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January 09, 2013 - 1:04 a.m.
"carnival breeze day 4: la romana, dominican republic"

Hey Journal!

Today we got up at 8:30 and got ready to meet at the dining room for breakfast at 8:55. We wound up meeting at Dan's parents' room and took a look out from their balcony at the Dominican Republic!

Breakfast was in the Sapphire Restaurant and I had some Cream of Wheat and an Omelette. After we ate, we still weren't sure what we were going to go or what we were going to do for the day! We went to the Shore Excursion desk to see what was still available. We were thinking of going to a beach, but all of the beach excursions were either full or ridiculously expensive.

We wound up doing the Countryside Experience, and it started at 11:30. We went back to our rooms to get ready, and I tried to connect my phone to get a few minutes of internet connection. The service was pretty good. I sat out on the rocking table.

At 11:15, we all met at our room for the tour. We got off the ship on Deck 0 and walked out onto the dock. We had to walk up a little hill and into an area with a little bar and all of the tours met there as well.

We walked up to the buses for our tour and we got ready to go. We were in open-air cars and basically got a little tour of the island with some stops for interesting things. Our first stop was a weird Nursery, kinda like Frank's Nursery and Crafts. Pete kept calling it "Home Depot." They showed us some native plants and they were pretty cool, but it was definitely an unusual place to stop.

Then we drove past some cool stuff, a big river, and a bunch of farms and little houses. We got to the next place which was a sugarcane plantation! Our guide chopped down a stalk of sugar cane and we all go a little taste of it. Then they served drinks... some kind of crazy rum which they called "vitamins," mixed with Sprite. I wasn't in the mood for the Rum so I had just the Sprite. Dan got the Alcoholic version, and I tasted it, but it was kinda gross so I'm glad I got what I did.

Next stop was "Papito's House" or something like that... supposed to be an authentic house of people in the area. It was cool to get out and walk and take a look, but it started to drag after a while. We got back in the car and went to some weird shop. THIS was the one part of the tour I would have definitely skipped. It was so stupid. It was an expensive souvenir shop and we were there FOREVER!

After that, we took a drive through the city of La Romana, and that was very cool. We waved to lots of people and they waved back. Everyone was very friendly. It was fun!

The bus dropped us off right where it had picked us up and we were all pretty hungry! Dan's parents stayed behind, though, to have some Presidente beer which was highly recommended by Mike from work.

When we got back on the boat, we all got lunch on the Lido Deck in the Marketplace. I had a little chicken and a hamburger.

Then we went to the photo area and looked for our pictures from last night. Dan had taken a TON of pictures at all of the different set-ups, so we wanted to inspect them. A couple were disastrous! We HAD to throw them out immediately. A bunch of the others were really funny or really good! We bought two of them, but really, I want to buy so many more. Unfortunately, they are all 21.99! Rip off! We need to get some of them though, so we will have to narrow it down!

We came back to the room and then we went up to the deck to watch the ship leave. We left at about 5:15 and pulled away from the dock. We were supposed to have left at 5:00, so we were just a little behind schedule.

Just as we were leaving, we were looking down and all of the people who work at the port were standing on the dock waving goodbye, and all the people on the ship were waving back!

All of a sudden, this guy started running down the walkway like crazy! He was followed by two girls who were also running, but not quite as fast! They were waving their arms and flailing! They MISSED THE BOAT! INSANE!! So anyway, the guy barrels down the hill and right through the line of workers. He was literally feet from the edge of the dock and he looked like he was going to jump for it! The dock works had to tackle him down and then the girls finally caught up! They were all waving at the ship frantically and looked so distressed!

It was totally crazy, and I do feel bad for them because that's gotta SUCK so much! First off, all of their stuff is on this boat, so they have nothing! Secondly, they are in some random country, third, what do they DO? We asked one guy on the deck and he said that it's possible that another ship that docks there tomorrow will pick them up and take them the rest of the way, but still, that's insanity.

The only other option, possibly, is to get a small plane from one island to the other and they could meet us tomorrow, but who knows how much THAT would cost!? And do they have other friends on the ship? Such a mess!

We heard from the Cruise Director that tonight the weather is supposed to be a bit precarious! 60 knot winds and high seas! Everyone is going crazy on the boat that it's going to be bad, and it is a bit choppy so far, but hopefully it won't be too bad!

Next, we went in the hot tub around 5:00 and hung out there for a while. While we were in the hot tub it started to rain, but only for about 5 minutes. The rain was coooooold, though!

When we got out of the hot tub, we went back to the room and took our showers. Then we got ready for dinner. We also got a call from the Excursion Desk and found out that we got TWO more tickets for the Aruba tour which we already had 3 tickets for! Nice! I'm really happy now!

Anyway, we headed out a little before dinner and took a lap around the ship, as we always do. When we arrived at dinner, I had forgotten that I had wanted to bring my phone to get some good video of Gangnam Style! I ran back to the room, and when I returned, everyone was already at dinner and ordering.

I don't know if I mentioned or not, but our waiter's name is Jiri, which is pronounced "U Z." I know, I don't really know how that works, either!

Anyway, dinner was good. I got two meals... Southern Fried Chicken and Pork Steak. Both were very good.

My mom said she was starting to feel sea sick, so she only ordered two baked potatoes for dinner. She made it through about 15 minutes before she had to go back to the room. She left, and I think it was really just her worrying about it because it wasn't that bad at all.

She didn't even eat her potatoes... as soon as they came, she took that, and a ginger ale away with her to her cabin and called it a night. When we got out, I called to make sure she was okay, and she said she was feeling a little better but would be going to sleep early.

At 10:00, we went outside with everyone to the DECK PARTY! Woo! It was fun. We mostly watched, though. It was really funny... as soon as Butch declared the deck party started and started the first line dance, it started to POUR and everyone ran for cover! They kept going, and then about 2 minutes later, the rain stopped. It may have actually only been about 1 minute later!

Anyway, the party went on for a while. When it was over, Dan and I walked around the ship aimlessly for a couple of hours. Now it's past 1am, but luckily we have nothing to do tomorrow morning! We don't get into Curacao until 1:00pm, so that gives us plenty of time to rest up and have a leisurely start to the day.

The plan is to go to the beach and then comeback to the shops by the dock.

Oh, and one more exciting thing! We came back to the photo area later in the day and one of Dan's pictures had been placed in the Photos of the Day section!! AMAZING! (Okay, so maybe he asked them to put it there... BUT THEY DID!) So wild! Then, all night as we walked around, other photo people kept telling him that his picture was there and congratulating him on it! It was both amazing and hysterical!

So, that was day four on the Carnival Breeze and it's time for bed! It's going GREAT so far and I am having so much fun! I can't wait to do my little tour of the ship... I like to do it when it's quiet though, so probably tomorrow night before I go to bed! Look out, YouTube!

Until tomorrow...

Goodnight. :)