Carnival Cruise November 15-23

Finally getting around to posting this...

A great last minute deal for this cruise popped up so we decided to go for it.  It left Port Canaveral in Florida on November 15th and arrived back into Port Canaveral on November 23rd.  We stopped at Nassau, Bahamas, St. Maarten, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Grand Turk.  We of course had a great time! :)

Nassau, Bahamas

We put on our running stuff, got off the ship, and went for a jog.  This is what we found...

Old church and cemetery

Bridge to Paradise Island, which we of course raced to the top of!

Turtles Galore!!!

Beach on Paradise Island.  Too crowded for our liking; we didn't stay long.

Fresh Conch. Conch Fritters. Cracked Conch. So delicious!!!

How about this kitchen?  Love it. :)

 Spartan training in the Bahamas!

St. Maarten

We took the local public bus to Maho Beach to see fantastic airplane landings right over our heads. The airport is literally right up against the beach.  When the planes take off people hold onto the fence right behind the plane and literally get blown off the fence because the jet blast is so powerful. Crazy.... but definitely entertaining to watch.  The island was hilly and beautiful, we want to come spend more time here at some point and do some coastal hikes.

San Juan, Puerto Rico

We again put on our running stuff, got off the ship, and ran all over Old San Juan.  This was our favorite island of the trip.  We loved the cobblestone streets, the fortresses, and the history.  We might have to fly back here someday too.  After we ran all over, we hopped on the free trolley and saw everything again for the 2nd time.

Wall that goes all around Old San Juan.  They are currently in the process of building a running trail all around the bottom of the wall.  It currently goes about halfway.

San Felipe del Morro Fort

Cemetery on the beach

Castillo de San Cristobal

 Secret Shaved Ice

A story comes with this pic.  When researching this island before we went, I came across a post on the internet about this shaved ice.  The post gave an address and said it would be an unmarked apartment.  When you find it, yell through the gate to Eddie and he will come out and tout the flavors of the day of the Limbers (shaved ice) he has.  They will come out in a regular cup out of his freezer and it costs 75 cents.  Of course I thought that was the coolest thing ever and took down the address.   It definitely wasn't the top of the priority to-do list for the island, but I figured if we came across it we would try it.  It just so happens it was one of the first streets we ran into after our run.  We hesitantly yelled for Eddie through the unmarked apartment gate, but no one came.  It was about 8am so we figured it might be a little early.  Oh well, we tried.  After we finished seeing the town later in the afternoon we decided to give it one more shot.  We are glad we did!  This time there was a tiny sign hung from the window saying Limber 75 cents.  We knocked and a woman came out.  We both chose a coconut one.  It was seriously the most delicious shaved ice concoction I've ever had.  It was full of real coconut and it was only 75 cents.  We wanted more but didn't dare eat too much since I'm sure it is made with local water and the odds of getting sick are pretty high.  Luckily neither of us did though.  As we were eating our limbers, a group of school kids came by on their way home and each got theirs.  Truly a local gem. :)

Grand Turk

We packed our snorkeling stuff about a mile or so down the beach and headed out where there were some buoys.  We saw the biggest stingrays we have ever seen.  Even bigger than the ones we have seen and held on tours we paid for.  We also got to see giant Spotted Eagle Rays.  Their wingspans were about 6 feet wide, they were huge!!! Tour guides must feed them in this area sometimes, because they all showed up after we had been swimming for a little while and circled us a couple times and then swam back to the depths of the ocean once they realized we didn't have any food.  We saw about 12 total.  They were gorgeous, but they were so big I was a little nervous when they were circling us.  Unfortunately we didn't get too great of pics of the rays because it was cloudy at the time.  Shucks.

Carnival Liberty Ship

 Movies under the Stars

 Lobster Dinner

 Are those our waiters dancing on the serving tables?  Yes, yes they are.  Loved it.

Ice carving

Water slide

 One of these adorable little towel animals was waiting on our bed each evening.

 ...And sometimes they would pop up in the theater or on every single lawn chair out on the deck

One of my favorite spots on the ship... the piano bar.  They had a guy that would play here each evening and he was fantastic.  He could play and sing just about anything and would play whatever everyone requested.  He also played some classical pieces that were just beautiful.  We spent some time here every evening.