We made it to our first port day! We were definitely looking forward to Princess Cays as it was to be our only real beach day. Before we went to bed the previous night, we all made plans to grab an early breakfast on our own and then grab the early tender with our Faster to the Fun.
B, G and I went to the buffet to get breakfast, which was pretty good. French toast, bacon, fruit, and some really good hot chocolate were our go to. Plus we grabbed boxes of cereal for B to snack on later. I like that they still have those little boxes, and the hot chocolate is seriously very good. My parents ordered room service and my dad didnt feel he had enough to fill him up and wished he had gone to the buffet as well.
Once we finished up breakfast, we packed up the rest of our beach bag (aka double checked what I packed the night before), and watched the tender boats line up. They were right outside our room, so that was exciting for B
Since we had faster to the Fun, that meant we were able to get on a priority tender and be one of the first people off the boat. The night before we received a notice in our room telling us this, and that we should meet in the butterflies lounge at 8 am (I think that was the time) if we wanted to take advantage of it. The notice said that if you had am excursion to disregard, as the excursions would be the first off. However I dont think some people read this as they came to the butterflies lounge with all their stuff for an excursion, and then eventually ended up leaving and Im assuming getting to the correct place. If you didn’t have faster to the fun or an excursion, then starting at 7:15 you could pick up a sticker to assign you to a tender. I have no idea how many tenders they sent off first thing in the morning, but I saw people with the number 20 wandering around. That doesn’t mean they were on tender 20 though, as I saw people with 3’s on our boat. There wasn’t too much instruction in the butterflies lounge as to what as going on, but there were crew members there that I could has asked if needed. Once all the excursion people were on their way though, so were we. There had been announcements for people to not line up in the stairs waiting for the tenders, but of course they did and had to move out of the way to let our group through.
Boarding the tender itself was fairly easy, even with the swell of the waves. The crew were very helpful in getting people on and off if they needed it. They can pack these things pretty full, but made sure that everyone had a seat ( and thus a life jacket, I’m assuming) before they would take off. The ride was pretty and the day starting to clear and warm up a bit.
Once docked there was a mad rush to get off the tender boat, but basically the island was still pretty empty. We ran into M&S from the Meet and Mingle by the map board and we all pondered a minute how to get to the quiet side. We split up, with my family doubling back by the tender and them continuing around the corner. All roads apparently lead to the beach though, as they showed up a few minutes after us and took chairs nearby. Again, being one of the first groups off has its advantages as we were able to grab a group of chairs by a couple palm trees to get some shade. They had clam shells for rent, to put over two chairs. The price was reasonable, but I didnt think we needed one. Our spot was nicely located near the food, but not too far from the bathrooms or bar either.
After everyone was sunscreened up, we took B down to the water and needless to say he had a blast! 
The water was a bit cold at first, but not unbearable. It felt good as the day got hotter! You definitely want water shoes on though as the shoreline is very rocky and will cut up your feet otherwise. We had fun showing B some periwinkles (snails) and hermit crabs we found, and one other little girl was very excited when we pointed out the crabs to her. There were small fish swimming by too that we tried to point out to B, but I dont know if he every saw.
G and I went snorkeling a bit later in the morning, and the snorkeling was really great! I bought one of those weird new one piece snorkel masks off Amazon, and I have to say it worked great. We saw alot of different fish and found sea biscuits and conch shells to keep. There is a life guard and at one point he and G were chatting about the fish, when we told G to “wait a minute”, went off and got a hot dog from the buffet and then threw it down into the water below him in a rocky area. We were pleased to see a grouper come out and snatch the hotdog pieces as they came floating by. He must hang out there a lot since the lifeguard new about him and was nice of the guard to share that trick with us. I got some good video and photos with my goPro that I will try to share later.
As we were coming back in from snorkeling, something glittering in the sun caught my eye in the shallows. I reached down and picked up a wedding band! I asked around to the people who were nearby and no one had lost it. Looking at it closer I noticed some encrusting on the band from some sort of coral or algae, so it likely had been in there a little while and not from someone on our boat. I turned it in to Carnival guest services on the ship, and hopefully the rightful owner was able to claim it. I was surprised with how shiny it was that no one had found it earlier, but it was probably just uncovered again with the movement of the waves/tide
Once we finished snorkeling, we dried off a bit, grabbed a couple bud light limes from the bar, and had lunch. Lunch was typical cookout foods; burgers, hotdogs, salads, fruits, and some underwhelming desserts. It wasnt bad by any means, but nothing to write home about either. B was getting a bit tired after lunch, as you can see from the photo, so we snuggled him up in a towel to try to get him to nap a bit.
By early afternoon we decided we’d had enough and started making our way back to the tender area. G and I had a quick look through some stalls set up just outside of the private area, and you need to have your sign and sail card to get in and out of there. I ended up buying a license plate, as its the souvenir I get from every country we visit. Getting back on the tender was a little more chaotic as they scanned all of our bags and checked everything at the dock, rather than on the boat. I did see a couple people have conch shells taken away from them, but they looked like they still had an animal in them, where as our conch and sea biscuits were very clearly long dead. Maybe that was the difference? In any case we werent hiding the shells and they definitely saw them.
Once back on board we put B down for a nap for a bit and all just relaxed. While he was napping and G was in the shower, I was standing at the window watching the tender boats come in. I must have been staring pretty hard at one spot, because all of the sudden a girl waved at me. I was momentarily caught off guard, but waved back. Her mother then noticed her waving and must have asked what she was doing, because the girl pointed to my window. I waved at the mom, who waved back. So let this be a warning to anyone who has a 1st floor, mid boat, starboard side window; you are very close to the tender boats and your windows are not tinted.
At 4:15 they were doing a Build A Bear workshop, and I thought it would be fun for B. He was a little late getting up from his nap and still tired, so he wasnt all that enthralled by it at first. He did enjoy the cookie though (yes they had snacks)
He picked out a turtle to make which was really cute. The shell actually comes off like a backpack. For those that are interested in doing this, they have snacks and music, and you simply put your name on a list when you get there. They they call up about 5 kids (or adults!) at a time to make their bear so that the stations don’t get too crowded. There are coloring pages to keep the kids occupied as well while they wait. Its expensive for a stuffed animal, but you are paying for the fun experience really. We opted not to purchase any clothes for our turtle, but he came with a birth certificate as well as a little backpack that B could wear to carry him around. The ships photographer was there to take a photo.
More later on dinner, the show, and the rest of the evening!
Tales From the Crib 