It was June 1994. I was fresh out of college with a head full of hair and a ticket for a seven day Caribbean cruise on what was then the world’s largest cruise ship, Royal Caribbean’s Sovereign of the Seas.
It was a group cruise for a radio station I was working for at the time and I was the group leader. I was never on a cruise before, nor traveled with a group of people I never met before. Since I was going for free, I was in the bowels of the ship tucked somewhere between the laundry and a noisy elevator in an inside cabin that was more like a jail cell.
I spent the week visiting places I only saw in travel brochures and learning from an early age that cruising is best enjoyed with a frozen beverage in one hand and a bottle of hand sanitizer in the other.
I’m not sure what it was about that vacation that created my instant love for cruising, but whatever it was it worked. Since then I’ve spent nearly a year at sea on ships ranging in size from a mere 490 passengers to a whopping 5,400.
I’ve encountered 50-foot waves while plowing through the Atlantic on Queen Mary 2 and staved off norovirus on a ship where the “two bucket flu” was making 12% of the ship wish they were dead.
Throughout the years I managed to stay away from one cruise line in particular – Carnival. For me, Carnival is the line you take if you’re on Spring Break, under the age of 28, enjoy endless libations coupled with belly-flop contests, wild and crazy parties by the pool and have tendencies to leave your inhibition at the dock.
The cruise lines I frequent are more serene, attract an older crowd and have a ballroom rather than a disco.
But there has always been something about Carnival that intrigued me.
A friend of mine tells me all the time, “the best vacation ever was on a Carnival cruise.”
Others have said the same thing.
Others have said it just wasn’t for them.
I’ve managed to avoid stepping foot on a Carnival ship for 20 years, but the time has come for me to experience what the “fun ship” line has to offer.
When a friend asked me to join him and a group of his friends on a 5-day cruise on the Carnival Liberty, I said something along the lines of “are you f&*^ing crazy?”
He echoed the same sentiment, as we often traveled together on some of the most luxurious ships on the water. I was actually surprised he would even consider Carnival!
But then again, Carnival today isn’t the Carnival of yesterday.
So I’m told.
Carnival has matured and has built up a loyal base of followers who absolutely adore the line and are staunch loyalists who rack up Carnival cruises like I rack up Martini’s.
So, Sunday morning, I’ll be making the two hour drive north to Orlando where I’ll board the Carnival Liberty from Port Canavarel for five days in the Bahamas where we’ll stop at Half Moon Cay, Nassau and Freeport. With the exception of Half Moon Cay, I won’t get off the boat and risk being murdered in the Bahamian tourist trap cities that we’ll be stopping at.
I’ve resolved to enter this cruise with an open mind, with no expectations (good or bad) and will leave all my preconceived notions about Carnival at home.
As usual I’ll be blogging daily about my adventure and will promise to share the good, bad and ugly with words and photos. The only things I’m hoping for are an Internet connection better than Holland America Line’s and cold bottles of Red Stripe.
I hope you’ll follow along on this journey as I’m sure it’s going to be interesting.
For both of us.