Bahamas !

"Take a trip, take a drive, take a flight through the skies, or take to the seas on a cruise.."

This past week, the family went on a cruise to the Bahamas! I'm still suffering from post-cruise sadness so I'm gonna blog about it, haha. Hopefully I forget about it in a few days. It was my mama's side of the family, a total of 9 of us. The whole side couldn't make it but we still had hella fun. My mom and dad's friends tagged along as well.

We flew out of SFO around 10 or 11 at night to arrive in Atlanta about 4 hours later. They say the road trip is half the fun or whatever but it was just aiiight, hah. I've never been to ATL before so that was pretty cool. Me, my bro, and cousin kept making east coast jokes and criticizing everything we saw *cough west coast, best coast *cough haha. They put my grandma in some weird torture machine instead of a wheelchair cus I guess that's how they roll over there, get it? hahah ooook. Then we hopped on another flight to get to Fort Lauderdale and from there we took a van to the port of Miami. It was super humid when we got there but once we got through the process of actually getting on the ship, nobody was even trippin anymore. 

We boarded the ship, Norwegian Sky, around 12pm and went directly to the lunch buffet, lol. Whats dope about freestyle dining is that you can eat whenever you want and without a dress code. You don't have to wait for specific dining times or even have to dress formal. Three out of I don't even know how many places to eat, were straight free. It was included in the price to get on the ship. The other restaurants you had to pay, but it was well worth it. So after we all ate, the cruise director, Archie, announced that the staterooms were now ready for us all to go in. The kids, (me, my bro, and cousin) though we're not really kids, ate faster then everyone else so we decided to go down to the rooms already. We ended up falling asleep cus of the lack of sleep on the plane ride. We woke up around 4:30pm and was a bit late for the mandatory emergency drill. When we got there it was pretty much over but we got our names checked off and we headed to deck 11 cus we were about to sail away! So at about 5pm we set sail and said peaace out to Miami and headed for Freeport, Bahamas. After we settled in some more we headed to one of the all inclusive restaurants called The Palace and had dinner. It was our first big meal so you know we grubbbed hard. I had a 6 oz. strip of New York steak, 3 lobster tails, a baked potato and another rib eye steak. It was pretty much all you can eat so we were tryna get stacks on stacks of lobster but it was embarrassing to keep asking. Of course we immediately regretted not asking for more after we left. We walked around to check everything out. Found a casino and chilled in there for a while. While on the ship, the age limit to gamble was 18 instead of 21, and I'm 20... so hawwwlla! Haha. That first night I didn't gamble though. I should have! My brother came up $100 and cousin came up $20 if I can remember correctly on Roulette. They played together and if I played with them I would have followed meaning I'd be up too! After we left the casino we walked around some more and stopped to play some ping pong for a bit. It was already around 10pm and it was still crazy hot and humid. We saw some Filipino dudes (and maaan there were tons of Filipinos, they pretty much ran the ship, majority of the staff were Filipino, I'd say) walking towards the basketball courts with a ball so we followed them hoping to play. We sat down and realized they were wearing Norwegian Sky jerseys! At first we thought they were just fellow vacationers but they were the staff with their own jerseys, how sick is that, hah. At 11:45pm they had a game, housekeeping vs. the bar tenders. We watched as they play and the housekeeping pulled away with the win. It was about 1am when they finished and we decided to find somewhere to chill. Came across the Longboard Cafe where there were TVs with ESPN all over em. Ordered some buffalo wings and fish and chips and grubbed. We were so juiced cus where else can you go to eat at this time, and for free? We loved the fact that we can eat all we wanted and just walk away without waiting for a bill. Yeah we threw in a tip but that's it. Went back to the staterooms and called it a night. 

The second day I woke up around 10am and my brother was already up and out of the room. He and I shared a room and my cousin stayed with my unc. We were already at the first stop, Freeport, Bahamas. Cousin came through and we went up to the 11th floor to have breakfast out on the deck, our rooms were on the 9th floor. Met up with my brother and found out that the adults already left the ship to explore and such. We changed and got out and found the adults shopping. My dad told us that downtown was not too far away and let us go which was surprising to me cus I thought he'd want us all to stick together. So we took a fitting taxi down about 15 minutes into town. I thought that it'd be more.. poor, really. But it wasn't even like that. The roads were nice, the houses were actual houses and not huts and shacks like I assumed. We walked along the beach and then explored the marketplace. Found a bar called Sparkys and decided to chill cus they had WiFi. We ordered drinks cus that's the only way we could get the WiFi password, haha. We're on vacation in the Bahamas and we were still tryna get on the internet, geeze. My brother got some local food called conch fritters and they were bawwwwmb. They're a kind of shell fish. It tasted like calamari but chewier and somewhat better. Cousin copped a beer and a shot to get a buzz going. Brother let me tap some of their local beer too and it was aaight. I don't really like the taste of beer. Age limit to drink was like 18 though if not younger! Cousin was lookin mad turnt though off his drank, hahah. He said he's super lightweight. We walked around some more and stopped at a another bar cus they advertised shots for like $2. Wasn't even $2 but my brother took care of it.. round 1. We all had Grey Goose. It was cool in a way cus I didn't even mind if I didn't drink, but my brother offered me some when I didn't even expect him to. Our first shots all together, loool. We made history, hah. Walked for no more than 5 minutes and stopped at another bar for another round, this time on my cousin. Jager meisters I think? To the head they said, it'll be fun they said, haha. My brother was saying how his tolerance was super high, maybe cus he's a big guy, or maybe cus our grandma on my dad's side. All she drinks is beer and coke, and maybe that somehow passed through to us. I believed him cus after the two drinks, I felt the same. My cousin had to pee and he called it "breaking the seal" and since I've never really drank up until that day, I didn't know what he meant. After, we started heading back to the taxi to be on our way back to the ship. I kept thinking in my head, "Am I feeling it? Am I buzzed? Tipsy?" I was super curious cus it was my first time. I thought I felt dizzy, but then I thought, "nawww, I'm just playin myself cus I'm thinking too hard about it" and shrugged it off. Got back to the ship area and my cousin had to piss again. I went too and he laughed cus he told me that I was breaking the seal. We were greeted by a cold towel to wipe our face along with hand sanitizer when we boarded the ship to make sure we weren't carrying anything nasty (I'm just assuming lol). We got changed cus that night my grandma wanted us all to dress nice so we could take pictures. We ate at this place called Cagney's. We actually had to pay for this one but it was still worth it. It was a nice formal restaurant on the top floor. Maxed myself out on that food, that's for sure. Brother played himself and ate something he was allergic to and felt lightweight dangled but he was all good in no time. Then we all took our family pictures and yeah. The adults did their own thing and we went back to the casino. I was ready this time, but was still on a budget. I told myself that I'd make do with $20, but I pulled $40 for idk what reason. Played Roulette cus it was the easiest way of doubling up, 50/50 chance if I go with red or black. Played myself and lost all $40 in less than 10 minutes. I won like 2 times but lost it all. Cousin peaced out too, haha and so did my brother but he wasn't done. My cousin and I left and found an arcade type game. It was a key and you had to push it through the hole to win and it was only $1 to play. The low prize was $70 in $5s, middle prize was $100 in $10s, and top prize was an iPad + $500. Piece of cake. Sike. We both lost like $20. We realized that it was rigged (of course). If it took actual skill we would have both won. The machine would purposely lag if we were on point. If we compensated for the lag, it wouldn't lag. We peaced out out of frustration and went to the late night buffet to eat the pain away, hah. Went to the rooms and kleeped after. 

I was supposed to wake up for sunrise so I could take pictures but it was so hard to get out of bed. I missed it by 30minutes but I got up and walked around the ship alone to take pictures anyways. We were at the next stop, Nassau. This one was more  resort-ish if that makes sense. The Atlantis resort was there as well as the small town around it. After I took pictures I went back to the room to sleep cus it was only about 7am. Woke up to a phone call and an empty room around 10. My dad was calling from the restaurant downstairs telling me that breakfast was almost over and that everyone was all there. I rushed down and was able to still eaaat. My parents told us that they were gonna stay on board to take care of grandma cus she didn't feel like getting off and my parents were okay with that cus they've already been here. So off we went again. As we walked in to the town area hella dudes approached us with deals on tours and rides to the hottest spots. We kept turning em down telling em that we'd be back. One lady stopped us and offered us some scooters. She was plugging us on the rentals but we tried to walk away cus we were unsure if that's what we really wanted to do. Walked away and thought about it and in less than 5 minutes we came back to her. She laughed and told us that she knew we'd come back. Signed some papers and we went to pick up our rentals. The dude who ran the actual rental place asked if we knew how to ride em. Only my brother knew so he took us  to a small alley where we would practice. After feeling comfortable we dipped the lot and started exploring. We first rode to the island where the Atlantis resort was and checked it out for a bit. We chilled at a beach where we felt the water for the first time. It was all super sick. Then we went to the resort but it wasn't really that special cus I guess you had to actually stay there to access everything. We decided to head back to the other side of the island where it was more of a local feel.. how they actually lived down there. We were cruisin on our scooters and it felt so dope. How many of you guys can say that y'all cruised around the Bahamas through traffic on scooters? They weren't motorcycles but they still got up. I was having a dope time. As we were riding a dude yelled at us to stop. He was like "yoo, first round of drinks on the house. come eat here, you don't like the food, you don't pay". We wanted to try the more local type places so we said alright and he sat us down outside. The bartender served us up some Bahama mamas and took our orders. Just thinking about it already has got me missing it. It was freakin bawwmb man. Byeah we ordered some crack conch (crack meaning fried) and grouper fingers (a type of fish). OAjoidaejdoajfaoied so freaking good man. Bartender made us another drink but I don't remember what it was called. "Pour up, DRANK, headshot, DRANK.." After that drink I was feeling it. I was feeling goooood, like a state of euphoria, hah. I got up while we were eating and I was just in the best mood. I don't even know why I got up but I felt dizzy, having a good goood time though. We finished up and asked the dudes if we could get some pictures with em. I was feeling better as I had to quick cus we still had to drive back. We were swervin through traffic feelin like hardcore bikers (insert expectation/ reality meme here) and eventually made it back. Turned in our bikes and walked back to the ship. We then had dinner at The Palace again and after we watched a comedy show at the Stardust Atrium or something. Dude was pretty funny and super talented. He was a comedian/ juggler and maaan we was doing some crazy tricks. After the show we went to the main deck for the White Hot Party where everybody dressed up in white and straight up partied. Brother went off to the casino again, haha and me and cousin got some food. Went back to the rooms, brother came back and we watched Elf until we fell asleep. 

The next morning, and last full day, we all went to get breakfast. We then got dressed in our swim crap cus we planned to go snorkeling once we got to the island. We took a tender to the small island, rented some snorkel gear and tackled the freakin ocean, haha. We spent a good amount of time swimming around looking and trying to catch fish, lol. The water was warm at times and it was super blue and clean. That's all we really did that morning. Got back to the boat and had lunch then went to the rooms again. Brother went to use the computers and cousin was watching Community on his laptop. I felt sad that the cruise was coming to an end so I went out and walked around the ship taking pictures again. I watched this dude carve an angel sculpture out of a block of ice in less than 10 minutes, he was a beaast! Came back to the room to meet up with cousin to meet up with my brother. I went to the Atrium and watched a few numbers of Bingo. The dude who was hosting it was hella tryna be funny. Wasn't doing such a great job lol. We had dinner at The Palace for the last time. I ordered kung pao chicken and they ordered the rib eye steak again. I should have got the steak instead but I finished mine and THEN got the steak too. It was the last night so I had to yolo, nawwm sayin. For dessert, I had the cheesecake.. just like every single night before that too. After dinner we watched another show with the comedian dude. Out of nowhere this singing group came out and started covering songs by the Four Seasons or something? The vocals were pretty good but their acting was corny and just seemed straight gay, haha. We were like wtf? Then watched an adult 18+ comedian and he was aaight. Some pretty funny stuff. Went back to the rooms to pack our clothes and watched Top Gun the rest of the night.

The final morning was just like the rest. Got up and had breakfast with my brother and cousin and it was our last. Pobre :( haha. We then met up with everyone else and started the disembarkment process. Finally left the ship and headed off to the airport. Found out about the horrific news about the massacre in Connecticut there. Kind of a pretty sucky way to end the vacation but that's something in it's own entirety. Passed through Minnesota for a connecting flight and had some bomb pizza on the way. Made it safely back to SF, then home.

Then here I am the next night, writing this fat blog. Which I'm not even sure if it still qualifies as a blog cus it's basically the whole trip, haha. Or idk, whatever. Byeah. Mad props if you read this all. As you can tell, I had an amazing time and I can't wait to get back on another cruise. Aiggght den homies, peeeace oauuuuwt.