PixlBit

Good morning Pixlpeeps! This time last week I was flying over a couple of state to Denver, and eventually making my way to New Orleans for a fun filled week on the Carnival Dream roaming around the Western Caribbean.

 

This is my second cruise with Carnival and I have to say they are a lot of fun. There is always something to do on the boat, the food is pretty good, and the good people that work on the ship are always friendly. Overall I enjoyed my trip and I figured since this is a Quick Hits I’d like to share the Cliffs Notes version with you good folks while my computer does this in the background

 

Don’t get me started on the pains of my crappy external DVD drive. Anyways let’s get started with the Cliffs Notes version of my vacation!

Friday

We started our day at 2am when we took a shuttle to the airport that was empty except a few sleeping travelers and a skeleton crew that was cleaning the terminal as well as manning the check in station. Around 4:30am the airport started to wake up, people were coming in, and everything was opening. We waited for our 5:00am flight to Denver and then we were off. My seat had a power outlet which I didn’t use because I wanted to sleep. As we rolled into Denver we had an hour layover which was good because our connecting gate was across the terminal.

Ok Denver seriously why did you build a full on mall inside your airport? After a minor delay we were off to New Orleans. My plane was 60% full of Raiders fans. I forgot to check who the Saints were playing and of course it was the Raiders. Anyways we met up with the rest of the family and it was off to the hotel with a little tour of the city. Guess who was staying at the Raiders Team Hotel? This guy.  We got settled in and then played a little bit of tourist in the French Quarter. I got to eat a Po’ Boy, and Jambalaya and Holy Cow it was freaking amazing! After that I walked around with my cousins while munching on the famed beignets (they taste like funnel cake). I would have had some chicory coffee but it was so freaking humid in New Orleans.

 

Saturday

It was time to be in full tourist mode with a trip to the Oak Alley Plantation

 

The grounds were beautiful but at the same time it was sad to think that people were dragged from their homes to build up this property. We took a tour of the main house which at times felt a little spooky but was interesting to see how people lived. On the way back to New Orleans it started raining and man that place floods. We passed by my uncle’s old place where he lived while in med school, and the minute we hit the trolley the rain stopped. I dropped off some stuff and it was off to the French Quarter.

 

Eventually it became full of Raiders fans who were having a good time and enjoying the night with other fans. We decided to have dinner in a restaurant that overlooked Bourbon Street. I knocked out Crawfish Etouffee from my list of must try foods (sadly I couldn’t find a Popeye’s Chicken in New Orleans. The commercials LIED TO ME!)

 

Sunday

It was time to board the boat. There were a ton of folks but we got the early check-in, and we were on our way. The next couple of days we were at sea, making our way to our first destination Jamaica. The night before our first stop someone on the ship shattered their ankle and we had to drop them off at the Cayman Islands.

 

Wednesday

It was time to do our excursion which was a trip to the Dunn’s River Falls and lunch at the Bamboo Beach Club. This trip was an all-day event because the falls were a 2 hour drive from Montego Bay. During the ride our tour guide taught us some slag pointed out some interesting landmarks including Usain Bolt’s hometown, and high school, and the parish where Bob Marley grew up. We finally got to the falls and it was interesting. The cool water was refreshing especially since it was humid.

Looking at one of the main sections of the falls

 

Looking down at the other groups climbing the falls. After this and walking through what I called the gift shop (a ton of vendors trying to sell everything under the sun) it was time to board our van and off to the beach for lunch.

This is one of the cool shots I got when I threw my GoPro up in the air

 

When we got back to port we had 10 minutes to hop back on the ship before our curfew was up and it was off to our next port, Grand Cayman Island

 

Thursday

The Grand Cayman Island was fun because it was going to be our just roam around day. I didn’t want to do anything here because the cruise excursions were basically jumping back into the water, and swimming with fish. Sorry but I want to explore the land. Anyways we roamed around the city and there were a lot of chickens. Also this part of the town reminded me of the town in The Truman Show. We spent a couple of hours wandering around taking pictures and then it was back on the boat.  I believe that night one of the movies playing on the big screen on the ship was X-Men Apocalypse

 

The flick I call Jennifer Lawrence and the mutants.

Friday

 

This was our final port and it was the island of Cozumel. They had one excursion that I wanted to go on and that was to the Mayan Ruins but there was no way I was going to sit in a van for two hours to place where there was no shade and super humid. I guess a lot of folks on the ship felt the same way because it was cancelled. I’m not too fond with the vendors in Mexico because they tend to be pushy. I get you’re trying to make money but when someone says no and you get offended that’s your problem. We didn’t stray too far from the boat, and I checked out a local mall. After that it was more souvenir shopping at the dock because unlike the previous two ports everything was right there. Props to you Mexico for making it easy for tourists on the ships to find everything they need. The vendors on the outside need to calm the f**k down.

 

Saturday

It was another sea day as we head back to New Orleans and I snapped a couple of pictures

The view from the front of the boat

 

And the view from the back of the boat

 

And while eating at the dining room we spotted a bunch of Oil Platforms

 

Sunday

It was time to get off the boat and back to the airport. It was a fun trip, but I’m still a little tired, the phantom swaying from being on the boat is gone, and I still have my suitcase sitting in the living room waiting to be unpacked.

Cruise Pickups!

I really didn’t buy a lot of souvenirs because folks never wear the shirts, but I did get a couple for some folks. I bought a couple of shirts for myself because they are silly along with

Another Luchador mask. My last trip I bought one, and for this trip I bought another. This might be my new thing.

I found this in one of the ship’s stores

 

It’s not Lego but it is a building block toy and I do love my building block toys. This will probably stay sealed.

I bought this for my trip and I used it a lot

 

The video quality is good, it got banged around, thrown, tossed into water, you name it and it works well. I’m going to get the attachment that fits in my camera’s hot shoe for my next trip.

I price matched this last night at Target

 

It was $30 on their website but $60 in store. I want to try the mods that are available online and I know that when the new PS4/Xbox 1’s are in the wild there’s going to be a new 4K uber edition. I figured why not get that version now.

Alright Pixlbit thanks for reading through my ramblings/recap of what I was up to last week. Have a good weekend!

That’s all for now, more later!

-Chris

(GTA V has 9 minutes left in downloading)