Day 2: Saturday 4/30

Today started pretty early for me. I can’t be sure what time was my official wake up but I’m gonna go with 3:30am. I didn’t sleep at all. During the night my throat had gotten pretty uncomfortable. The hotel room was really hot as well, so that didn’t help. I laid in bed from 3:30am to about 6am & then just figured I might as well type my blog instead of just lay there. So I pulled out my laptop & started typing away. The things I do for my readers. Aren’t I great? Blogging at 6am. After I finished up my blog, I worked on my photo site to be sure it was ready for this trip’s pictures and then ordered my book for this cruise, Water for Elephants, on my Kindle. My parents got up and we had a pretty leisurely morning. 

At about 10am we headed down to the lobby to get a cab to the port. Not before an additional trip to CVS for my dad to exchange his new sunglasses and to buy the prima donna a fan. Yeah, a fan. No, not a little handheld fan, but a table top fan. Apparently the hot hotel room was such a traumatic experience for her highness that she HAD to have a fan for the cruise. So my dad went to CVS like a good husband and bought the crazy a fan... which ended up in my suitcase, cause I had room. Believe it or not... I am the lightest packer of the family. Really it’s true. My mom packs for every possibly situation she could, AND COULDN’T, ever face. I bet if you checked her suitcase she’s got a parka in there just in case our caribbean cruise takes a detour to the south pole. It’s sick. So after my dad got back we head out to the ship. 

We had an awesome cab driver, Daniel from Panama. He was hysterical and so nice. Had to be one of the happiest people I ever met. The cab ride was pretty quick. Our hotel was only a mile from the cruise port. Once we arrived, they took our luggage and we were checked in in about 5 minutes. The whole process went really smooth. Next, they herded us like cattle into a holding room where we sat for an hour. It wasn’t bad really. It went quick. It doesn’t take a lot for me to be entertained. I could sit & “people watch” all day. I think it was the way I grew up. Riding in the truck for days straight, I would just sit and stare out the window most of the time & daydream, while my brother was practically spinning in circles with so much bored energy. 

At about 11:30 they began boarding. We were on the ship within 5 minutes. Really it was one of the most smooth processes I’ve been in. Once on board we headed straight for the buffet. We weren’t messing around. The buffet is HUGE. Just like this ship. It’s massive. Dare I say??? ...epic. The buffet had everything you could possible want including burgers made to order and I did NOT partake. Proud? You should be. I had an Italian combo sandwich...with mayo. Listen. I don’t want to hear it. I’m only half Italian...the other half is mainly English, therefore I mayo...everything. Deal with it. I also had the most amazing corn chowder ever & some pretzel bread. So good. I had some other stuff too but they weren’t the standouts. I passed on dessert. Trying to be somewhat reasonable with my eating. The average a person gains on a 7 day cruise is 7lbs! That’s a souvenir I’d rather not take home, thank you very much. 

At lunch I was starting to feel pretty bad. Swallowing food was difficult, but now I was also starting to really feel weak. I tried to put it out of my head, so we continued on. Our room was not going to be ready until 2pm and it was only 12:30pm so we decided to take a tour of the ship. We started on the top of the ship, the 18th deck, and worked our way down. The 19th deck is actually the top, but that’s a “freestyle sundeck” if you know what I mean. We had just eaten so I really didn’t want to see that. Bulimia is not my thing- self inflicted or hairy, naked European inflicted. I’ll pass. So we walked all of the public decks trying to learn the layout of this HUGE ship. It’s the biggest ship I have ever been on. It has escalators. Escalators at sea. Am I the only one who thinks that’s insane... and kinda scary? If the average is 7lbs gained can you imagine what it is on a ship with elevators AND escalators?! Maybe I should visit that sundeck.

After we walked the decks and kind of found our way around we relaxed for a little bit in the main atrium (lobby). My mom bought a cafe mocha (blehk) and enjoyed her favorite, lemon pound cake. I had a bite... it was amazing! It was finally time for us to head to our rooms. I went with my parents to theirs first to get some pics and then headed to mine. They are very modern rooms. I like them. Mine doesn’t feel as small as I thought it would. Although the shower had to have been designed by a man. Check out the pictures & tell me how the heck I’m supposed to shave my legs in that thing?? I already decided rather than use my luffa, I’m just gonna soap up the walls & spin. The shower is TINY! I really like the room though. I’m right next door to the lounge “the living room” which I don’t know how I feel about. I have to walk through the lounge every time I go to my room. I’ve already had to say hello to three strangers... and we all know exactly how I feel about that. The lounge is cool though. It has vending machines and refrigerators stocked with food, tvs, couches & tables, a bar, games, etc. It gets a little loud between 5pm-7pm but it won’t be a problem since I’m not usually trying to sleep (or socialize!) at that time. 

So after we checked out our rooms we headed to our mandatory lifeboat drill. This one was nice cause we didn’t have to bring our lifejackets like on other cruises, but I had to go to mine by myself since my assembly station was different from my parents. I was nervous about this all day. You’re shocked, I know. I had to go to the comedy club. It really wasn’t bad at all, but me being me, I was nervous to go by myself. Just like most things I get freaked out about... it was nothing. I walked in, gave my room number, found a seat in the back of the room, in a corner & waited to be told I could leave. After the drill I headed back to my room and unpacked. At this point I was hurting. My throat was incredibly soar and I just wanted to go to sleep. So I got back to my room, basically dumped out my suitcase & found a place for everything in like 5 minutes and then got into bed. I slept for about an hour and a half. I woke up at 5:30pm feeling terrible. I headed to my parents room to see if they wanted to get dinner at the irish pub. I was barely up to going to that place, let alone showering and changing to go to one of the nicer restaurants. So we headed to the pub. 

I’ve noticed when I’m hungry I feel worse. I ended up going with a chicken pot pie that was really good & it was easy on my throat. My mom got a sandwich, pastrami on rye I think & my dad got a chili dog. After we ate we were out to sea so the stores were open. I had forgotten to pack my face lotion & so when I saw that the ship not only sold clinique products but the exact face lotion I use I was thrilled. So we went to the stores & picked that up. Eating dinner had helped, but I wanted nothing but to be in my bed. So I decided to head back to the room. I left my parents to fend for themselves. I’m hoping they remember their room number. I’m being serious. One cruise my dad forgot his room number & tried walking all the hallways to find it. How he thought he would of figured out which was his, I have no idea. All the hallways look identical. Hopefully they make it back tonight.

So that was today. I decided to write this tonight, because I don’t know how I’ll be feeling tomorrow. I’m planning to take Nyquill so I thought blogging with a Nyquill hangover may prove to be a little difficult. I have no plans tomorrow. I’m hoping to wake up feeling much better. My goals this trip is to eat, tan & find a new perfume. I have also been in the market for a new watch, but the only one I liked, no loved, on board was $2,100 and that was on sale. Um, yeah. At least I’ve got good taste.  

I’m having issues loading the pictures from today, so keep checking back on the photo site. (link on right) There aren’t really any pictures of us today, more of the ship. I’ll take more photos hopefully starting tomorrow. Miss you all... well most of you. ;)