15th Anniversary Trip Part 3: Embarkation, Nassau, and New Year's Eve

On December 30, after not enough sleep, we took the hotel shuttle to the Orlando Airport to catch our flight to Miami. The line to check our luggage was massive, and I was a bit of a wreck trying to pull up our reservation to get us checked in for our flight. The lines weren't helping. Brian and I finally got it taken care of, but I had a feeling that our bags weren't going to make the flight with us, especially since the conveyer belt was stopped and they weren't actively getting bags where they needed to go. This proved correct when we landed in Miami and our bags didn't arrive. By this point, I was feeling downright terrible. Brian helped me find a chair near baggage claim while he went to go find out how to get our bags. It was at this point that I noticed that I had a high heart rate alert on my watch that had gone off while I was trying to get us checked in. 

From this, we learned a couple of things. First, my heart doesn't respond well to being exhausted. Second, it doesn't respond well to periods of high stress. And third, it really doesn't like those two things combined. Notice the time on the alert? 4:45 in the morning. We probably went to bed at 1 am the night before, and then were at the airport by 4:30. The sleep math on that is not good. I did manage to sleep a little on our short flight, but I was really feeling the effects of our Orlando mishaps in that Miami airport. Thankfully, our bags arrived on the next flight from Orlando. Brian found a really helpful American Airlines agent who made sure that this happened for us. Meanwhile, my heart told me in no uncertain terms to never do this to it again. 

Much later than we had originally anticipated, we headed to the Cruise Terminal to check in for our cruise on the Carnival Sunrise. 

We ate at Guy's

and got pedicures, where we learned that not everyone on the cruise ship is happy. These ladies tried to hide some of their frustrations, but it was clear that being a worker on a cruise ship isn't always glamorous, and they didn't seem to care much for our cruise director. 

After pedicures, we finally made it up to our room to take a nap, and I basically stayed there the rest of the night. 

The next morning, New Year's Eve, we stepped off the boat in Nassau for our Snuba excursion. 

We rode a bus/van to get to the place, and we had to decide if they considered a heart ablation surgery and if Afib was considered a heart disease. After a little Google searching and reading about the risks, we found out that not everyone considers ablations to be surgery, and not everyone considers AFib to be a heart disease. I promised Brian to listen to my heart (the actual organ, not my emotions), and go back to the boat if I was feeling any kind of negative effects of the Snuba. 

After signing our waivers, we arrived at the Marina where we put on wetsuits, which we obviously rocked. 

Then we headed out in a boat to go to Stuart's Cove. 

It was slightly chilly, but so much warmer than Utah or Idaho! 

While we waited for our turn to do the Snuba, we tried snorkeling for the first time, which was a lot of fun, even if I did accidentally swallow salt water a couple of times. 

Finally, it was our turn to try out the Snuba. We got hooked up to the oxygen tank that hung out on a raft above us, and our guide taught us how to swim down and take the pressure out of our ears. 

The fish in the cove were beautiful. 

Apparently the Bahamas are extra salty, and the extra salt combined with our wetsuits made swimming down below the surface difficult, so we had weights attached to our belts. Brian got a more weights than most because he was struggling to go down. We eventually figured it out and had a great dive. Towards the end, I started feeling like I needed to be done. We went back up to the surface, and to my great shame, I threw up. Our guide said it was because I swallowed salt water. I felt better not long after throwing up. 

I did stay true to my promise, however, and stayed out of the water after that. Thankfully, it was about time to head back anyway. 

After our bus/van dropped us back off at the port, we wandered some of the shops, picking up some sunscreen and taking more pictures with statues. 

Oh, and I got a lightweight hoodie. And a hat. 

Some fellow cruisers photobombed our selfie (which was actually kind of fun because we all laughed together afterwards). 

We took a selfie with our ship

and a fellow passenger took a photo of us. 

We showered and got ready for formal night, making sure to don our New Year's headwear on the way our of our cabin. 

We gave the photographer a shot at taking our picture. We laughed at the prom poses, but we did like this one. 

But just in case, we took a few selfies as well (I know, you're totally shocked). 

We joined the party on deck near midnight, though we stayed in our room until then. The Lido deck was crowded, but there was a lot of fun energy as we counted down the new year with all of them. 

We sent a Marco Polo to our kids, and we received a Polo from my mom about their New Year's Countdown back in Idaho. With a kiss, we said good-bye to 2023 and hello to 2024. 
 

15th Anniversary Trip Part 2: Magic Kingdom

It doesn't matter how many times I go to a Disney Park, I still get really really excited to see them, and our Monorail ride was no exception. It was so fun seeing the castle and Space Mountain as we approached Magic Kingdom. 

This was our first time in a Disney Park during the holidays, and it was really fun to walk onto Main Street and see snow! They made it snow all the way down Main Street. It was magical! 

We loved the holiday overlay on Jungle Cruise--named Jingle Cruise. The decor was really clever and on brand for the ride, with red and white parachutes used to decorate. The jokes were also holiday themed, and we got a big kick out of it. 

We saw fireworks on our way to Tomorrowland. We always seem to try to cross the park during fireworks. The show was incredible, even though we didn't stop to watch. 

We were super excited to ride Tron Lightcycle Run for the first time. 

It was amazing! The theming, the music, the actual ride. It was awesome! 

We rode Pirates, even though Disneyland's is better. 

We rode Haunted Mansion, which was even more fun after seeing the new movie, The Haunted Mansion.  We loved spotting the Mariner, 

and taking pictures in front of "Crump's Manor". 

Even if it meant that a ghost followed us home. 

We took pictures in front of the castle. 

We found some fun posters near Rapunzel's tower. 

 We rode the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. 

And by then, we were pretty exhausted. We may have ridden Jingle Cruise one more time, but by that point, we were just ready to be asleep. It was hard to leave the park with such short lines, but we were done.  We took one final round of pictures with a park photographer before heading out. 

We made our way back to the monorail and then back to the Transportation Depot/Magic Kingdom parking lot where we got an Uber to take us back to our hotel. Our driver was funny without meaning to be, and taught us a little bit more about what Orlando area suburbs to avoid. We learned the proper way to say Kissimmee. Finally, we made it back to the hotel where we were able to sleep for a little bit before our next adventure began.