Gavin and I didn't get a chance to go on our honeymoon right after the wedding last May, so we decided to take a honeymoon/1st anniversary ("honeyversary") trip this year. Luckily, there are Carnival cruises leaving out of Charleston, so we only had a 3-hour trip to get there. Even luckier, there was a cruise leaving the day after our exact anniversary, so we were able to spend a little time in Charleston as a pre-honeyversary.
Sunday, May 24
We left Charlotte early enough on Sunday morning to make it to Charleston for lunch. Gavin got to pick the lunch spot because a girl scooping italian ice told us about a Thai restaurant that is only open for dinner. Gavin opted for
Southend Brewery and Smokehouse. I had a pulled pork sandwich (typical) and Gavin had the Old South Burger, complete with a fried green tomato and pimento cheese. He also tried a beer flight and when he picked up one of the samples, the tray smiled at us. :)
After lunch, we walked around Charleston to see if we could find Robert Jordan's house. Gavin has been a fan of his writing since he was a child, so it was a happy coincidence that he used to live in Charleston. We managed to find it but I will not be posting the address, for privacy purposes. However, here is a picture of Gavin next to the gate.
After some more wandering, we found Rainbow Row:
By this time, we decided we needed a nap before dinner and wanted to check into the hotel. (If you are not a fan of Hampton Inn, I hope you will be after this post. In an attempt to save money (and time), we didn't want to park at the port when we left for the cruise. We had read on several travel sites that there are hotels in the area that allow you to leave your car in their parking lot if you stay for at least one night. We jumped at this opportunity and were delighted to find out that
Hampton Inn in North Charleston provided a complimentary shuttle to and from the cruise ship, as well. We were dropped off before the bulk of the passengers arrived, so we were able to leisurely board the ship. We were also picked up quickly and delivered back to our car at the hotel in a timely fashion. I can't speak highly enough about this service.
AND, if that wasn't enough, Miss Donna (in the kitchen) went out of her way to accommodate a request of ours. We had foolishly thought we could eat the entire top tier of our anniversary cake in one sitting, after a full meal. We maybe ended up eating 3 bites each. Whoops. In any case, I asked if there was any way she could store it in the freezer for me while we were gone. AND SHE DID! Seriously, this place wins for customer service.)
Back to the trip :) After we checked into the hotel and had a quick nap, we headed to
Basil for dinner. I didn't realize that this was the same Basil we have here in Charlotte until I looked up the menu online. We were told there would be about a 45-minute wait, so we put our name on the list and went to a bar down the street to wait. Literally 15 minutes later, I received the text notification that our table was ready! How's that for starting off a "honeyversary" on the right foot!? Best part: we got to sit at the chef's counter, which meant we got to watch them prepare the dishes right in front of us. It was a neat experience!
I ordered the Pad See-Eu and Gavin had the Pad Thai. Both dishes were delicious! If you haven't tried it yet, I highly recommend it! We ended up over-eating because it was so good; we didn't want to stop!
We were told to try
Holy City Brewery while we were in town, but it ended up being closed by the time we got there, so we had to skip it. To round out our night, we had our top tier wedding cake waiting for us at the hotel. (Special thanks to
Maxie B's for our delicious 1st anniversary cake!)
Monday, May 25 - First day on the ship!
When I booked our cabin, we qualified for priority boarding/debarking. I highly recommend this, especially if you are able to carry your luggage on and don't need to check anything. We didn't really need it to board the ship as we were so early to begin with, but it definitely came in handy when we were debarking at the end of the week.
We worked our way through security, got our Sail and Sign cards, and posed for our first (of many) photo. We were so excited! We boarded the ship and found our way to our room. We splurged a little and booked a junior grand suite with a balcony, but we mainly picked it for the location of the cabin. Having now experienced a moving boat in that location, we are probably going to opt for something a little more central on the boat.
After we got settled, we decided to go-for-the-gold and start relaxing right away!
Beautiful pre-sunset as we set sail for the Bahamas!
Tuesday, May 26 - 1st Sea Day
Given that we couldn't get off the boat this day, we opted to maximize our sun/pool time by heading to the lido deck to relax. We laid out, read books, had drinks - it was very low-key! Gavin even got to play corn-hole - kind of. The tournament was single elimination or something, so if his team couldn't get enough points during the first round, they couldn't continue. They were one point shy from advancing :(
This was our elegant dining night, so we got a little fancy and enjoyed a nice dinner with our table-mates. I wore a pretty blue dress that I hadn't worn since a friend's wedding and forgot how much I love it!
Wednesday, May 27 - Freeport, Bahamas
We pulled into our port early in the morning, so when we woke up, this is what we saw. Basically, a scenario from The Wire could have happened before our very eyes. (just kidding - I'm sure it was a very safe dock.)
Then, the Little Tugboat That Could started pulling a barge into position. It was pretty neat to watch!
And watch we did...from our balcony...in our robes...with mimosas! Happy Honeyversary :)
We had an excursion at 12 PM , so we had a leisurely breakfast before getting off the boat for Open Bar on the Beach. (I can't really remember the pricing now, but I regret not opting for the buffet, as well.) After a 30-minute drive to the beach, we were ready to relax! The drinks were OK, but knowing now that we could only order from a specific menu and that they were mostly sugary drinks, we might make a different decision next time.
It was a wonderfully relaxing afternoon :) We had an umbrella next to a couple about our age, who happily took this photo in exchange for one of their own:
We enjoyed the water, but (foolishly) didn't make enough time to get on the GIANT trampoline. Also, children were everywhere, so I didn't really have much of a shot, anyway. Towards the end of the excursion, we participated in the biggest game of flip cup I've ever seen. However, couples could not be on the same team, so it was husband vs wife for the Mitchells! Unfortunately, one of us had to lose... no comment on who it was...both times.
We caught our bus back to the ship where we had enough time to take a nap before dinner in preparation for the evening festivities. We opted for the George Lopez Punchline Comedy Club. They started off each show with 4 shots and 1 Punchliner - which looked like a 16 oz glass of KoolAid (but I'm sure it had a kick to it!). The MC asked for 4 women and 1 man to join him on stage to drink up and kick the show off. Needless to say, since we upgraded to the all-you-can-drink(-and-more) package, we didn't really need to accept any free drinks. We found seats near two couples from our dinner table, so the evening was more enjoyable.
Thursday, May 28 - Nassau, Bahamas
We were in the Nassau port when we woke up, so we had a quick breakfast and got off the ship to start exploring on our own. No excursion booked, so we had the whole day to do whatever we wanted.
In the morning, we walked through the straw market and all of the little shops right off the port. We only made a few small purchases: a hat for Gavin, a Christmas ornament for Mandi, and some local Bahamian liquor to share. We saw many beautiful sites while we were looking for a small bar (recommended by a friend), but couldn't actually find the bar.
We decided to have our lunch back on the ship since it was free. (No shame in an already-paid-for-meal.) After lunch, we got back off the ship to find a local beach and relax for the afternoon. Junkanoo Beach was not too far of a walk, and we could rent an umbrella and get a beverage for $10.
Between the two beaches, I preferred Freeport, but I'm sure if we had booked an excursion in Nassau, we would have gone to a different beach, so I can't really compare them.
We got back to the ship and I was EXHAUSTED. So, I took a nap and Gavin played poker. Several hours passed and I decided I didn't want to put real clothes on for dinner, so we ate on the lido deck in our lounging/workout clothes and dropped by the piano bar for some sing-a-longs.
Friday, May 29 - 2nd Sea Day
Our final day at sea was a bumpy one! I don't even think we were behind schedule; that is just how the last full day at sea is spent - full steam ahead until we reach Charleston!
We got up relatively early in order to grab lounge chairs in the adults-only part of the ship. WORTH IT. We really lucked out because one of the couples from our dining table was just about to leave their umbrella and offered it to us. We spent quite a few hours sunning and enjoying the quiet of the ocean. It was such a relaxing day but, by this time, I was ready to be off the ship.
We made an effort to catch the sunset over the water before we headed down for our last dinner. Beautiful, right?
After dinner, we played a couples quiz game with some of our table-mates, even though none of us ended up on stage (thank God). After that, we caught one last comedy show before turning in for our last night on the ship.
Saturday, May 30 - Back in Charleston/Charlotte
We got back to Charleston bright and early, and since we had priority debarkation, we had to get up and get going. No breakfast today, so we made a deal that if we could wait until we picked up our car, we would get Bojangles or Chick Fil A :)
As I mentioned earlier - get priority boarding/debarkation if you can. I can't stress this enough. We were off the ship in less than 30 minutes and the only line (barely one, at that) was for declaring our liquor. Our hotel shuttle was waiting for us, as promised, and we were on our way back to life as we knew it in no time.
The next few days were a bit of a struggle in terms of readjusting to not being on the water, but eventually, the motion sickness wore off and we were comfortable walking a straight line again. This was really our first vacation alone as a couple, so I'm glad we were able to celebrate something special while we were away.
Here's to many more happy years! And hopefully, many more happy vacations :)
