Thursday, September 26, 2013

Cruise Day 1 - Bon Voyage

Saturday Morning – We ate breakfast at the hotel, and prayed the gates to the port would be open before 10:30 (literally I did).  That was important because Dennis was taking Kristi, Christian, Lauryn, and I to the port and dropping us off, then hurrying back to catch the 11:00 shuttle back to the port with Mema, Seth, Kelsi, Lauryn, Dan and Genie.  If he missed the 11:00, he would have to wait until 12:00 to catch the next one.  We were ready to get on the ship NOW and get to the buffet.   He had a dream Friday night that he missed the shuttle over and over.  Fortunately, he made it in plenty of time, and the gates at the port were actually open when we arrived at 10:15.  Thank you, Lord!
As we were checking in at the terminal and going through security,  Christian had to walk through the metal detectors by himself (security rule), and he got scared and cried.  We were on the other side waiting for him, and he finally did it.    

On the boat and to the rooms, where most of our luggage was waiting on us (thanks to our FASTER TO THE FUN ticket, kind of like a Disney Fast Pass – love it).    Then to the buffet for lunch, I unpacked and the kids and Kristi and Seth rushed to the water slides.  Christian stayed on the baby slides, while the girls tackled the big blue racing side by side slides.  They all tried the  BIG Twister slide that twisted high and out over the ocean. 

We departed Jax at 4:15 p.m. after a VERY VERY LONG and HOT Lifeboat/Security Drill.  For those of you who followed my QM2 blog last year out of New York, you will remember the bridge we sailed under, that was breath-takingly close to hitting the top mast of the ship.... well, Jax port has a similar bridge.  It still looked like it was going to hit, but maybe it was because I had already experienced the sensation once, it wasn't quite as big of a deal.  I did see the underneath side of the bridge, very close up and personal though as we sailed beneath, and I decided I am just better off not seeing some things.  I never realized bridges have all those spaces between the joints (cracks)  - I know enough about physics to know why they are there, but just suffice it to say it was a little unnerving seeing them all, right above my head :) 

Dinner was at 6:00 p.m. in the Imagination Dining Room.  Ayu, from Indonesia was our waitress, and   Iwyne our waiter. They are some of the best ever!  Ayu fell in love with Christian and gave him so much attention.  She has a little boy (almost 3), who she doesn’t see while she is working for six months at a time on the cruise ship.  She hugged, loved and danced around the dining room with Christian.  Iwyne taught him how to do the “thumbs up”  and he would do it to him each time Iwyne would bring him ice cream after dinner  for dessert.   I ate Warm Chocolate Melting Cake for dessert ( I have been dreaming of this yummy dessert that is a Carnival Signature dessert since our last time on Carnival in 2010. When they set it down in front of me, I felt like saying, “hi honey, I’m home”).   Genie and Kristi could feel the rocking of the ship a little at dinner (all the way aft at dinner), but fortunately did not bother them too much.   

After dinner we went to the  Motor City show in the Palace Theatre.   It was excellent! Although, don’t ask  Kayna and Genie because they fell asleep.  Back in the room, we found out our King sized bed could NOT be separated, so Mema slept on the trundle bed, Kelsi above her in the bunk bed,  Dennis and I on the king size bed with Kayna above us on the bunk bed.   Around 3:00 a.m.   pains in my legs woke me up and when I reached down to rub them, I felt Kayna there on top of my legs, sitting up, asleep.  She had fallen out of the bunk on top of my legs.  I scooped her up, still asleep, and layed her down next to the wall.   This would NOW be our nightly sleeping arrangement. No more over the bed for Kayna J

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