Setting Sail

Last week we embarked on our latest adventure. We took all three kids on a Carnival cruise.

Due to bad weather, we left a day early and spent the night in a small motel halfway between here and the Twin Cities. Upon arriving at the airport the next day we discovered I had left my keys at the motel. Fortunately, the owners located our keys and have kindly agreed to mail them to us. Discovered that airport check in has been completely reconfigured since Delta took over Northwest Airlines. Even though we've flown out of here many times, we managed to get in the wrong line THREE times trying to check in. Got properly checked in and got into the security line and soon discovered we weren't given a boarding pass for Cami. Went back over to the proper check in counter and obtained the boarding pass. Undressed five family members in order to go through security. Got settled in at our gate and began to eat a lunch I'd packed. To my horror, I discovered we had unintentionally snuck a sharp paring knife through security. I had brought the knife with the intent of slicing apples in the car and had meant to leave it in the car. I was shocked that: #1 We could have ended up in jail. #2 If we got this through security, who knows what else must make it through security and possibly onto our plane. Craig disposed of the knife promptly.

Our flight went well. We were picked up by a hotel shuttle and spent the night at a hotel in Tampa. I experienced the coldest shower of my life the following morning. No need for caffeine after that.

Craig's good friend, John, picked us up and took us for breakfast. He then drove us to the cruise terminal. The employees took pity on us with three kids and ushered us through the VIP line. Nice. Waited in one more line and then we were on the ship for lunch. We were not prepared for the brisk 56 degree weather in Tampa and froze through lunch. Turned out that we were in for a week of record breaking cold temps. Had only packed one warm outfit each for the trip home. After lunch we unpacked and participated in the mandatory muster drill. The kids had to wear bracelets the entire cruise indicating the location of their muster (lifeboat) station. Went on deck to watch the ship set sail. While we were waiting, several people on land approached the ship and photographed it. To our surprise, a ship's employee got on the PA system and loudly reprimanded a poor little old lady on land for taking pictures of the ship. I'm not sure why they didn't like this. Were they concerned she was going to steal the ship?

It was smooth sailing until we got out of Tampa Bay and then things were rough for the rest of the trip. I had my motion sickness patch behind my ear and never took it off. It worked well except for the not-so-great side effect of blurry vision which resulted in my inability to read printed words unless held at arm's length for the duration of the trip.

Our first day was a day at sea. The kids swam in a warm salt water pool. The kiddie pool at the back of the ship had a couple of water slides, but was not sheltered from the wind and was too cold to use most of the time. The four hottubs were always packed.

We discovered there's not much to do on a ship at night unless you're into hitting the bars and the casino. They had three shows during our voyage. We enjoyed watching those. Having quiet reading time is my idea of a thrill these days, but I was unable to do that due to my blurred vision situation. I think Craig got quite a bit of reading done.

We played a few rounds of mini golf. The boys enjoyed the kids' club. Cami freaked out when we tried to leave her, so we didn't get much "date time" in. Evan chose to eat with the kids' club most nights. He decided pizza in a casual environment with fellow 2-5 year olds was way better than having to sit still in a grown up dining room for 1 1/2 hours. Collin enjoyed it when they dimmed the lights and had the waiters dance in the grown up dining room. Cami charmed the waiters. She danced with them and impressed them with her extensive vocabulary. She also wowed the judges at the opening night family dance party with her awesome dancing. (We didn't know she had this skill.)

We had two ports of call: Grand Cayman and Cozumel. We chose beach excursions both times because we didn't think sightseeing/shopping with kids would go well. Grand Cayman was about the only time the temps were comfortable in swim attire. The boys loved the surf, but Cami screamed every time a wave washed over her feet. She chose to dig in the sand further back on the beach. We only had 2 1/2 hours of beach time on Grand Cayman and had to ride a tender back to the ship. Cozumel was COLD. Here, we didn't have to ride a tender, so we ventured out on our own and found a quiet, reasonable private beach club. The waves were too rough to do much wading. Evan threw sand in the water to "feed the sharks." He also threw sand at his siblings which resulted in Cami screaming and Collin sitting on him and pushing his face in the sand. This, of course, resulted in Evan screaming and pretty soon we had the attention of the whole beach. Both boys ended up on separate chairs in time out and Cami fell asleep from the trauma of it all.

Our last day at sea was also cold. All the moms sat on the pool deck in jeans and jackets with towels wrapped around their legs. We were off the ship around 9 AM the next day. We chose to self-disembark (lug all our own stuff) and the process went better than we expected. Spent about four hours in the airport when our flight was delayed an hour. Circled above the Twin Cities 30 min. waiting for a runway to be plowed (again, my patch came in handy). Heard a blizzard had hit our area, so decided to spend the night in Minneapolis. Drove home the next morning and swung north to avoid bad roads. Locked our remaining set of keys in the car when we stopped for lunch. The police came to unlock our car, and fortunately, the process only took about 20 min. It took about 5 1/2 hours to do what was usually a four hour trip, but we are home and safe and that's what matters.

I probably won't be doing any more cruises due to my need for continuous motion sickness meds, but Craig and the kids had a good time despite the temps. Now we're ready to get back into our usual routine. Pics to come in the next post.