The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Diagon Alley

Welcome to Diagon Alley -
Check out Gringotts!

You may or may not know this about me, but I am a huge fan of Harry Potter. I have read the books multiple times, own all the movies, and have several "limited edition" items scattered throughout my house (tastefully of course). I tend not to talk a lot about this because while I'm not going to show up to work in a cloak, I do get very excited - and some people get concerned.  For example, a few years back when Universal Studios: Islands of Adventure opened the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, I booked my flight within a few months and was carried away in the magical atmosphere they created for fans and park guests.  I think I consumed 10 glasses of butterbeer that trip and came back with chocolate frogs for everyone (you're welcome).  However; I am still a sensible adult, so  I was not going to show up on day 1 of the opening of the new HP addition.  I thought 1 month was more than enough time to let the massive crowds of 12 year olds have their share before I came back down to Orlando for the opening of Diagon Alley in Universal Studios.

Shortly after arriving at the MCO airport, we went directly to the park.  We got in quickly and went straight to the Diagon Alley section.  From the outside, it is setup like a street in London with the Night Bus sitting proudly on the street.  Between some row homes and the King's Cross station is a small alley way that opens into J.K. Rowling's imagination.  

There were some definite improvements to how extensive and abundant the shops were in comparison to the other park.  There were also more pubs, kiosks, and kitschy ways to spend your money - including exchanging your money in Gringotts for something that could only be spent in HP world.  After waiting for hours to ride the Hogwarts castle ride a few years back, I changed my outlook on life and started using the single rider line as much as possible. The line for the Gringotts ride was out of control even for single riders.  After lots of waiting, I finally found myself seated and ready to go.  

Cool new drink options

The ride is setup similar to the Hogwarts ride in the other park with 3D screens and seats that jump around as you venture through the bank.  About half way through the ride, the audio became out of sync with what was happening around me and I was very sad.  After speaking with the workers, they told me this was a fairly normal occurrence since they were still working out some glitches in the ride.  The good news is that we got to go again without having to wait in line: the second time around was much better.  I’m very glad we got to ride twice since the line (even single riders) was way too long the rest of the trip and I never got back on. 

 

The only other new ride that was part of the second park opening was the Hogwarts Express train that runs between the two parks.  You must have a park hopper pass to get on the train – this is a very clever marketing tactic in my opinion to make sure everyone visits both parks even if they have been there before.  Even though the line looked long, a lot of people can fit on the train in one go (I’m guessing about 100 people).  It is a quick ~10 minute  ride to the next park where you can relax in a quaint passenger car and enjoy a “virtual” tour through the outward looking window.  There are some fun surprises as well with flickering lights, dementors, etc.  This really shouldn’t be missed as it is a fun way to go between parks.  Watching the Hogwarts Express pull up to the station is an incredible sight.

 

All aboard the Hogwarts Express

In addition to the 4 glasses of butterbeer I consumed throughout my 2 days at the park, I also ate at the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade Village.  My Cornish pasties are on par with what I had last time around being good but not excellent.  I actually had a similar style dish in Dublin a few years ago and it was insanely good.  I should not compare authentic food to amusement park food, but I can’t help it. 

 

On a side note – This is not related to HP or Universal Studios, but I stayed at an incredible hotel!  The Hilton Bonnett Creek is right in the Disney theme park area and there are free shuttles that take you to the parks and to Downtown Disney.  The hotel pool is more of a giant lazy river with cabanas and fun activities throughout the day.  I highly recommend this hotel!  The breakfast buffet was pricey, but incredible. 

 

I am very glad I made it back down there this year, but my next trip to Orlando will most likely be to Disney or SeaWorld. 

 

Hogsmeade Village with Hogwarts in the Background

 

Tennessee Roadtrip!

Sun Studio, Memphis

Earlier this year, my friend and I were talking about how much fun she had the last time she went to Nashville and how much she wanted to go again. Since I had never been to Tennessee, I jumped on the opportunity and we started to plan a trip together.  During our brainstorming sessions, we decided to see both Nashville and Memphis so that she could see a new place and I could see both in one go. The plan was set... a trip from Thursday - Monday starting in Nashville and driving cross state to Memphis for the second half. 

Nashville

Me @ Honky Tonk Row

Our flight left Boston bright and early and had us landing in Nashville in time for lunch.  Since we couldn't check in yet, we grabbed a few brochures from the Sheraton hotel and sat down to eat at Demos', a place she remembered had a long line on a previous trip.  While eating my huge chili cheese potato, we planned out the next few days.  This is a bit usual for me as I usually plan everything very far in advance, but my mind has been elsewhere for the last few months and so we were incredibly spontaneous this trip!  It all worked out in the end, so I have no complaints.  From the restaurant, we made our way to the Country Music Hall of Fame.  For the next few hours, I learned all about the history of country music and toured exhibits featuring lots of famous names.  In my opinion, this is a must-do when you are in Nashville.  Even if you don't love country music, there is enough to look at to keep anyone's attention.

After a few side trips into the various shops lining the street on honky tonk row, we made our way back to the hotel to check-in, make reservations for the next day with the concierge desk, and freshen up before a night out.  When I think Nashville, the first thing that comes to mind is country music and lots of dancing!  With a little convincing, I managed to get my friend on board with the idea of line dancing at the Wild Horse Saloon.  Even though the huge venue was sparsely populated for Thursday night, we had a great time attending the dance lessons and practicing our new steps.  We even managed to try some of their famous fried pickles (average) and some hushpuppies (delicious!).  A few hours later, the bar closed up early and we made our way (with a group of new friends of course!) down the street to the next honky tonk. Some of our favorites of the night include The Second Fiddle and Whiskey Bent.   The music was live and loud and the crowd was fun!  Almost every honky tonk we walked by had live country music blasting all night long; and there were no covers!  It was amazing!

The Hermitage House, Home of Andrew Jackson

Early the next morning, we met our Grayline tour bus in front of the lobby for a Historic Nashville Tour.  Our first choice was to go behind the scenes at the Opry, but because the Rockettes were setting up for their Christmas Spectacular, the Opry was moved to the Ryman and the tour wasn't offered that day. The historic tour included two stops, The Hermitage House and Belle Meade Plantation, as well as a stop for lunch at a locally owned buffet.  The Hermitage is the home of former president, Andrew Jackson.  He and his family lived in that house for multiple generations before they couldn't afford to keep it any longer and it was turned into a museum by the state.  The tour was guided with hand offs to different guides responsible for different parts of the home.  After the tour, we were free to roam the grounds and walk through where the slave cabins once were, including Alfred's cabin.  Possibly my favorite part of the tour was the field of Belted Galloway cows.  They were so cute and furry, though Kathleen would not let me jump the fence to pet them. 

Nashville music fun!

Before Belle Meade, we stopped at the supposedly delicious local buffet, the Hermitage House Smorgasbord.  For only $10, you can eat as much as you want from a selection of tasteless, and unappealing food.  Everything I took literally had no flavor at all.  Somehow they even managed to remove all flavor from the ranch dressing at the salad bar.  For being in the south, I was severely disappointed.  I can't recommend this stop for anyone looking for flavor.  If you have a dull palate, or maybe some severe dietary restrictions, go right ahead and indulge.

Fortunately, my spirits picked back up at Belle Meade Plantation.  Belle Meade is a beautiful mansion/winery that was decorated for Christmas throughout the ages.  Each room showed Christmas decorations from a different decade.  The tour guide was wonderful and very engaging, and the tour was just long enough to see a lot, but not get bored.  After the tour, we went out to the winery for a wine tasting.  If you know me, you know I love wine..  I purchased a sparkling Riesling that is sitting in my kitchen waiting for the right occasion!  They also had a beautiful gift shop with all sorts of southern paraphernalia.  I could have spent a while here shopping, but we were on a schedule.  The ride back to the hotel was short and in no time we were back in our room getting ready for another night out and a quick dinner at Puckett's where I had the most delicious pulled pork quesadilla.

What is a trip to Nashville without going to the Grand Ole Opry?  As I mentioned before, there was a lot of spontaneity to this trip, so we secured our tickets the night before the event.  We were very lucky to attend the Opry at the Ryman theater, instead of Opryland.  The theater was beautifully intimate and there was a big lineup of both older and young and up and coming country music acts.  Listening to a radio show being broadcasted live was an experience you don't typically get in this age.  It was a fun way to spend the night, and I came away with a new poster and a new band to like, Old Crow Medicine Show!  After the show, we returned to honky tonk row and listened to some more of the live music I was starting to love in Nashville.

"Hello, I'm Johnny Cash!"

Because of some hiccups with the room, we were offered a free breakfast on Saturday morning from the hotel's buffet.  This breakfast ended up being one of the better meals of our trip.  I am a sucker for biscuits and sausage gravy, and both we in abundance.  Along with a side of buttery grits, I was in heaven!  After eating, we packed our bags and made some last stops before leaving the city and starting on our TN road trip.  Aside from shopping, and picking up yummy pralines for the rest of the trip, we also stopped at the Johnny Cash museum.  If you love Johnny, or just are interested in his story, the museum is a fun little stop and a nice way to kill an hour or two.  If you're not very interested in him specifically, you can pass on this "museum".  The gift shop is fun to checkout though. 

Inside Opryland!

Arkansas?

By early afternoon, we had picked up our rental car from the airport and after a pit stop at Opry Mills just so I could see the huge development, we were on our way to Memphis.  The 3+ hour ride was easy and quick.  When we were planning this trip, we both agreed to stop over in Arkansas so that we could cross that state off of our bucket list.  Fortunately, West Memphis, Arkansas is about 10 minutes away from Memphis, TN.  The first thing we came to on the road was a truck stop.  I don't know about you, but truck stops scream authenticity to me!  We stopped for a short while and perused the small shop.  Arkansas = check!

Memphis

Memphis BBQ!

By late that afternoon, we rolled into Memphis.  Our path of rolling must not have been the best because we were quickly driving through some scary parts of town.  That was not the best first impression of this Blues City.  We eventually made our way onto the strip and found our Westin hotel near the FedEx Forum.  The location was very close to the bars and restaurants, but only a block in the wrong direction, and I wouldn't be walking outside at night.  I quickly noticed that Memphis was much smaller than Nashville and that maybe we should have allocated our time a bit differently spending another day in Nashville instead.  That night, I convinced my friend to go get barbeque for dinner at Rendezvous.  A short walk from the hotel, we were able to find it quickly and get immediately seated.  Rendezvous is well known for dry rub bbq.  I ordered a small order of ribs and proceeded to stuff my face with the delicious food.  The ribs were actually in a tie with the slaw for what was most delicious on my plate.  After dinner, we walked down the main road looking for a bar and some music.  Quickly realizing that our pickings were slim, we handed over our cover charge at on open air venue, Silky O'Sullivans, and listened to a cover band play many genres of music, with the exception of country.  This was very bizarre to me, but it was a theme of Memphis, no country music.  No boots, no hats, no nothing...  Because Memphis is a big college town, the bars cater to a younger crowd; not at all the same as Nashville.

Inside Graceland

The package we booked at the Westin included breakfast each morning.  Breakfast was plated and served in the hotel restaurant.  Sadly, the Westin is trying to be healthy, and did not offer any traditional southern fare.  It wasn't bad, it just wasn't what I expected.  After breakfast, we dropped off our rental car and headed out to Graceland to have an Elvis experience!  Upon arrival, we purchased our middle-tier tickets (so that we could see the airplanes too) and hopped on a shuttle.  The van basically took us across the street.  I found this odd as we could have walked there faster. The Graceland mansion itself was beautifully set up on a small hill.  The tour was self guided and we were all given a pair of headphones to listen in to an audio tour.  While the audio was helpful, it makes it hard to experience the tour with a friend.  We were often on different parts of the audio and listening made it hard to talk to each other.  We spent about an hour in the home and on the grounds.  I found the burial plots in the meditation garden very calming and a nice touch for visitors who come to Graceland to honor Elvis.  After the tour of the house, we got back on the shuttle and crossed the street back to the crazy tourist plaza.  The plaza contained shops, restaurants, and additional "museums", or more appropriately, exhibits, highlighting different things.  There was an automobile museum, a museum focusing on Las Vegas costumes, etc. etc.  One of the more interesting exhibits was for Elvis's airplanes.  Not just anyone owns multiple airplanes for their personal use.   That was impressive! 

Burial Plot of Elvis Presley

From Graceland, we caught a bus to Sun Studio.  Sun studio is well known for recording some lesser known artists, such as Jerry Lee Louis and Johnny Cash.  Elvis also was there for a short while.  Though the studio was small, the tour was wonderful!  Artists still record at Sun Studio today, so it was nice to be able to touch things and not worry about being extra careful.  There is also a cute little café that serves soda in glass bottles and little snacks if you're getting hungry.  Don't pass on this tour, even though it doesn't seem all that exciting.  It was one of the highlights of my trip.  After about an hour, we got back on the shuttle and made our way to the Rock N' Soul museum.  We did not actually go into that museum, but it was right next to our hotel, so we had a free ride home.  We had a few hours after the busy tour day to decompress in the room and chill out.  After a short while, I went down to the hotel bar to have a drink and mingle with the locals.  I quickly found out it was

Lorraine Motel

Memphis's restaurant week, and wherever we went that night, we'd have limited dining options. 

The last two days, we heard here and there, that we should check out BB Kings.  We decided to listen and walked down to main street to the other end (about 1.5 blocks away - a long street, I know).  We were seated in a half booth that was arranged in stadium style seating around a big stage.  I ordered a cocktail and waited for the music to begin.  Approximately 45 minute later, the musicians got their act together enough to start playing and we were treated to live music while eating dinner.  The food was average, but the atmosphere was fun.  I'm glad we decided to come here and check it out.  After dinner, we decided to make our way elsewhere to find some pecan pie and more music.  As we walked down the street asking each bouncer if they served pie, we found a winner!  We were serenaded by a group of old men resembling the cast of duck dynasty while eating our dessert.  It doesn't get much better than that!

Our last day in Memphis, we ate another healthy breakfast in the hotel restaurant and walked down the street to the Civil Rights Museum.  We contemplated going there the night before, but quickly realized we made the right decision to wait until daylight.  The short walk was questionable through some run down parts of town.  The museum was nice, though small, and focused mostly on the investigation of the death of MLK Jr.  With admission to the museum, we were also able to walk over to the Loraine Motel and stand on the balcony where he was shot.  This museum is a nice side stop in Memphis and even though it is off the beaten path, it is a nice place to see.

Gus's Fried Chicken!

Before leaving for the airport, I had to get in one last taste of southern cooking at Gus's Fried Chicken.  If you know me, I am not one who really enjoys gnawing meat off of bones, but I do believe in experiencing local flavors.  I ordered the fried chicken fingers plate with baked beans and potato salad.  I don't know how, but Gus managed to keep the chicken incredibly juicy and crispy at the same time.  Everything was delicious and I fully appreciated the souvenir soda glass to take home.  One last run with pie left us happy and full on our flight back to Boston.  Gus's is a must do if you like fried chicken and are in the area.  It's a must do even if you don't really like fried chicken, it's that good! 

All in all, I would love to go back to Nashville for round two, but would skip out on Memphis.  Once is more than enough for me.

Let's Rodeo San Antonio!

The Alamo

There are times when I time a trip perfectly, and there are times when things just do not want to cooperate.  The weekend before my flight down to San Antonio, Boston was hit with a giant Nor' Easter and we were covered in 2 feet of snow.  Fortunately I was not trying to travel during the storm, because I would have never made it.  I sure was itching to get some sunshine, and a weekend in sunny Texas was just what I needed! 

This trip was partially for tourism reasons and partially to visit family.  Being my first visit to Texas, there were a few things I had to do like buy a cowboy hat and boots, and there were things I planned for while being in San Antonio specifically, like visiting the Alamo, the River Walk, and Rodeo!  I flew into San Antonio airport, with a brief layover in Dallas, late Friday night.  My mom and Ricky picked us up from the airport and it was only a short ride to the Sheraton Gunter hotel.  I will admit that I sometimes don't pick the best places to stay, and the reviews online had me a bit worried, but the hotel was very nice!  The lobby was large and looked very well preserved.  They had lots of cool antiques like an old switchboard and mail shoots near the elevators.  We had no problems checking in. Our room was big!  There was plenty of space for a big bed, couch, desk, dresser, and room to walk around.  The bathroom was also very spacious and clean.  Since it was already late, we just went down to the hotel bar, McLeod's, for a nightcap before turning in. The cocktail list was appealing, and I had a skinny margarita to celebrate being so close to Mexico.

Riverwalk during the day

The next morning, we woke up pretty early to start our day at the Starbucks across the street.  Yum, coffee!  Walking towards The Alamo, we made a quick detour and walked along the river walk.  It was very quiet at 8:30am and was nice for taking pictures.  When I went back later that night it was incredibly busy, and I would not have had the chance to appreciate it's charm.  The Alamo opened to the public at 9am.  At first, it was not too busy, but within 1/2 hour it picked up.  Entrance is free, but I think we could have paid to rent an audio tour.  We just walked around and read the signs posted everywhere.  Overall, it was pretty small but a nice activity to fill an hour or two.  There are only a few rooms you can walk around in, and you are not allowed to take any pictures of the relics.  There is a nice, big, gift shop with lots of neat souvenirs!  I bought a Christmas ornament for my tree.

After the Alamo, we walked around in search of a breakfast place.  The concierge at the hotel pointed us in the opposite direction of the tourist sites where we found a Mexican cafe, Oasis Cafe.  The food was just okay, but it was cheap and enough to sustain us for the next few hours as we drove off to the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo.  We lucked out and got a parking spot very close, so by around 11am we were through the front gate.  My initial thought was that the grounds were much larger than I expected!  There were several large buildings setup with pigs, horses, and cows (well, I saw two cows).  There were even more venders selling clothings, accesories, furniture, and even tractors, though I guess that should have been expected.  I didn't get a chance to see any of the animal auctions, but I sure got my fill of pigs.  By around 12:30, we made our way into the arena for the rodeo and concert.

Rodeo Events!

Watching the rodeo was a lot of fun!  They had different events including roping events, mutton bustin', barrel racing, and of course, bull riding!  Those poor rodeo clowns.  The one we saw go thrown by an angry bull while he was hiding in his barrel.  At first, I felt a little sad for the animals, especially the calves being roped, but my mom pointed out that they are trained for that and are actually pretty calm as they wait for them to come untie the ropes.  The rodeo events lasted about 2 hours, and then there was a 30 minute break before the Lady Antebellum concert.  The concert was great!  The opened with some songs that I did not recognize, but then all the goods ones came out.  The stage was one of those small spinning circles, and it was a little small for the venue, but the sound was good and that's what really matters!  We spent another hour or so trying out some of the food trucks before making a quick detour for me to pickup my boots and hat at Cavender's before dinner.

After a quick refresher back at the hotel, we headed out to the River Walk to find dinner.  I don't want to use the saying, "it was like night and day" to describe this, because we really did visit the River Walk during both night and day, but it was drastically different.  It was so busy, that we had to walk down the path single file and I was still scared someone was going to get pushed into the water!  This is obviously the area people go out to at night to drink and go to bars.  Every restaurant we went to had a wait of 1.5 hours, so we continued to walk until we found a place that did not.  That should have been a sign, when we were seated right away at Ostra, but we ignored it because we were hungry.  The menu looked appetising and the places were pretty high considering what we just walked past (hard rock cafe, mexican place, etc).  Our service was horrible!  We waited over an hour for our food, and while it was good, it wasn't worth the wait.  We probably would have been served faster if we went to one of the other restaurants with an hour wait!  Since we didn't finish our meal until well after 10pm, that was it for the night.

Close up of a Longhorn

The next morning we drove out to my mom's house for some family time.  That afternoon, we visited a ranch that had longhorns so that I could see them in person.  They were surprisingly docile.... I guess they are just cows with big horns.  I can definitely see how someone could get hurt if they get in the way, those horns are pointy!  They also had no problem coming right up to the truck to get some treats.  Fortunately for me, their big horns limited just how far they could stick their mouth in through the window!

The next day we had breakfast at a nearby Mexican restaurant and made our way to the airport.  It was another short weekend, but a lot of fun!  Hopefully my next trip down there, I'll get to explore Austin!

2012 Recap: Miami and Key West

Gator in the water at Gator Park

This is the last recap post I need to do for 2012.  It seems like a really long time ago now, but over President's Day weekend in February, I flew down to southern Florida to explore Miami and the Florida Keys, specifically Key West. Part of the time was spent visiting friends, but the other part was dedicated to tourist activities and a break from the cold weather in Boston.  Looking back on my journal entry from this date, I can see this is about the time I stopped writing on a regular basis.  For that reason, this post will be short.

It is always cheaper for me to fly into Fort Lauderdale from Boston.  Weirdly enough, it has also always been cheaper to rent a car from the Miami airport, so it ends up being a wash in the end.  I'm not a conspiracy theorist or anything, but I think this must be carefully planned out by someone.  My time on the mainland was divided between South Beach and The Everglades.  Thinking back on South Beach, I remember being surprised at the caliber of people walking around.  Ever since Will Smith started rapping about "ladies half-dressed, fully equipped", I had a vision in my head of what it would like like, but no, most of the people were pretty normal.  Maybe it was because I was there during the day, but it was a nice spot to walk along the beach and have a few drinks under the sun. 

On an airboat

One of the highlights of this trip was the excursions to Gator Park.  Thanks to the HBO show, True Blood, I was dieing to ride on an airboat through the Everglades.  After careful research online, I decided on Gator Park.  The entire experience was lots of fun!  It's really easy to find and even though it's on the same road as every other "gator" type of attraction in the area, it stood out.  I purchased my tickets online in advance and saved $3 on admission.  I know that if you are visiting on a weekend, you can print out a coupon from their website for a BOGO adult admission.  Even paying full price, it's worth it.  I entered through the little store and was escorted to the airboats for our tour of the everglades.  I saw lots of different birds, turtles, and gators!  I even saw some baby gators in the wild.  The water was high enough, so the boat was able to fly around through the glades pretty fast.  Our tour guide was knowledgeable and entertaining.  After the boat ride, all the passengers were escorted into a pavilion for a "show".  It only lasted about 10 minutes, but it was fun to see some of the other animals local to the Everglades.Oh, best part ever, was paying the $3 to hold the baby gator.  He was actually pretty heavy and it made me laugh to watch some of the younger kids hold him up.

Me holding a baby gator at Gator Park

Due to time constaints, I wasn't able to spend anymore time in the MIA/FLL area during this trip.  The next day I drove down through the Florida Keys.  It was a beautiful drive (especially across the 7 mile bridge!) and I'm glad I chose to go that route instead of flying directly into Key West.   The website for the Westin Key West Resort & Marina has a guide to places to stop in the keys along the way.  Most of the stops didn't look to appealing, but I could see how you'd want a list of attractions if you're in a car with screaming kids who can't make it seated for the entire trip.  I didn't see any key deer, and believe me, I was looking!

The Westin is in a great location, right in the heart of all the action.  The concierge was friendly and helped me make some reservations.  I am very glad I didn't splurge for an ocean view room because there were cruise ships blocking the view during our entire stay.  There is a very tiny view and you are not really close to any beaches.  You do have the option to purchase a beach pass for $20/per person per day at the private island beach (a 5 minute ferry ride across the marina).  Those were all sold out by 10 AM the day I tried to buy one.  I managed to snag a breakfast reservation at latitudes, the restaurant on the private beach, but I was incredibly disappointed.  Check out my Yelp review if you want to know why.  Fortunately, my dinner experience next door at Shore American Seafood Grill in the Hyatt more than made up for the bad breakfast.

View from the Westin's Private Island

Overall, Key West has a bit of a hippy/artsy vibe.  I really liked walking down the street and taking in a bit of everything.  There is a lot of history in this city!  Next time I come I'd love to do a walking tour.  I spent a day soaking up the sun on Smather's beach, but didn't get to check out any of the other beaches nearby.  Oh, and the Key Lime pie is to die for!

2012 Recap: 3 Day Carnival Cruise from Miami to Nassau

In attempt at getting my travel blog off to a good start, I am planning to recap the trips I've already taken in 2012.  Maybe, if I get adventurous (and really bored), I'll cycle back to 2011.  Lucky for me, even though I haven't been blogging, I have been journaling for the last 3 years and can easily retrieve enough details to spark my memory.  I also take a lot of pictures, so that helps.

I started 2012 off with a bang and a "free" trip from attending a timeshare presentation last fall.  I flew out of Boston on January 5th directly into Fort Lauderdale via Spirit Airlines and cruised with Carnival for 3 nights.  If you've ever flown Spirit Airlines, you know why I put free in quotations.  This has to be to last airline in the world that charges you for carry-on & checked bags.  Even if you are a light packer, like me, you still have to pay to bring a bag on board.  You do get a free (for real this time) personal item, but ladies, that would be your purse, not a roller bag. Not only do they verify your item is within the exact weight/height ratio, but upon boarding, they verify you have paid for it as well.  My bags cost me about $75 round trip.  The next part of this "free" trip was fortunately avoided, because I was required to fly into FLL and stay the night before at my own expense.  That was covered because I had friends and a home to crash in before boarding the next morning.

I would be lying if I said that I anticipated a smooth boarding process.  Even though we had our reservation and confirmed it through the Carnival website, you never know what's going to happen when booking through a third party.  I highly recommend avoiding this whenever possible, it just adds to your stress level.  During our booking process, we chose to forgo all extras and upgrades because I refused to be scammed!  Looking back on it, maybe I should have at least gotten a price quote.  Our interior cabin was really nice and spacious.  Even on the very far end of the boat, we didn't feel any rocking.  The only downfall was that I never knew what time it was!  Usually the first thing I look for when waking up in the morning is sunlight.  To be completely honest though, most of my time was spent on the lido deck out by the pool.

If you've never been on a Carnival cruise, they really do whatever they can to remove you from reality and just let you relax.  Anytime you want to buy something (drinks, souvenirs, bingo cards), you just bring out your handy-dandy plastic card and sign your life away.  On average, drink specials will run about $6-$8 and a cheap bottle of wine with dinner is closer to $25.  Coming from Boston, that's not too bad.  They also slide an itinerary under your door with activities listed for each day.  Some (deck trivia, shows) are free and others (bingo) are not.  Usually, if you are attending an activity, you get some kind of compensation.  I have even heard that you can sometimes sign up for timeshare presentations while still on the boat.  Sadly, my free drink did not make up for the $25 and 10 minutes lost playing bingo.  However, the bottle of champagne certainly made up for participating in a game show!

Our itinerary was a little rushed with only one day in Nassau, but it was a quick weekend getaway.  The last cruise I was only was 8 days through the Caribbean.  I think we had 5 different stops; it was incredible! Also, this was the very beginning of January, so the weather was still a little chilly in the low 70's.  That eliminated any potential water activity from my schedule.  I did dip my toes in the pool, but I didn't (and felt bad for) go to Atlantis for any water sports. I've also been to Nassau before, so I may have had a "been there, done that" attitude.  My day at port was spent walking about downtown Nassau and comparing prices from local vendors with those on the ship.  I am happy to say, the cruise ship was in fact cheaper, and as a result, I did not have to carry 6 rum cakes around with me through town. 

The last day at sea, I got suckered into attending an art show and was a hands raise away from spending $250 on a miniscule piece of art work.  Luckily for me, my better judgement prevailed and I walked out with two free glasses of Champagne and a 8x10 print of a lion head.  I have no idea where that is now...