Mitsugirly takes great PRIDE in bringing her Spring Break extreme review

[mitsugirly]

 

I was really looking forward to this port. It was something new for me, a place I had never been to before, a place I had seen shows on the travel channel about, a place I just knew I was going to like and others on the boards raved about.

 

 

 

 

 

We met up with Kendra and Brayden, one last photo of the port and we were heading back down to our rooms to grab our beach bags.

 

 

We headed out the door and our room steward wished us a great day, then said "do you have your ID's?" Um, I didn't realize we needed them? He said we did and I rushed back inside to grab them from the safe and off we went. It was at that point that I realize I hadn't even brought my ID or my wallet. I must have left it in my car. Oh great.

 

Anyhow, we went downstairs to the 2nd floor, which was where Kendra's room was and got in the long line waiting to head down the stairs. We weren't moving at all. We sat there for about 10 minutes before someone yelled "wrong stairs!" We did an about face, which made us first in line and down the hallway we went. Kendra had the very first room at the end of the hallway so her door was basically the easiest room on the ship to get off and on. LOL

 

We headed down the stairs and off the ship after a quick "ding" of our ship cards.

 

 

We had our pictures taken by the photographer

 

 

 

Then off we went.

[mitsugirly]

I'm snap happy along the way of course...

 

 

 

The water was absolutely gorgeous!

 

 

 

We hit the beach running...well, not really, but off on a stroll, snapping pictures and looking for the prime real estate we would call home for a few hours.

 

I immediately knew this was not the place we wanted to stop.

 

 

 

 

 

So we moved along.

 

[mitsugirly]

I originally had made a plan to go toward (not to) Jack's shack and find a place for a few hours, then to the conch grave yard, then the last few hours at the pool.

 

For some reason we hit the very end of the "compound" and decided that was far enough. I'm not sure why. But I looked up and down the beach and...well, it's the same beach, the water was the same, the beach was about the same and well, I didn't feel like walking anymore. This was good enough for us. Another reason I'll tell you why I decided to stop here was most people stopped at the very beginning when they got off the ship. There really wasn't many down this way. It wasn't crowded or anything. I normally hate when they have chair after chair after chair lined up that if you was to think any thought, the person next to you would hear it. But, I felt that this was going to be different...and it was. Had there been another ship in port, I would have probably kept walking as planned.

 

 

 

 

I liked that the ship was right in front of us. It meant I would get some great pictures of her that day.

 

 

 

Sakari headed out to the water.

 

 

Then I headed out on my raft:

 

[starfish the second]

have read all your ncl reviews cant wait to read a carnival review.

[mitsugirly]

Sakari soon noticed I had brought our float from home and out she came to take over.

 

 

 

 

 

I didn't have the heart to take it back. She just looked like she was having so much fun on it.

 

 

You could tell the party was getting started next door. The music started playing loudly and all the favorite dance songs came on. Sakari started dancing while laying in the float...she's got that rhythm in her.

 

(click link below for video)

 

 

 

 

Something weird we noticed is that the moon was still out.

 

[mitsugirly]

have read all your ncl reviews cant wait to read a carnival review.

 

Glad to have you here. (I have another Carnival review in my signature line as well ;))

[mitsugirly]

I noticed that the beach was getting a little more crowded, but there still wasn't anyone really around us and everyone was all spread out. So it was still comfortable and we would remain where we were at.

 

 

 

Now I take my snorkeling equipment with me everywhere I go...even if I'm told that the snorkeling is not good, it's a sandy bottom beach and so on. I have found in the past that there is ALWAYS something to see and honestly, usually those places are the places that I will see my very "first" (as in the first time I've ever seen that fish or animal). I have had great luck with this and I hoped that this would pay off today as well.

 

Now I do know that others have snorkeled here and found what they called "good snorkeling" in front of the ship. But my definition of "good snorkeling" I think is a little different. None-the-less, I'm snorkeling....and off I went....to encounter this right from the beginning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

the water was beautiful and crystal clear. We were having a good time.

 

 

You could hear the parrot fish crunching on the coral.

 

 

 

Anyone know what this is???

 

 

 

It was originally brown...if you dove down by it...it turned white....anyone?

 

[mitsugirly]

I have to confess that I have never tried my macro underwater setting before and this shouldn't have been the first time to try it out either!!!

 

I put it on macro, trying to get a good close up, clear picture of this creature (if you haven't figured it out by now, it's an octopus). I guess I didn't realize that the macro makes it zoom in...like ZOOOOOOOM in without having to dive down. Oops. It came out a little too zoomed.

 

 

Now didn't I just say that any time I have went somewhere that people say is either 1) bad snorkeling because it's a sandy bottom or 2) you won't see anything there or whatever the excuse is...I ALWAYS find something I have never seen before. This of course would be no exception. This would be the first time I have ever came across an octopus. Go me!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

I was real happy to see that there were a variety of various corals around the area too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think he's smiling at me. Say "cheese"!

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Sakari decided to head out to a little deeper water with us so ...like always, it's a must to have your puddle jumper on if mommy is unable to stand in the water to grab you when you need a break.

 

 

ANYONE SEE THE FISH?

 

 

What about now?

 

 

 

It's a sideways flounder (or flatfish). They are born like any other fish but as they grow, they turn sideways and their other eye moves up to the top so both eyes are facing up. They blend in with the sand and try covering up with the sand and you'll sometimes only see the eyes sticking up. You really have to watch for them but I have noticed that I have been finding these fish a lot lately on cruises in various ports. Maybe I'm just getting better at spotting them and they've been there the entire time, or there are just more now that when I first started cruising.

 

We made him move so I could get a better picture.

 

 

 

Now one thing I noticed this time around that I hadn't seen before when they were swimming is that it had a knife like (as in the looks) fin that stood straight up when it felt threatened. It was the first time I had seen that fin on one of these fish.

 

[mitsugirly]

One last snorkeling picture and it was time to go...and only because I just love these little guys. They are not afraid of you at all when in the water and you will find them in ANY water when it's a sandy bottom. They will follow you and swim around your legs and they come in all sizes.

 

 

 

So since we were on a time schedule that I had previously chosen prior to the cruise in order to fit everything in. It was almost time to move on. It was about 1/2 hour early, but the kids wanted to go to the pool. So off we went heading that way.

 

 

 

I decided to go ahead and take some pictures of the port and shopping area while I was at it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

I almost forgot...the kids found a donkey on the beach and had to go over and say hi to it while we were still on the beach.

 

 

 

 

I'm kinda almost shocked that Brayden had enough guts to go up to it and touch it.

 

So here we are making our way to the pool. It was a really beautiful resort type pool. Normally I don't go on vacation to go to a pool and I usually only go to a pool if the port is one of those I really don't care for and it's located at a resort (like Jamaica). But it's sometimes nice to relax in fresh water and get all that salt off your skin. The kids like it too, so it was a good decision.

 

 

 

We didn't have many choices for a spot around the pool that had any shade. Most places right by the pool were taken already and the shady spots were taken as well. The only place we could find that would accommodate us it an area under the tress, but yet on rocks. Oh well. It would have to do. For the most part we would be in the water.

 

 

This was the pool area over by the surfing. I never did see anyone on it, but they could have been while we were at the beach. The pool area was HUGE and had many different parts to it, several connected pools and bridges. Super nice and easy to spread out and not be crowded.

 

[Cindy]

Great review as always!:D

 

The Breeze will be in Miami until late next year 2016, or early 2017.:D

 

The first Breeze cruise from Galveston is in December of 2016, so there's quite a bit of time before she moves.

[mitsugirly]

Of course Sakari could hardly contain herself and off she went.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

Kendra working on her shade tan and discovering that the port had free wifi...oh know, she was rubbing it in to her bf back home how nice the weather was here today. They were telling her that it was nasty, cold and raining back home. That rain would later turn into a storm where my car would get messed up that night...while sitting inside one of their (Kendra and bf's) car shops. Sigh.

 

 

 

 

This would be one of the few times that you will see several pictures of my hubby in the water...any water recently actually unless we are on an excursion snorkeling or swimming with the sharks. He normally doesn't "just swim" to be swimming. He has "bad ears". He has seemed partially death (which I always said was selective hearing) and he constantly has ear infections...like nasty pussy ear infections. When he goes in the water, they get worse and hurt. But last year he went to a specialist, which told him some time when he was younger (determined by when this problem first started) that he had busted both ear drums and he said they had become badly infected and he was actually missing parts of his internal ear drums and would need reconstruction. They put him on a lot of medicine, cleared up the infection, told him to wear ear plugs (even when showering) and he should be good to go until he was ready for reconstruction. He's 100% better now and was actually playing in the water with the kids this cruise.

 

 

 

Me taking a picture of Kendra taking a picture of me. See how that works?

 

 

Gotta sneak in a picture of the whale tail.

 

[mitsugirly]

Like I said, I was on a time schedule and it was time for us to pack up and head to the conch graveyard in search for a few good conch's for Sakari's display back home. She cherishes each thing she gets and can tell you exactly where she got them and she doesn't allow anyone in her room to touch them (but will bring them out for show and tell to friends and family when she wants to show them off).

 

We packed up, Kendra was being slow, Brayden even slower. I told her we would slowly stroll to the shopping area then onto the beach and it was up to her to catch up. I was taking pictures along the way of course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

More pictures along the way

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kendra and Brayden never did catch up so off we headed on our own to explore.

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

They were everywhere and so many to chose from. Now I'm sure we probably didn't make it all the way to the end. I was told to head that way and go to the tip that goes around the edge. We came to this part way before what I would think would be the tip of the island where you have to turn and it was good enough for us. If we couldn't find something we liked here, we had issues.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also found the cutest little little sea urchin (the kind that is round like a dome and don't hurt you). It was hollow so I scooped it up and took it with me. I do remember packing it, however when I got home to unpack, I could no longer find it??? I'm still wondering what happened. It was in the suitcase the night I put them out. It's like it vanished.

 

We picked out 3 conch shells and started to head back toward the port.

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

On the way back, we discovered what a nice area that side of the dock was. It hardly had anyone over there at all and there was lots of shade and also a small swimming area roped off too. I think if I ever return, I will head to this area for the day if I don't go on an excursion somewhere else. It was really nice.

 

You could tell they had weddings on the beach there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

Sakari loved this whale and was excited to take her picture with it and explore it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

We had great memories and souvenirs of the conch graveyard and headed back to the port for a little more swimming fun before getting back on the ship. We were hot from the walk and very thirsty. We got back to find Kendra and Brayden still swimming and they had claimed stake to a new spot right beside the pool with an umbrella.

 

We parked it beside her and the hubby was off to get us some expensive drinks....and possibly some fries to munch on.

 

He returned with this scrumptious thing..which was a dirty banana, dirty monkey, dirty something...I don't know but it was the best!!! However, I guess they do things differently in Grand Cayman. They had the drink and then a plastic shot glass filled with liquor inside the glass. The hubby said "they said to take this shot and chase it down with the drink". Um...no. That would probably knock me on my arse. I'm a lightweight. I'm not a big drinker. So I poured it into my glass and stirred it up and it was just perfect!!!

 

 

 

 

 

He let me know he bought those 2 drinks and an order of fries and it was a whopping $25! YIKES!!! They charged for the items, taxed them, added gratuity and then added another fee. Geesh AND he went up to them. It wasn't pool side service either that we're talking about. No wonder everyone says to get out of the over priced cruise compound.

 

 

Meanwhile, Kendra was telling me the reason that she wasn't able to catch up with her was because Braydens shoes were missing. His BRAND NEW, just bought the day before the cruise, Nike slip on sandals were gone. She had looked everywhere but knew that they were on his feet when we arrived there and now they were gone.

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

I'm glad Kendra still had energy to spare to flip the kids in the pool because this momma sure didn't. All I wanted to do was relax.

 

 

 

 

 

Sooner than later, I was talked into participating in the flipping flip program for tots.

 

 

 

I escaped for awhile and decided to walk up these steps to see where it lead to.

 

 

 

 

Could it be leading me to some secret beautiful hideaway?

 

 

Heck no, it was the darn parking lot.