The senior class of 2024, under advisors Mrs. Amy Shomper and Mrs. Chrstine McLaughlin, took a Carnival cruise to the Bahamas for their senior class trip. The seniors and chaperones left at noon on Wednesday, Apr. 17, and returned home in the evening on Monday, Apr. 22.
The students and chaperones flew to Orlando from Baltimore to begin their trip. After staying a night in a Florida hotel, everyone embarked on the Carnival Freedom cruise ship, which left out of Cape Canaveral. The cruise lasted five days including the embarking and departure days.
On day two of the cruise, the ship docked in Nassau, Bahamas, where the students had a van-tour excursion of the island. They had the opportunity to stop and shop from local vendors, sample rum cake, and check out the shopping area of the world-famous Atlantis resort in Nassau.
On day three, the ship traveled to the Carnival-owned Bahamian island, Princess Cay, where the seniors and chaperones spent the whole day. On this beach day, students had the opportunity to relax on the beach, play games, shop, and swim in the clear blue water. The advisors rented a bungalow as a meeting place for the students which came with snorkeling gear and water rafts. There were many fish and other animals right off the shore of the island that the students and chaperones were able to look at.
Day four of the cruise, the last full day of the trip, was a day at sea where the students got to enjoy the games and events on the ship. The ship had multiple pools, hot tubs, and lounge areas where the students could sit. Games on the deck included a nine-hole mini golf course, shuffleboard, ping pong, pool, and foosball. The Carnival “Fun Squad” hosted trivia, karaoke, and other games throughout the trip. For entertainment, there were stand-up comedy shows at Carnival’s Punchliner Comedy Club, movies on the deck, and live music always on display at some part of the ship.
Certain restaurants were open 24/7 throughout the cruise. Most food items were free for the students to grab whenever they pleased. There were daytime-only restaurants including breakfast and lunch buffets on the lido deck, the BlueIguana Cantina, and Guy’s Burger Joint. At night, the students had the option to dress more formally and attend the Posh Restaurant for a sit-down dinner where they could order appetizers, entrees, and desserts such as frog legs, chicken parmesan, and the signature Carnival melting chocolate cake. The chaperones only required the students to attend the dinner on the last night, but students who attended multiple nights got to sample different foods as the menu changed slightly each night.
Traditionally, senior classes are only allotted two missed days of school for their trip. In order to maximize their vacation, the class scheduled their trip over a three-day weekend and then left early the day the trip began, giving them five-and-a-half days. The class had to approve this and the rest of the trip with the school board at the April school board meeting the prior school year.
Mrs. Shomper and Mrs. McLaughlin hired Dream Vacations travel agent Maggie Foltz to plan the trip. Foltz initially introduced the idea for a cruise, and the advisors and the rest of the senior class ran with the idea. “Mrs. Foltz scheduled it all for us and organized the buses, which eased some of the stress,” explained Shomper. “She was there if I had questions.”
Additionally, a representative from the Carnival cruise line worked with the class to make the trip happen, even showing up in person at some of the meetings to make sure planning went smoothly. All-in-all, 35 students and eight chaperones went on the trip; chaperones included Mrs. Shomper, Mr. Tim Shomper, Mrs. McLaughlin, Mr. Steve McLaughlin, Mrs. Elizabeth Malantonio, Mrs. Amy Wagner, Mrs. Dana Hurrell, and Mrs. Mary Lou Shaff.
The price of the trip for each student was $983, not including the cost of a passport/passcard (which was necessary to board the cruise) or the cost of optional packages such as the ‘Bottomless Bubbles’ soda and juice drink package and the internet plans for the cruise. To afford the trip, which cumulatively cost the senior class $53,301, the advisors and students had to dedicate a lot of time and energy to fundraising over the past couple of years. Notable fundraisers included Bingo at the Millerstown Moose Lodge, sales of Harshbarger’s products and sit-ins at the restaurant, and the Sunset at the Stadium event the prior August.
Despite the above-average cost of the trip, almost half of the senior class attended. Four seniors completely paid for their trip through fundraisers and helped pay for other students’ trips, and nearly half of the students’ trips cost less than $300, according to Mrs. Shomper.
Many students, including Senior Nick Stuck’s, favorite part of the trip was the Princess Cay beach excursion. Here, Stuck got to try coconut water from a raw coconut, which he described as “tasty,” even though it tasted a bit like dirt. For the trip overall, Stuck said, “I had a lot of fun, it was great.”
Senior and treasurer for the class of 2024 Alexandria Reisinger commented, “My favorite part was Nassau because of all the culture. There was more to see there than I had expected.” Reisinger continued to explain, “I think the trip went tremendously well for the amount of people we took on it. For the most part, I feel as though everyone had fun.”
Any class trip can be a hectic experience, and naturally, an international cruise to the Bahamas has its own problems. “I think the main issues that I saw were administrative issues, such as some of the changes in Carnival policy,” commented Mrs. Shomper. “But we dealt with it, solved it, and we got everyone on and off the ship.”
In reference to the whole trip, Mrs. Shomper explained, “It was very stressful organizing it, but in the end, I felt it was absolutely amazing. All the experiences that the students got, the different countries, the food…I just think all the kids enjoyed it; I think they all had good experiences, for most of them things they’ve never done and might never do again.”