my sHip haS sailEd

 

 

 

Days 1 & 2

 

• After giving birth to my 3rd child in under 4 years, I turned to my husband and lovingly told him, “The moment I wean this baby, you are taking me on a cruise without children.”  It had been 18 months since we’d taken a trip, kidless. 
• I also requested we find someone to go with us because I was scared of too much alone time 
• Enter Jessica Adams, close friend since junior high.  She wanted to go on a cruise to celebrate her and Spencer’s pharmacy school graduation (totally a joint venture), so I kindly allowed her to be my personal travel agent and although it was scheduled a  little later than originally planned, it was totally worth the wait!!

 

The day in April came way fast and before I knew it, I was filled with dread at the thought of leaving my munchkins.  As I prepared 6 Word documents to educate my babysitters (both sets of grandparents) on everything from nap time to how to put on Dora, stocked my freezer with meals and prepared my official Last Will and Testament, I felt a bit like I was going off to war with a slight chance of not returning.  The feeling didn’t subside until after our Red Eye flight with a layover in the LAX ghetto wing, a long drive with a shady taxi driver, a big breakfast at the Village Inn, a shopping trip to Ron John’s Surf Shop, and a long delay to board the ship. 

Once we got on the Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas, our rooms were not ready and our luggage was not yet delivered, so we ate lunch and then took an abbreviated tour of the ship that we would call ‘home’ for the next week.  We saw dolphins and turtles right off the bat!!  It was very windy up on deck, but we decided it was a good photo op.  You be the judge, all I see is my fatigue and inherent greasiness.  A long nap in our dark rooms quickly ensued.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That night, we caused quite a stir in the dining room as they adjusted the entire seating arrangement to accommodate us and allow us to sit together.   It was their mistake to begins with, but I do not think we were everyone’s  favorite shipmates!!  After the show, we planned our week’s adventures from the hot tub.  Ahh.

 

 

 

The next morning, we docked at the cruise line’s personal island CocoCay, in the Bahamas, super early.  That hurt a lot since we had lost two hours anyway.  But we didn’t waste time, we headed right to the pedal boats and had ourselves a relaxing ride.  We then perused the adorable island, shopped a little, got ourselves a tropical drink and relaxed on the beach.  I wasn’t missing snowy home or even my kids too much at this point.  Life was great!!  The pic with my pedicured feet says it all!!

 

 

 

And the best part of the day was when we headed out on our jet skis with our studly tour guide from Africa who told us we were his favorite, bravest, most adventurous tourists yet!!  We stopped and held starfish- which was super cool- before heading back to the island.  Unfortunately, our cameras were not water proof.   So no photo documentation here.  But Jess and Spence were kind enough to act it out later.

 

 

After jet skiing on the ocean (how cool does that sound) we played on this water playground.  Sting rays (manna rays??) swam beneath us and it. was. awesome.  If I only knew of the tangled, matted hair that awaited me . . .

 

 

 

 

After hours of detangling my hair, leaving little time to dry it, we had our first formal night with an amazing dinner (everyone orders 3 of each course, right?) served to us by Made, our cute little server from Bali.  And of course, the show that evening was awesome.