to a resort ;-). RYL, Princess & NWL are more relaxed, but they are also more expensive. Glad Cliff made it through customs, but sorry that happened to ya, awful!
Sorry you had so much drama! I grew up in Miami, so I’ve had my fill of cruises. My last one was in college and I will never get on a giant boat again. I don’t like having my itinerary so controlled (i.e. disembark and be back on board at this time).
I can tell you that the harassment you experienced in Ocho Rios happens in every country that has a tourism-based economy. We spent our honeymoon in Jamaica. since I have family there, it was easy to get around and stay away from the tourist spots. My uncle picked us up at the airport and drove us around, we stayed in a condo outside Montego Bay, ate at my family’s home or in residential neighborhoods. We blended in and were never bothered, until the day we went to Ocho Rios…we were swarmed by street vendors. We also experienced this in Italy and Greece last summer. This is how the working poor earn their living in countries that get a lot of tourists. I was sympathetic, yet annoyed because they can be very aggressive. I learned to look straight ahead while walking and to not to take anything from anyone.
What happened to your husband is so horrible and another example of our post-9/11 customs/immigration policies. I am so sorry you had to go through this at all, much less while pregnant. Hope you have had some time to rest and recover.
.-= Teresha@ Marlie and Me´s last blog ..You Like Me! You Really Like Me! =-.
I climbed the Falls when I was pregnant also. There were some slippery rocks, so it probably was not the safest thing to do while pregnant.
.-= Maria@SavingQueen´s last blog ..Lowe’s Buid & Grow – Build a Drum on Saturday, Sept. 12 at 10am =-.
Oh my gosh, what a FUN trip…sorry you were so exhausted. You are too adorable for words and the cuteness of the turtle just about did me in too! Thanks for sharing, Dawn!
I didn’t mean that your BAD experience was FUN…I just meant that I love that you made the most out of it. xoxoxo
Sure sounds like quite the experience Dawn! I’m going to get my BFF to look at your post later as she’s going on her first cruise next month. I’ve never been and while I really want to go sometime, I don’t expect it to be anytime soon! Thanks for giving me a chance to live a little of it via your experience!
.-= Laurie´s last blog ..A Child Free Day =-.
My son went to Jamaica on his honeymoon and said much the same. People giving you stuff, but not really free. They enjoyed walking up the falls, riding horses through the surf, etc.
Another place not to go when expecting, 6 Flags, once was enough. Hubby couldn’t understand why I didn’t want to go on certain rides.
Thanks for sharing, give us a peek into what all is out there.
.-= Heidi Caswell´s last blog ..Feel Teal Friday – Support Ovarian Cancer =-.