Amber Cove!
So today was a early day! We woke up at 8 am since we had to meet in the Northern Lights Dining Room for our excursion at 8:50 am. I was really excited because we decided to do the Outback Terracross Adventure and I didn't really know what to expect since we have never done anything like that before. We ordered room service for breakfast and I ordered a muffin...Did I get the muffin? Noooooope! But we still went upstairs to Lido for a quick breakfast. It was 8:55 and we were still in Lido and that's when my nerves kicked in cause I had never done an excursion with Carnival before so I didn't know if they had already left or not. Needless to say, I didn't know what the heck to expect. But we arrived! On time! And sat for quite a bit before we left. When it was time to go ashore we had to go through the crew stairs to get downstairs so we could all be the first ones off. It was pretty cool to see the crew staircase and area, even though you don't see much.
waiting...
We walked the pier through the shop, and had to look for the excursion and we finally found the guy. His name was Pedro (or Pablo?--Ugh, I don't remember...) but he was AWESOME literally 5+ stars for him. Everyone was really nice and helpful. We waited for a little while until everyone was ready, then we all walked to the bus.
This was the bus, I wish I had taken a picture of the bus by itself but I totally forgot and this was after the excursion. The guy in the blue was Pedro-Pablo lol and the guy in the orange was the driver.
On the ride there it was pretty nice. Pedro-Pablo taught us a few things about his island and the area we were going to (Puerto Plata).
The bus ride there wasn't too bad. Maybe 25ish minutes. Although I don't remember exactly. It felt quick just because we were enjoying it!
When we got to the spot, we had to sign in, and get ready. They asked if anyone had to use the bathroom before we left because it would be a while before we could use the bathroom again.
We also got to use goggles for free, and they had bandanas for sale ($4). But we brought our own (1$ at walmart! what a deal!) We got to pick our own buggy, get our helmets and they buckled us in and told everyone what to do.
We waited for everyone to be ready, and off we went! Each buggy had to follow the other. We had 3 people. So one guy was all the way in the front, then one in the middle that we had to follow and then at the end there was another guy. If you were by yourself, you got to ride with one of the workers.
WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was really fun but I have anxiety in cars and such especially cause Sam worries me but I was okay for the most part but I kept finding myself saying SLOW DOWN even though we weren't going that fast. But it was so fun, but out of my comfort zone. I'm sorry guys, i'm normally really boring and not adventurous, by any means. This was definitely something that was up Sams alley. The person in front of us got stuck at one point in the mud and couldn't go further so the guys had to help them get up a litte hill that's when I started to get nervous but Sam knew what he was doing. Phew. I guess I don't have to mention that when we got to switch drivers, I refused! Ahhhh. Ummmm, I think 5 mph would have been too fast for me on that thing. I have a lot of videos of the ride but I will have to upload them later on.
We stopped for a little while for a break and to switch drivers and then kept going. Then we finally got to the river area. It was a little bit of a walk but it wasn't too bad. When we got to the river, I almost slipped cause the rocky sand? was slippery and I dropped my new s7 face down on the rock..NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo. But I had the lifeproof case so NOTHING HAPPENED but do you know how I felt when I was picking up my phone? Terrified. My stomach was in my bum.....
If you do this excursion, its extremely rocky so wear boat/water shoes! I had them, and I forgot them on the ship! What a waste of my money to buy shoes I never wore lolol.
We didn't stay in the river very long but long enough to dip in and enjoy it. I didn't go in though. Everyone else did...I'm noticing a pattern here. I never do anything.........?
Then we made our way back to the buggys and back to point A. But we went a different way which let us explore the area. We saw people just doing their daily thing. Some kids were in the road and they high five-d us and I felt a little bad for them. I can only imagine that we all look like aliens with our helmets, bandannas and these goggles... I'm upset because I took a lot of pictures and even some of cows literally a foot away from me, but I think when I transferred the pictures to my computer, it didn't upload all of them....and I had to return my phone (not because of the fall-- but because the phone itself was having issues-- so I lost those pictures forever!!!!!! Ugh).
Anyways, we got back to our original spot and got off the buggys which they started to wash immediately and they sat us in an area and they gave us FOOD and drinks! Yayyyy nom nom.
It was good. The girls that sat with us ate one piece of chicken and didn't care for the tostones (fried plantain) but since we're hispanic and grew up eating this, we devoured it. I loved it. so yummy. Please send me some. They also offered us a surprise........Rum and coke. With their specialty rum they make on the island.
I didn't care for it but, um....free drinks. I'll take it! Pedro-Pablo also gave us a few shots of pineapple rum, and another rum Mama Juana? EW. That was disgusting and no one liked it. You've been warned and if you like it, then......you're not human.................just kidding!
They gave us some time to look around at their shop and to see some guy making cigars but I was tired and ready to get back to the bus...so Pedro-Pablo let us.
Here's when things got adventerous, as if the buggy ride wasn't adventerous enough. So we get on the bus, and we get going and I guess everyone had a little bit too much rum and mama juana cause everyone is NUTS. Pedro-pablo pulls out the rum and says Now lets get this party started and everyones laughing and dancing in their seats.. They put up the music, and he's pouring rum and cokes for everyone......Everyone was having such an amazing time, it was probably the best part of the day...No i'm kidding cause the excursion was fantastic, but suddenly our trip back turned into the party bus. We kept drinking and drinking and then I started feeling like..I was floating
I asked this guy who was partying it up on the bus to take a picture of us (the picture of us with Pedro-Pablo, and the bus driver) and he decided to take a selfie. Hiii, whoever you are :)
Heres him again, having fun...I have to say there were a lot of happy drunks.
It was close to 2 I think so we decided to go look for a shot glass for my mom and then go back onboard to shower because we were covered in mud and dirt from the buggys'....
I really REALLY loved Amber Cove. It was such a beautiful port and I wish I could have explored it more but the excursion took up almost all the time and we were exhausted and ready to be onboard. Next time I think we will definitely just stay in port. But i HIGHLY recommend the Outback Terracross Adventure. Try it if you can! It was sold out a couple weeks before the cruise started so book early!
After we showered, we decided to go grab some food, I think we probably got burgers or pizza. I'm not sure...I don't have pictures! While walking around the ship we were thinking of getting another excursion so we went to the excursion desk but never made it cause we got distracted by the Dr. Seuss parade....Then decided we didn't wanna spend any more money.
After this we went back to the room to get ready for dinner.
I loved this view. I really loved this room! Come on what gets better than this? I mean maybe balcony lol but likee for a wittle baby budget like mine, it doesn't get better than this! :)
So today we went to dinner and met the other couple that was missing the other night. We quickly became buddies and somehow the goal was to get Sam drunk that night since he never drinks/ and/or gotten drunk and it was the tables mission for the night. Well, the other people are the table were already in a far away land because they had the cheers package, and our little buzz from earlier went away.
I'm going to be extremely honest with you, just because this happened and it never has. I used to be that person would make fun of drunk people but that changed tonight....So our table friends and I set out to go out tonight. Well, we started at one bar (Alchemy Bar) I cringe at the thought of it now. I'm pretty sure we were the loudest table at dinner and everyone was always watching us cause we were laughing like crazy. Carnival did a GREAT job at pairing us up. Our personalities all fit with each other and I miss our friends now!
Well we sat outside and talked and got to know each other better and we shared stories. It was a very nice, relaxing time.
Then we decided to go to the tides bar (is that even the bar name? I'm probably making it up now haha.). Then we drank some more, and I kept chugging drinks like I was in a desert and didn't have a single drop of water in ages. I even stole all of Sams drinks? Like wasn't it the goal for Sam to be drunk. What happened here. Why didn't anyone stop me?! LOL..-crosses arms and pouts-.....Then our new friend (the one with the cheers package) didn't want to finish her drinks so she would give them to me (yeah, yeah I know. no sharing. oops). So I chugged all hers too...BIG MISTAKE, GUYS. I rarely drink (other than a few 'girly' drinks and the rum and coke we had earlier that day) so I don't really know my limit, but I learned that night.....Then we went to the club where they were having the time of their life and I remember telling Sam that I wanted to be on their level. Well i'll spare you the details but I definitely passed their level and went to a whole new universe, Mars. I don't remember a thing excepting sitting down then I woke up at 5 am hoping it was all a dream. I am not mentioning this because I wanted to share my drunk story, believe me, i'm ashamed. But I am mentioning this, because if I was alone or with friends who didn't take care of me, I could have easily done something incredibly retarded. I think that with all the booze cruises provided, people should be careful and family and friends should always be attentive to their loved ones or even other people on board. I think those people who go overboard, is without question because they're highly intoxicated. I am very glad I had Sam and our new friends to watch over me. Never let someone who was drinking walk anywhere alone!
I guess I don't have to mention that the tables goal of getting Sam drunk wasn't achieved. Nor will it ever, now.
That's the end of day 3......What a crappy ending!
Booze, 1. Cinthya, 0.
Tomorrow is day 4 & St. Thomas!!
