Girls Cruise 2013 Day two - Perfect day at Freeport

I will be the first to admit that when we booked our cruise on the Carnival Ecstacy, I was least excited about visiting Freeport. A few years back, I worked for a real estate development company who had property in the West End, close to Freeport. The only impression I had of the port of Freeport was that it was industrial and had little to do. Thanks to one of Keri's co-workers, we found out about day passes that we could purchase from Grand Lucayan for $10 a person. It was the best money spent and I would strongly suggest anyone who ports in Freeport to take opportunity of this:

I was in complete awe when we walked through the gate. I have been to my fair share of Caribbean resorts and I was not expecting to find this little piece of heaven. Before heading to the glorious pool above, I did what any person who is familiar with the Bahamas would do - order a Kalik Gold, which has 7% alcohol and you cannot get it in the United States. It wasn't 11am yet, but we were on Island time mon.

Off to the beach we go! We met a nice couple to take our photo:

And then bought a few starfishes to take home (which smell really really really bad by the way)

Then after an hour or two of laying out, swimming in the ocean and being 110% completely relaxed, we were talked into going on a Banana Boat ride, something neither of us have done. It was only $25 a person, so we figured why not. Once on the banana, I kept checking my eyes to make sure my contacts were ok, only to realize I don't have contacts thanks to Lasik.....that is the first time in a year that has happened. I guess this is what happens to someone who had contacts for over 20 years. We saw mansions, fell off the banana and even found ourselves at the Ghost pirate ship which was used in Pirates of the Caribbean, The Curse of the Black Pearl.

Now that we've worked up an appetite, we inquired from the locals where a good fish fry was. Normally I wouldn't be all about fried food but we were sitting there, 48 after running the Disney World Half Marathon and we deserved some really delicious food. Right outside the property is a shack called Billy Joe's. We got the platter, which consisted of fried lobster, fried conch, fried shrimp and fried fish. You could taste how fresh it all was. It was beyond amazing. We split this huge platter for $25 and treated ourselves to a large Bahama Mama for $8 and left feeling full, happy and a little tipsy.

So I take back everything I said about Freeport prior to arriving and would absolutely book another trip to visit this little slice of paradise.

Back on the ship, this was the night of the Captains dinner. I was appalled at some of the things people wore to dinner. I get it - this is a casual ship....but seriously, do not wear cutoff shorts with your bra hanging out to Captains Dinner. No Respect. I was very excited to see Maine Lobster on the menu. Since Carnival will allow you to bring on one bottle of wine per person, we brought along our wine best friend, Cakebread.

For our starter, we got the Spicy Alligator Fritters which were very good. I enjoyed these little guys a little too much, especially after eating a lunch of nothing but fried food.

For our main entree, we had the Maine Lobster and Shrimp. It was decent for mass produced lobster tail.Coming from a girl with family in Maine, my expectations were probably a little too high for cruise Lobster.

For dessert, we had bitter and blanc, which was dark and white chocolate bread pudding. Although my friend Lauren suggested we get the molten lava cake every night, I was happy we went ahead with this dessert. It was delicious.