Carnival recently offered to take my family on an 8-day cruise to the western Caribbean, and it was amazing. As is the case with Carnival, the food was excellent, the service was kind and professional, and the Carnival Freedom is a top-notch ship with lots of great perks.
But there’s one underreported aspect of cruising that needs to be talked about more:
Everyone is really cool and super-duper friendly. Here are a few examples of that.
#1 – Grady.
He’s retired from the Air Force and he’s cruised on Carnival more times that he can remember. We struck up conversation while we ordered some yummy pizza (which is available 24 hours a day). His advice to me was to soak up every good moment of life – and that’s why he vacations with his family so often.
If anyone deserves to spend time enjoying life, it’s someone who served our great nation. Much respect to you, Grady.
#2 – Nick.
Nick was traveling with his girlfriend Liza and we struck up conversation at the bar. He was wearing a Vail, CO T-shirt and I was rocking a kale T-shirt (you know, because I love eating healthy and all). After talking for about ten minutes, he said, “Hey, let’s trade shirts.”
Wait, what? Trade T-shirts with a dude I just met?
“Sure! Why not?”
And that’s exactly what we did.
Before.
After.
I mean, would something like this happen anywhere else in the world but on a cruise ship filled with really happy people? Probably not.
Nick, if you’re reading this – I hope you know that I think I won on that deal. That Vail shirt is extremely comfortable.
From kale to Vail, baby.
#3 – My daughters
The “everyone is a friend” theme wasn’t just for grown folks. My daughters love to dance and whenever music played in the lounge after dinnertime, my girls were there getting down to some awesome live music.
On one particular evening, two random little girls from different families joined my daughters and they danced while holding hands. It was probably the cutest thing I’ve seen in a long time.
***
There are so many things that are great about cruising, but meeting great people who want to share their happiness with you is probably one of the coolest parts of it. It doesn’t matter what the color of your skin is, your political affiliations, or any of the other noise – everyone comes together for one singular goal, which is to have a good time.
That’s just another reason why cruising is really the only way I choose to vacation with my family.
This post was created for Away We Go with Carnival, the destination for getting in the getaway state of mind.
