After following yyzdeals.com for a while, I finally scored a great deal to head to Florida for the Christmas holidays! Only $180 round trip taxes included per person flying from Niagara Falls, NY airport with Direct Air. I decided to take my parents since Christmas is meant to be spent with family. At first, I was thinking of a road trip around Florida and visit Tampa and Miami but we settle for a cruise to the Bahamas!

Day 1 – Saturday December 24, 2011

We started our drive to Niagara Falls, NY at 6am.The Niagara Falls airport was small but great! 10 minutes drive from the falls and getting through security was a breeze. Direct Air was on time and everything was fine for a basic airline. No complimentary drinks, snacks or entertainment but I wasn’t going to complain… I just slept through most of it.

We arrived in sunny and hot Lakeland, FL which was about 40 minutes away from Orlando. This non-orlando airport was the downside of flying with Direct Air. But we had a rental car and we drove to Five Guys for lunch. The burger patty was good and the toppings were fresh but the bun was soggy so it wasn’t good. So far, all highly raved american burger joints have disappointed me; In and Out, White Castle & now Five Guys. My loyalty remains with Hero Burger.

After getting to Orlando and checked into our hotel, we quickly headed to my favourite store in the States, ‘Ross’ to hunt for some clothes to buy because I packed light. We had dinner at Seito Sushi. For dessert, I drove everyone to Disney’s Polynesian Resort so I could sample the long-awaited Dole Whip float; pineapple soft serve ice cream in pineapple juice. I’ve been wanting to try this since three years ago when I lost the chance to at Disney Magic Kingdom. Sadly, the one from the resort doesn’t come with the pineapple juice so it wasn’t as good as it could have been.

I took my parents to Downtown Disney after so they could wander the shops. It got pretty late and we were exhausted even though we didn’t get through all the shops yet. Boy did this place make me miss Disney World.

Day 2 – Sunday December 25, 2011 *Christmas*

We started our day with the free continental breakfast and drove to Port Canaveral where we returned our rental car and boarded our cruise. We were on the ship by 1:30pm and enjoyed the buffet. We went to our room afterwards and were fascinated by a cruise ship’ stateroom. Yes, being complete tourists.

At 5:00pm, we decided to have a snack on the ship’s balcony overlooking the sunset as we depart the port. It was beautiful and relaxing.

We explore all the areas of the ship and played jenga after until it was dinner time in the main dining room. We ordered many entrees because we couldn’t decide on one.

We watched the Holiday show after which was kind of boring… I almost fell asleep and then proceed to crashed afterwards back in the stateroom.

Day 3 – Monday December 26, 2011 – Freeport, Bahamas

We filled up on the breakfast buffet. and by 9:00am we were off the ship at Freeport. From research, I led my parents to the shopping and beach area called Port Lucaya. We took a taxi for 10 p.p round trip.

The locals are friendly and they definitely want your business. It’s tough to haggle them down! After doing some shopping, we bought a $20 day pass to the Grand Lucaya Resort where we used their pools, private beach and facilities. The beach was amazing and not packed with people. The water was so blue and the sand was so soft.

I tried conch fitters at Billy Joe’s Conch Shack. This is a local snack but it was way too oily for my liking.

I could have stayed there all day but we had to head back by 4:30pm to depart for Nassau.

The evening was the same, we had dinner and watched part of their evening entertainment show. This night was the ‘Cruise Elegant’ dresscode so everyone was a little more dressy. We were stuffed from the food and yep, went right to bed after. My sleeping patterns were converting to sleep by 10pm and wake up at 7am.

Day 4 – Tuesday December 27, 2011 – Nassau, Bahamas

We left the ship after breakfast and walk to the nearby beach called Junkaroo Beach. This free beach was amazing! The water was calm and had so many fish in it. It was beautiful and I could have stayed here for the whole day.

By Noon, we went back on the ship for showers and lunch. Did some minor shopping along the way for souvenirs and I found my perfect beach miniature for the bahamas. After lunch, we took a water taxi after to Paradise Island, where only millionaires live.

Atlantis was interesting but not that impressive compared to the vegas hotels. It sucked that all the areas were blocked so we didn’t even see the entrance of the aquarium.

We ended the day with the usual plan, dinner and then bed. We tried really hard to stay up until 11:30 when the mexican buffet opened but we passed out again.

Day 5 – Wednesday December 28, 2011

This was the ‘Fun day on the ship’ where we stay on the ship as it travels back to Florida. The morning started with rain and temperature was much cooler. Good thing, it wasn’t a beach day. We played mini golf, packed, napped, hot tubbed and basically ate non-stop in between.

We had our last dinner and ended the night with the evening show ‘Curves’. It was like a last vegas show girls show with some gorgerous costumes and stage design. We all enjoyed this show and slept right after.

Day 6 – Thursday December 29, 2011

A “cold” front hit florida but it was nice and brisk for us Canadians. We docked at 7:00 and got off the ship by 9:00am. I picked up the rental car and drove us back to Orlando for some outlet mall shopping. We had dinner at Red Thai Bamboo which had mediocre thai food but amazing homemade thai iced tea ice cream. This was my food highlight of the trip! It was SOOOOOO good. I will be back just for the ice cream.

We drove back to Lakeland, Fl and checked into our hotel for the night. We packed everything and called it a night.

Day 7 – Friday December 30, 2011

Our flight left Florida at 7:00am and we arrived in Niagara, NY at 10:00am. We went to the outlets in NY and shopped some more. I ended up with some great stuff from Marshalls.

It was a short trip but it was great to spend time with my parents and my sister for the holidays. I would go on another cruise but I find it a little less relaxing than an all-inclusive resort because you need to make sure you get back on the ship before it leaves. You also have to plan your way around the city unless you take one of the cruise ship excursions (which are very expensive!). The food and service on the cruise is amazing though. I already miss the beach and want to go back. Florida for 2012? Very likely…