Cruisin' 101: Part 1

We made it!  First night on the boat!!

As many of you know, Nick and I just returned from our first cruise – a joint birthday present to ourselves! While I felt like I did some pretty extensive research before we left, there are several lessons I apparently had to learn for myself before I took them to heart!

1. GO THE NIGHT BEFORE! Really. Everything I read recommended arriving in the port city the night before, even if your ship is not due to depart until 4 or 5pm. Somehow, I missed the urgency of these warnings. We booked an 8am flight out of Indy for Monday morning with a layover in Atlanta and were due to arrive in Jacksonville by 11:55am. Our boat was due to leave port by 4pm – plenty of time, right? I basically grew up in an airport, so I factored in at least an hours worth of delays (late planes, weather delays, quick-fix mechanical problems, etc.) plus extra time to pick up our checked bags and take the 15 minute ride from the airport to the pier. I really thought we were in good shape. Unfortunately, I did not account for all of these unexpected problems happening at once. The weather in Atlanta Monday morning had canceled a 6am flight, so our flight was overbooked as it was. We board the plane and are ready to go when the captain announces that the plane-equivalent of the 'check engine light' won't go off, so maintenance is coming by to check it out. Twenty minutes later they can't get the light to go off, so they have to deboard and wait for a new part to come in from Cincinnati. Now we have two flights worth of passengers trying to catch the next plane to Atlanta – and many, like us, also trying to make it there in time to catch the connecting flight to their final destination. I'll save you the sad details, but we didn't leave Indy until after we should have arrived in Jacksonville, effectively missing our connection by hours. The next flight out of Atlanta arrived in Jacksonville at 3:55pm – if it was on time, and that was before we had to wait for our bags and take the 15 minute ride to the pier. You don't have to do the math to figure out that I had to start mentally preparing myself to miss that boat. I figured this was God's way of affirming my nervous, guilty feelings that it was too soon to leave my kids for 6 days. We had a lot of direct and indirect communication with the pier from the moment we were delayed in Indy; it is no small miracle that the Guest Services Director of the Carnival Fascination held that boat for nearly an hour after she had been cleared to leave, waiting on us and another couple on our same flights out of Indy and Atlanta. And for her we are eternally grateful!!

2. REALIZE THERE WILL BE TEARS...AND THAT'S OKAY. The tears I'm referring to are mine, of course. We met my parents for lunch on Sunday to do the kid-swap and I had not really prepared myself for what it would be like to leave them, knowing I would not see them for 6 whole days. Nick and I have taken one trip, a long weekend to Tennessee, when the girls were 2 ½ years old, without kids since we've become parents. The kids have stayed with their grandparents a few times for a night or two when we had an out of town wedding or other event. After Christmas I remember my parents took the kids for a couple days just to give us some time to unwind from the holidays, my brothers wedding and prepare for Drew's birthday party. I remember those two and a half days going way too fast! Somehow it was infinitely different this time. As the girls loaded in the back of my parents' new minivan – an Odyssey like ours, but cooler! - they barely noticed that Mia and Jeeps were up front rather than Mommy and Daddy. Drew cried briefly, but more out of exhaustion than anything. I, on the other hand, had to get it together just to avoid the questioning looks from my girls so I could hug and kiss them good-bye. We'd been on the road about 5-10 minutes before I was able to collect myself enough to start my packing list. 

   

   Comfy Chair + Book + Floppy Hat = :)

   
   

3. UNPLUG. IT'S GOOD FOR THE SOUL. As much as I missed my kids, for me it was easier to not talk to them every day. I had my phone, but using it on international waters would have been very expensive. We could have paid to use email/internet on the boat, but that isn't the same as talking to them so we opted to unplug for the entire week. The only exception was when we were ported in Key West, I could use my phone as usual and we talked to the kids for a few minutes. (We also attempted to Facechat, but I probably should have figured out how to do so before we left!) It was definitely a weird feeling to know we were completely unaware of anything going on outside out little cruise bubble, but it was nice to know I couldn't/shouldn't be checking my email, updating my Facebook or sending texts when I needed to be laying by the pool, reading a book (that had nothing to do with parenting techniques) and enjoying the sunshine :)

   

   Enjoying my surroundings while unplugged!

   
   
   
   
   Stay tuned for Part 2 coming soon!!