As soon as we moved to Houston, Cori and I began talking about going on a cruise. The cruise itself is a pretty affordable way to vacation. Usually the big cost comes in getting to and from the ship. It was irresistible being so close to Galveston. We were thrilled that Sandy, Ray, Cory and Brittany were able to join us.
Everyone met up at our house in Houston. We had to leave the Denali with my mom, and so all six of us packed into Cori’s 5-seater Toyota 4-Runner - along with our luggage - and made the 2 hour drive from Cypress to Galveston. The aggressive Houston drivers nearly proved fatal to poor Ray’s nerves. He pulled through like a champ though and the drive was uneventful. We navigated to the right parking area and made our way through the luggage and embarkation process. We got aboard and had a couple of hours to explore and make any last phone calls before setting sail. And then, just like that, we were on VACATION!
It didn’t feel like a tropical vacation at first. The weather in Galveston was windy, chilly and foggy. There was low visibility from the blustery decks. We attended an orientation in the gym and made the first of many stops at Guy Fieri’s burger joint. (Ray, the mushrooms! Delish!) Finally we began our journey out of the harbor. The fog horn bellowed every couple of minutes until we were clear of the port.
Once at sea, the days aboard were whatever we wanted them to be. Swimming, napping, eating, reading, playing, watching… there was always something to do, including the option of doing nothing at all. We hit the gym. We played shuffle board. We mini golfed. We learned part of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. We ate. A lot. There were friendly competitions throughout the ship where the prize was a coveted trophy of a golden ship. The treasure alluded our group, but we had a great time participating.
Cory and Cori vying for the trophy at the bean bag toss tournament.
Cori was able to catch the BYU Gonzaga basketball game at the sports bar. His smile says it all.
And then, the sun would dip into the horizon and a whole new range of entertainment became available. Nightlife on the ship had just as many options as the day. Our nights were late from the outset mostly due to our assigned dining time which was 8PM. Dinner was a main event. The large menu was different every night and featured a “did you ever…” selection - crazy exotic foods that you've heard of but probably never eaten. We tried frogs legs, ox tail, and escargot... (I steered clear of some of the selections due to my delicate condition) The menu also featured local fare appropriate to the port we were parked in. We pretty much ended up ordering just about everything on the menu every night and passing plates around. A fabulous arrangement. And there was always at least one order of Molten Lava Cake to finish the meal.
We loved our waitstaff and looked forward to our evenings with them. The headwaiters were Dushan and Adrien. At the beginning of the week, Adrien told us about a ‘golden challenge’ his best friend had given him to get a girlfriend from every continent. At the end of the week, we gave Dushan and Adrien a new golden challenge in the form of a Book of Mormon. :)
Though I was just about through the first trimester of our pregnancy, I was still dealing with some morning sickness. We were a little worried how this would stack up with being at sea. I drank so much ginger ale! We also all took ginger supplements that Sandy had brought. It really helped. I still had plenty of times where I just needed to sit and be still for a spell.
We loved getting dressed up for the evening festivities. And, it would seem, we loved taking pictures of ourselves all dressed up as we went about the evening festivities!
Aside from our dining adventures, we had our pick of entertainment in the evenings and tried a little of everything. We went to the stage productions and a comedian performance. We hit the Karaoke theater. Cory favored the audience with some Vanilla Ice and was aided on stage by a couple of soul sister back-up dancers (“let’s help a white guy out!”). We took in a poolside movie, which was quite nice once we got away from the smokers! There was live music all over the ship at night to enjoy.
Our favorite stop by far was the piano bar. Most of the nights at sea, Jeremy would spread around his classroom musical instruments, wigs, and boas and then take to the purple piano. We would sit around the bar and sing our hearts out with him.
Our last night aboard we snuck in for some pictures with the piano sans the crowd.
