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Here are some of the photos of our activities...... Liz receiving her award Proud of my girl! Andrew (my oldest son) and I on top of the work at the Raptor Observatory (no raptors were observed) A West Virginia mountain view from the observatory

Background – What happened leading up to the cruise? Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas! Santa came through in a big way this year! (In my defense, my behavior was impeccable all year.) After getting so sick on our Celebration cruise in November, Ron (quality guy that he is!) gave me a short spring cruise for Christmas. Right after Christmas we booked a short, 5 day cruise on the smallest, oldest ship in the Carnival fleet…Elation. This would be the first time since 2019 that we have sailed on a Fantasy class ship, and we were very much looking forward to stepping back in time a little. Should be interesting since we’d just sailed on the biggest ship (at that time, Celebration) in the fleet at Thanksgiving. Biggest to smallest…newest to oldest! Since we didn’t get to do any snorkeling or diving on our November cruise and didn’t get to do ANY of our planned excursions, we decided to do our best to make sure that we would snorkel this trip. This cruise had stops in Princess Cay (which is supposed to have good snorkeling) and Nassau. We planned to snorkel in both locations. For this trip, we decided to drive instead of flying. This would only be the fourth time in about fourteen cruises that we’ve driven to our embarkation point. Jacksonville is approximately eight hours from home so the drive wouldn’t be much worse, time wise, than the time we’d spend waiting in airports, flying, and THEN driving home from the airport. This was our first time sailing from Jacksonville and our first visit to Princess Cay. Several firsts this trip! Time to begin researching. Yay! I came here to Cruise Critic to read some reviews of this ship and these locations. We’ve been to Nassau multiple times, but we keep finding new things to do there. We’ve snorkeled there before but this time we would be snorkeling with Stuart Cove’s Dive Bahamas. Their reviews were excellent, and they offered lots of options. I was also looking forward to seeing the new port area as construction was finally completed. Princess Cay is reported to be a good place to snorkel, both by some of the folks on Cruise Critic who have done it, vloggers that we like to follow AND our close friends who visited last fall and did some snorkeling. Sign me up! The countdown began. We weren’t having a bad winter at all in WV, so I stayed busy at work right up to time to sail. I also had some things to occupy me as I waited….my first 5K with my son, a good friend’s wedding, a hike to the Hanging Rock Raptor Observatory with my son, a trip with my mom, niece and great-niece to the Greenbrier Resort to tour the famous Greenbrier Bunker, an award ceremony where Liz, my “adopted” adult daughter, was being honored for excellence in her job, etc. I didn’t suffer too much with waiting this time! Since we were driving, we were planning to leave right after church on Sunday morning and drive until we were about an hour or so from Jacksonville. We would then get up the next morning and drive the rest of the way on embarkation day. Sounds like a plan.

What follows is a study in opposites….old and new, large and small….and realizing that “newer and larger” doesn’t always men “faster and better”. Thanks for joining me as I tell you about our latest “adventure”! If you’re joining me for the first time, my name is Michelle and one of my favorite things to do is to travel with my BFF who is also my husband, Ron. Cruises are our favorite! We are both real estate appraisers and we try to go on a couple of cruises a year, if possible. The Caribbean is usually our “go to” choice. We live in the beautiful Mountain State of West Virginia, just a few miles from the southernmost Virginia border. Some call my stories reviews, some say trip reports but I call it a “story” because that’s what I’m doing…telling the story of our trip. I like to read stories of other Cruise Critic members’ cruises and I guess I tend to enjoy writing the same kinds of things that I like to read. My stories are not necessarily better or worse than a fact filled review or a LIVE report…just different. If you prefer to skip my telling of all the things that happened up until the time that I actually boarded the ship, that is fine. I get it! My feelings aren’t hurt! I’ll tell you my feelings and thoughts on the things that we experienced. We’re pretty easy to please, generally. We don’t spend much time in the casino, and I’ve never darkened the door of the spa because I just don’t like that type of thing at all. We DO like physical activities and games. I’m very much a “you do you” kind of person. I’m not upset if someone comes to the dining room wearing something outlandish. I might write about it, I might even sneak a picture, but it doesn’t offend me. It’s your vacation and you should absolutely do whatever makes you happy. I’ll do the same. If you want to skip ahead to where the cruise actually starts it’s labeled “Embarkation Day” BUT…if you’re here for ALL of it, the entire story, then you are MY “people”! Here we go!

My mom does this! I put the butter on the bread myself. Gotta have one or the other, though!

My heart goes out to Karl. He’s a good egg! He and Sakari are the kind of kids who give me hope for a bright future. Her thoughtfulness of him is commendable and rare. I hope Karl does try it again with a better instructor. My first attempt at diving was a horrible experience. I was, quite literally, pushed off the boat by the captain. I didn’t know that I had to hold my regulator in my mouth with my hand. When I hit the water it flew out of my mouth, nearly taking my teeth with it. After going down a long way and swallowing a good amount of seawater, I finally broke the surface and began coughing it all back up. The instructor thought that was pretty funny. She was diving with 8 new divers. I later learned that it was supposed to be a maximum of three. She chose me to do my skill test first. I tried but I was so shaken and upset at that point I just couldn’t do it. I gave up and got back on the boat. I was so embarrassed. She said, “I promise to take good care of your husband since you aren’t going” and down they went. I got my snorkel gear and snorkeled the rest of the time. I was absolutely mortified and ashamed of myself. After that experience I wanted so badly to prove to myself that I could do it but I was terrified at the very thought. The next year I worked up the courage to try it again in Cozumel. There was an in classroom class, only 3 students per instructor and I was able to gradually walk into the water. The instructor saw that I was shaking with fright and stayed with me the whole time. He was wonderful, I felt so much better about myself after that. Did I love it? No. Will I do it again? Maybe. But I was able to overcome my fear a little bit at least. Hopefully in the future Karl will have an opportunity to overcome his fear and have a good experience. With a fun and supportive bunch like you guys, I like his chances!

What a relief! Definitely helps you feel better about their earlier shortcomings.

😩 Oh no! I’m on pins and needles here!

The whale pics and your descriptions are amazing! I’m so glad you found them! I’m headed to Alaska next summer and seeing the whales is pretty much a bucket list item. Fingers crossed that my experience will be as good as yours! So sorry to hear about Karl’s seasickness. I have heard that is absolutely miserable. Glad he seems to have recovered quickly. You mentioned jumping off waterfalls in Dominican Republic. Was it the Waterfalls of Damajauga? We had a blast doing that, too! I always get excited when someone else mentions it. Lol Thanks for the review! Your reviews (and Jamman) were some of my favorites here on Cruise Critic and a big part of the reason I’ve started writing myself. Thank you!

The pictures and descriptions are fantastic!

I love the sea lions! I kind of want to go, if for no other reason, to see them.

Hey, so glad to see you back! I’ve missed reading your reviews! I’m all settled in to enjoy your cruise!

ABC sounds awesome and I hope you have a wonderful trip! The waterfalls of Damajagua is pretty amazing but definitely not for the faint of heart. The hike in is pretty easy and takes about 40 minutes. Depending on the water levels, you might have differing numbers of waterfall jumps. The first jump is about 12ft, if I remember correctly. The highest jump we did was about 20 ft. It was fun and terrifying! Floating through the canyon was a lot of fun but the water is very murky and you can’t see the bottom. It requires a good bid of climbing over rocks, some slick, and sliding down natural water slides. If you’re interested, I did a Mardi Gras review and included lots of pictures from the excursion. Whatever you decide, I hope you have an awesome cruise!

I don’t drink alcohol either and Carnival is my favorite!

Thanks so much for the advice!

We actually didn't get to go because that port was canceled due to weather. I'm hoping to make it at some point.

Thanks so much! Great review as always!

Please let us know. I’m on Elation in the end of April and I’m curious.

Oh Lord, oh Lord, Willdra’s prayers are the best!

Gotta be the perfect part

Patti does such a good job on her pics, especially the details. I am so bad to get caught up in what I’m doing and just get “overall” type photos. I need to channel some Patti vibes next time!

Oh good, I made it just in time!

Yay! Finally, another awesome Willdra adventure!

Yay, I’ve been waiting for this one! I read Sid and Megan’s so this is truly the icing on the cake. Thanks for doing this!

Same!

Thanks for the review! We’ll be on Elation in April. I appreciate the info.