I Want To Marry Ginger (Pills)

Travel Day: I Want To Marry Ginger (Pills)

Our morning started early with a 4am alarm clock. As I showered, I realized just how lucky I am…the only time I ever need an alarm clock anymore is to wake up for vacations!

The night before, I had talked to Rusty about the fact that I would be waking him up in the dark the next day so we could leave for vacation. As soon as I rubbed his back Saturday morning at 5am to wake up him, he sat right up & started saying “hello” to Vacation Day. It was just precious…his little eyes were all sleepy-puffy and half open, but he was READY to get moving!

Some people I just don’t understand…So Clark grabs a group of 4 seats at the airport for us. These seats are arranged in a crescent shape, so there were no other seats within our little group. The boys went to get McDonald’s for breakfast, & I was sitting in the middle chair of our crescent, with a backpack on the other middle chair. We’ve got 3 backpacks, so it’s obvious we’re not just a group of “1”. Without asking, this man & his wife come to sit…but he sits in our crescent on the end, & she sits in another group of seats behind him (which had open seats anyway!). So I look all around, & there’s TONS of unoccupied “groups” of seats…ours was clearly occupied. And he didn’t say a word. I would have, at the very least, asked if anyone was sitting there. So when Clark came back, and we all had the seats, we silently mocked the newest member of our family.

As always, the plane ride was a breeze. Rusty entertained himself for the beginning of the flight & slept the rest of the way. I remember when Audrey was a little girl, she would need entertainment from us the entire flight. With Rusty, he plays with his cars for a bit & then goes to sleep. Any time of day. It couldn’t be easier!

Our driver is waiting for us upon arrival, our luggage takes forever to come out but it’s all there, & then we’re in the town car and on our way to Port Canaveral! A short 45 minute drive away…

Clark was exhausted & napped most of the way. Rusty & I chatted the whole way there, & every time we crossed over a bridge, I kept looking all around for the Magic, but I was consistently wrong with my bridges 

We finally crossed the right bridge, & off to our left was…..the Magic! Clark woke up just in time and we all saw it together. Could I possibly be any cheesier? Oh, you just wait…everything about Disney brings out the cornball in me!

In my mind, embarkation was going to be mass chaos…Clark said I should have known better, as Disney is the master of moving masses of people efficiently. The cruise terminal itself if beautiful. Clark said it reminded him of the inside of the Small World ride. Soothing tones of blue along with splashes of color here and there made it feel like you were already on your way to a tropical vacation!

Since we had already received & filled out all the necessary paperwork (contracts, Bahamas immigration forms, etc), our check-in process went VERY quickly. Although, the very first question the Cast Member asks after you say hello is “Has anyone in your party vomited or had diahhrea in the past 72 hours?” Well, hello to you too! Seriously though, I’m glad they ask. A rocky boat is the LAST place I would want to be if I were ill, and I surely don’t want any ill people spreading their gunk our way!!!

So we check in (with the Cast Member who left his personality at home I guess), and receive boarding group #15. Humph. I couldn’t believe we were already FIFTEEN groups back…would we ever get on the boat? Not to worry though…they were already up to Group 10, so our short wait of about 20 minutes was easy since there were Disney cartoons to watch, a really cool, huge model of the Disney ship to look at, & snacks to eat.

“Now boarding passengers with pass numbers 2-15” SWEET! It’s our turn to board the ship. In my head: A mass of people rush the entrance & shove their way onto the boat. The reality: Disney Cast members at their finest, passing out handwipes, leading you to your Embarkation Photo line (Clark humored me & took one!), and then up the gangplank onto the boat. Without sounding like too big of a weenie, can I say that I got choked up boarding the boat? We’ve had this trip planned for 10 months, & it was finally time to walk onto the boat….gulp….it was finally time 

A Cast Member met us right away once inside the boat & explained a few things to us, then it was off to find some food & kill some time until our room was open at 1:30. Me, I’m a lemming. I go wherever the crowd goes, get in the longest line because it must be the right line, assume everyone else knows what they’re doing so I follow. Clark always laughs at me. Luckily, he is a much better navigator than I, & he leads us around the crowds, to the aft elevators, & up to the 9th deck for an outdoor lunch with NO long line!

On our way up, we stop by our first porthole window in the hallway & I promptly get shaky & feel like I’m going to fall over. And we weren’t even going anywhere yet! Turns out, I’m OK with looking out our verandah, and I’m good if there’s no windows, but to look out the portholes (which are closer to the water level) really messes with my mind & makes me feel just plain icky!

While Clark & Rusty grabbed a table, I picked up some burgers & chicken strips and we ate a leisurely lunch as we waited for Room Time. As we ate, we saw perhaps the best duplication of a Senifeld episode…ever. Remember the one where George Costanza comsumed the MASSIVE amounts of shrimp at the buffet? I swear, we have Lady George Costanza on this boat. I have never seen a bowl so overflowing with shrimp, and I’ve never seen a bigger mountain of shrimp shells in my life. It kind of ticked us off (gluttony!) and I wonder if she had toilet trouble today. Seriously, it was super-crazy how many shrimp she had on her plate. It was so obnoxious, I tried to take a picture of her as I pretended to take a picture of the ocean. I just HAD to show you how many shrimp she had. But it didn’t work. Go figure!

“Welcome to our camper!” Clark said as we entered our room. We’ve never cruised before, so weren’t sure what exactly to expect size wise. We were glad to have chosen a room with a verandah, because it really extends the “size” of the room quite a bit. I can’t imagine being in an inside room…that would not work for me! There’s a ton of storage spaces, plenty of light, & a cool little “shub” in the bathroom for Rusty to take a bath in. Almost like a half-sized bathtub/shower…so I call it the “shub!”

Our luggage hasn’t made it to the room yet, but I packed a bathing suit for Rusty in my backpack, so he changes clothes & we head to the Micky Pool to swim while we wait for our luggage. Rusty loved the Mickey Slide & would have stayed on it all night if we didn’t have to head back to the room for our 4:00 Boat Drill (or whatever it’s called).

We don our lifejackets & wait for the sirens to sound. While we wait, Rusty & Clark wrestle on the bed & Rusty gets stuck on his back like a turtle & can’t turn over or get up. Clark and I, being the Parents Of The Year, can’t help but laugh first and then help him up. Everyone was a good sport about wearing their lifejackets, but by the end of the Drill I was getting VERY claustrophobic with that thing on. They’ve got us all stuck in one of the dining rooms, I’m so hot & the lifejacket is up around my neck, and all I want to do is rip it off! Luckily, the drill is fast & we’re back to our room within 10 minutes.

The Sail Away part is next, at 4:30, so Rusty & I head up to Deck 9. I guess nobody is prompt for anything anymore, because we arrived at 4:30 and there were only a handful of people on deck. Rusty was right up front & by the time we left Deck 9 & 10 were full of people & it was a madhouse. I was glad Rusty didn’t want to stay for the whole party…too many people for my taste.

We come back to the room & get cleaned up for dinner. Our First Seating means we need to arrive at 5:30, and tonight we dine in Animator’s Palate. We are shown our table & meet our table mates for the week. A family of five…a 4 year old boy, 9 year old boy, older girl, & Mom & Dad. Dinner was good in my opinion, Clark was just OK with his. It was “fancy food”, which we don’t really eat…we tend to lean towards burgers & fries type food. And while the food was good, the table mates….well, they are just NOT good! Clark was most bothered by the way they treated our servers & the fact that they kept changing their orders. I was most put off by the Mom’s attitude towards the 4 year old. She was just plain rude. Soooooo….we’re stuck with them for the rest of the week.  Humph.

I did like our servers, Girish from India, & Anastasia from Trinidad. They will follow us all week long as well as we move from restauraunt to restauraunt at dinner. They were both kind & attentive to Rusty, which I liked. Girish even made a Mickey Mouse out of ketchup for Rusty’s fries 

Rusty got antsy before the show part of dinner, so we left and came back to the room. I’m trying to remember if we did anything else, but I think we just hung out and relaxed. Oh yea, Clark did go get soft serve for us…which tastes exactly like a Frostee from Wendy’s…and we had already had dessert….but hey who cares! We played a few games of Uno…Rusty got bored after a bit and watched a movie while Clark & I continued to play. Wish I could say I beat him…but he’ll be reading this & I can’t lie. They had Yatzee in the Promenade Lounge today….I shall get revenge!

So ever since Friday, I’ve been taking ginger pills *just in case* there’s rough water or my stomach gets sensitive to the motion. I cannot read in a car, & I am prone to motion sickness so I wanted to cover my bases.

Clark’s stomach didn’t feel so hot after dinner, and we thought perhaps it was just from eating too much. I talked him into wearing some SeaBands I brought, and we looked at the Deck Report to see that the waters were rough with 8-13ft seas. I take another ginger pill…and am convinced that’s helping! I love my Ginger Pills!!

We’re off to bed before too long & sleep soundly. When I do wake up, I hear the hangers clanking in the closet which I strange. Every now & then I feel the boat lurch. One night down…six more to go…so far, so good!