Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Vacation Day 2: Setting sail

After months of anticipation, the day was finally here!

I could tell Mom was truly excited as we took the hotel shuttle bus to the port. Every so often she'd turn around in her seat and give me a wide smile and a silent "Thank you."

It was her birthday cruise, and I was so happy she was looking forward to celebrating her 60th in style. I also was secretly scared she'd hate the entire concept of cruising or get sea sick, or - heaven forbid - someone in our group would be unlucky enough to pick up the norovirus. ... Luckily, my fears were unfounded. *whew!*

After an unusually long wait to board the ship, we had our photo snapped at the entrance, made our way to the Windjammer for a quick lunch and then headed to our (itty-bitty) cabins to unpack before the sail-away party by the pool.

The ship had been renovated last year, I believe, and the changes were obvious in the public areas - but not so much in the cabins. But it was cool ... it's not like you're in your room very often, and Mom didn't seem to mind the idea of living in a Cracker Jack box for a few days, so I was relieved.

At about 4, we headed down to the pool area, ordered a few drinks and before we knew it we were moving! The band played, people danced and everyone had a great time.

After the sail-away party, it was pretty much dinner and then we all crashed. We were pretty tired after our long drive the day before, waking up early and all the excitement.

The next day we were headed to Coco Cay ... but sometimes things don't always work out the way they're planned!

Stay tuned!