Post-Cruise Reflections:

Grandma has been trying to get a family cruise for YEARS now and it finally came to a reality.  Overall it went very well and I was relieved there was no family drama.  Here is a bit more of my thoughts about how it went:

HOLY WIND, BATMAN
It was windy (and rainy and cold and wet) when we left Port Canaveral but it was REALLY windy on Thanksgiving.  So windy that you could lean into it and have your face be 2 feet from the floor and not fall over.  It was crazy. 

HURRY UP AND WAIT
Not sure if it is very typical to wait in HUGE lines for boarding or if it was just because the boat was delayed 3hrs getting into port but we had to wait for-ev-er in cold, wind and rain just to get on the boat.  It was rough and I was thinking over and over again how we made the right call in NOT bringing the boys with us.  Once we finally boarded there was more waiting in line for guest relations, at the muster stations, for the elevators, for the tenders, for the tenders to be full, to get back on the boat, etc., etc., etc. 

STAIRS, STAIRS AND MORE STAIRS
Because the lines for the elevators were so long (and once you got on one you had to stop at every.single.floor), we rarely used them and took the stairs.  Our favorite bar was on the 15th floor, our room was on the 6th, dinner was on the 4th, the dock was on the 1st.  The worst part about the stairs was the rough seas.  Depending on the sway, some of your steps were very light and other times your legs felt very, very heavy. 

MAN OVERBOARD
Aaron and I have dealt with fire alarms going off in the night at a hotel, but it doesn't quite compare to the "man overboard" alarm on a cruise ship.  At 3:03am the alarm sounded and a message came over that sounded something along the lines of "Ladies and Gentlemen this is the Captain speaking from the bridge.  We have a man overboard alarm in effect and we need all passengers to return to their stateroom promptly.  If there is someone from your party missing dial 0 immediately.  This is a life and death situation and we ask for your full cooperation."  The next message we heard was that the stateroom attendants would be verifying all passengers and finally the last overhead message was for all crew to check in on the first floor.  When we looked out the stateroom window you could see the spotlights on the water (which was rough - lots of white water and swells) and you could tell the ship was in a stationary position.  Eventually we fell back asleep and the following morning we learned that an intoxicated female passenger on the 7th floor believed she saw someone in the water.  She was so convinced that she was throwing life jackets out to them.  A crew member noticed her and immediately notified the bridge of a possible man overboard.  They said that in these situations they activate an EPIRB beacon which sends out a signal with the gps position into the atmosphere.  They are monitored worldwide and ANY ship or aircraft in the vicinity is notified and expected to assist in search efforts by international law.  The incident caused a 3 hour delay for our ship, but since we were just having a "sea day" the following day, there was no change.  It can be a costly thing, however.  Since even cargo ships expected to assist in search efforts if they are in the area, the delay for them to deliver cargo to a port could cause some headaches.  We are very thankful that this was just a false alarm and nothing was lost for our ship, except sleep.  But again, so glad we did not bring the boys because I'm sure this would have been a little terrifying for them.

IF THIS BOATS A ROCKIN'...
Our boat pulled out of Port Canaveral about 5pm and right about the time we sat down at dinner (5:45pm) the waves really picked up.  Everything was vibrating and it felt like the captain was speeding up, slowing down, speeding up, slowing down but it was really just the wave action.  I was pretty concerned that if the waves stayed like this, there was no way I was going to last 4 days.  Lucky for me, the first and last days were the only real concerns. It was pretty intense though and we were even woken up a few times during the night by things getting knocked over in our room.  One of the waiters told us the seas were 40-60ft swells on those days.  I'm not sure how accurate that is, but I do know they had the barf bags placed every few feet and the water looked angry!  We exited the boat two days ago and I'm STILL rocking. 

THANK YOU FOR NOT SMOKING
I had no idea that many people still smoked in the world.  And, I can't believe smokers would take a vacation on a boat.  But they do and the smoking sections reminded me of what they used to be in Michigan 5 years ago:  smoking section here, 5 feet away is the non-smoking section.  It didn't help that the places we liked to spend the most of our time in were the smoking areas (casino, bar for the football games, the bar at the top with the 360 views).  You got used to it, but what a shock!  How quickly you forget there are smokers in the world after they prohibited smoking in most public areas in Michigan.

THE NIGHTMAN COMETH
Not only did Jenin, our stateroom attendant, peak in on us while lying in bed during the man overboard alarm in the middle of the night but he also visited our room in stealth-like fashion every time we left it and tidied up.  Most of the time it was cute when he would leave us little towel animals and such but sometimes it got a little creepy when he would fold up my unmentionables after we left the room a mess trying to quickly dress for dinner. 

SECOND DINNER
We were well aware of the concept of 1st dinner and 2nd dinner from my pregnancy days, but cruising takes it to another level.  Aaron's cousins (the well traveled cruisers that they are) sat with us the first night and explained that ordering just one starter and entree was for novices.  If you would like soup AND salad to start with, by all means do so.  I was usually content with just one entree but I did enjoy sampling a variety of the starters!  Breakfast was average, lunch was usually a small bite so we could save room for our dinners, which was always delicious.