Who am I? Where am I? Are we in Kansas yet?

I’ve been in what seems like so many states in such a short span of time that I’m loosing track of the days.

I’m writing this post on Friday night, but I’m trying to recap what happened on Wednesday and Thursday, and things are beginning to blur.

On Wednesday evening we checked into a hotel in West Palm Beach, Florida: the Embassy Suites.  Pretty nice.  Our quarters were pretty tight but breakfast was neat – we ate off of real plates, not plastic like at previous hotels; and there was an omelet station.  I’m really into breakfast and each hotel we’ve been to has presented breakfast differently so I’m able to see what I like and what I really like.  (Yes, I’m talking about hotel breakfast here – my brain is turning into mush.)

All seven of us were as giddy as we could be since we knew the next day we would be boarding a cruise ship and setting sail to the Bahamas.

On Thursday morning we woke up and were ready to go!  There was no time to do anything but have breakfast, so the girls quickly dipped their feet in the hotel pool while we waited for my hubby to return from having our tires changed.

Then it was off to the cruise ship where my niece, Layla, snapped these pics right after we handed off our car for valet parking.

Then we were off to have our bags checked and board the ship (about 12 noon).  This group shot was taken by the cruise line right before we boarded.

They photo-shopped this picture.  What you probably can’t see is that our skin looks flawless and gorgeous!  Like we should all be models for some kind of skin cream.  Seriously.  I’ve never, ever seen a picture look like this.  And they placed a ship behind us too. (Prior to the ship there was a plain background.) Very impressive.  Now I know why models look the way they do on magazine covers.

Aboard Ship, Day 1

I’ve never cruised before in my life.  This was the first time for me, my husband and the kids. 

I sort of thought it was a big deal that I was finally cruising (at this “late” stage in my life), so before we set sail I ran to a lower deck in the back of the ship and and struck a “Hello world, I’m here” pose, all the while hoping that no one else would notice.

Hello World!

Being on the ship was very exciting. There’s food everywhere, all day and all night.  There’s an abundance of waitstaff to cater to guests 24/7…well, actually they’re there to sell guests drinks 24/7.

There’s something happening all over the ship to cater to the different tastes of people: Latin dancing, a disco room, a live band or swing music, games, swimming, child care, etc. The ship never sleeps! (Not unlike my hometown, New York City.)

They produced a family friendly variety show every night as well, but my favorite moment was watching a kereoke show on an open deck at midnight with Autumn and Alexis while hubby slept.

Our ship was supposed to set sail at 6pm, but that never happened because there was a problem with the power and we lost all the air conditioning. Then, at about 7pm we were told that some one was coming to inspect the boat to determine if the generator was good enough to sail. If it was determined that it wasn’t, we would sleep with no air conditioning and with toilets that were not flushing waste (because of lack of power and because the boat was still docked) and would be allowed to disembark in the morning.

Woe!!!!!

I’ll just let you digest that and read in between the lines for what I’m not saying. 

You’ve no idea what that experience was like for me. (It made the local news.) Day one with no air conditioning anywhere on board (in the Florida heat), with toilets not properly flushing and me loosing confidence in the ships ability to safely get us to the Bahamas.  The thought of us leaving port, them breaking down in the middle of the Atlantic did cross my mind.

Apparently, I wan’t the only one.  A ton of people pitched a fit and wailed quite loudly to get off of the ship after hours of being aboard in those conditions while the ship was still docked.

My husband, on the other hand, not only didn’t mind the heat (nor did any of the kids), but he started to wonder what was wrong with me for being, um, slightly depressed.  What he didn’t know was that inwardly I was VERY AFRAID and wanted to run for my life right off of the ship.  I was also dying from heat exhaustion (you try wearing spanx in those temperatures and see how long you last!).

Long story short, I stayed, and we finally set sail at about 1 am – when I was asleep, ugh! Yet, I’m glad I did overcome my fear and not encourage my family to get off the ship because the second day was way better.

No, we had no air the entire trip, but the toilets did flush!  And as an added bonus the ship was less crowded.  The cheery on icing, however, was our one day excursion in the Bahamas, which I’ll tell you all about in my next post, so stay tuned!

Going to sleep now.  Over and out!

Tiffiney

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