Bless Your Heart

We woke up at 6am (they get you off the ship EARLY folks!) and got dressed.  Put the last couple of things in our suitcases and headed up to Windjammer for breakfast.  We were there by 6:50 and it was still dark!  And raining!  We got to our table (we were carrying our own bags for faster debarkation by the way- no looking for our suitcases in customs) and had one last breakfast on the Enchantment of the Seas.

We boarded the elevators and went down to the floor designated for debarkation.  We turned the corner and WHAM there was the line.  Here I thought we were being smooth getting ready so early.  They won’t let you off the ship till 7:30am and we were right there in line at 7:30, with the rest of humanity.  We waited in line and waited in line then finally the line started moving and we were able to make our way through the terminal to customs.  At one point I got separated from the group and we didn’t get back together until we were outside.  Luckily I scored a very close parking space so we were at my car in record time.  We packed up and took one last look at the Enchantment of the Seas. 

We paid the $75 parking fee (highway robbery!) and hit the road.  Instantly we all were trying to reach our loved ones back home.  I was on the phone with CSP and didn’t pay attention and missed my exit to hwy 95.  Well, that was not convenient.  There’s no place to turn around!  There’s not another exit for over 8 miles!  And that one is a toll road!  So it cost $1.00 for that mistake!  And I didn’t even notice the toll thingy so I blew right by it.  Then everyone else in the car started yelling about it being a toll road so I stopped the car on the  highway on ramp.  Luckily it was early and no traffic. I backed up the car back to the toll thingy and paid the 50 cents.  But I know it took my picture.  So far though, no ticket in the mail ,KNOCK ON WOOD, so I think I’m safe.  Maybe some poor DOT worker saw on the camera where I stopped and backed up and paid.  Then we had to get right back off the toll road- another 50 cents, and drive back the way we came to hwy 95.  We finally made it.  I was exhausted from only getting a couple hours sleep.  The ship was rocking so hard!  There was thunder and lightening at sea!  I’d never seen that in all my cruises.  We stopped for caffeine and I totally walked in on a woman in the bathroom.  She just sat there and said “Excuse me??”  Then she gave me the side eye in the convenience store when we came out. SORRY LADY.  Close your door next time!  In other news, that convenience store had one of those machines that spits out “cappuccinos” and flavored coffees.  The Almond Joy coffee was delightful!  Kept me awake through Georgia!

We stopped at Cracker Barrel for lunch somewhere in Georgia.  We were all still a mess!  The ship was still rocking for all of us, but we were on solid ground!  Sara brought Divergent for us to listen to in the car so we were all about trying to get that finished before we got home.  It was really good.  It rained on us the entire way except for about an hour in GA or SC.  We made it to Gigi’s house at about 6:15.  Nice!  Mark and the boys were there and that just made me miss CSP even more.  I unloaded my peeps, went inside and visited for a few minutes then drove the remaining 20 minutes home.  It was so good to see CSP and the pugs!  And my bed!  I’d been on a rocky twin for the week!  I can’t wait for my next cruise though!

Day at Sea!

We woke up and got breakfast at the Windjammer buffet again.  I wasn’t feeling all that great so after breakfast I laid down for a quick nap.  Then it was pool time!  We went into the adults only pool area, the Solarium.  It’s really pretty.  It’s all enclosed so the on and off rain didn’t bother us in there.  Also, I didn’t get sunburned so that was awesome.  The only downside to the Solarium pool was the water was REALLY warm.  So it wasn’t very refreshing.  But it was nice to hang out in there.  There’s a cafe and drink station plus a bar so everything you need right there!

We read and swam and hung out at the pool all day.  Lunch at Windjammer again. Then more pool time.  Then it was time for our afternoon nap and to get ready for our last dinner on the ship. My appetizer was aroncini (rice balls)  My salad was the classic caprese salad.  For my entree I chose the Garlic Tiger Shrimp.  This was the only entree I was really disappointed in.  I mean, once I got rid of that suspect green stuff on top of the rice and gave my asparagus and tomatoes to my mom, all I was left with were 4 shrimp and a little pile of rice.  They were good shrimp though once I peeled their little suits of armor off them.  Dessert for me was the creme brûlée again.

Here we are at dinner:  Once dinner was finished the servers came and sang Happy Birthday to Gigi.  I may have had a couple cocktails so that explains the Blair Witch effects.   All throughout dinner the ship was rocking and rolling and whatnot.  It was crazy.

After dinner we made our way to the Skylight lounge for the Quest gameshow.  We had to sit through some interesting karaoke before the show started.  

If you haven’t seen the Quest game show, you are seriously missing out.  This was our first time seeing it.  None of us knew what to expect.  The hosts came out and said “You’re about to see what people are willing to do for a keychain.”  I still didn’t expect the level of crazy that came out of these tourists!  The room was divided into 8 teams.  We were on team 2.  A male and female team captain were nominated.  Then it started.  It’s a scavenger hunt type show.   First the host would ask for things like a cell phone.  The first team to bring up a cell phone and show it to the host got the point.  Then the items needed got a little naughtier.  Like a thong.  Girls just ran up and lifted their dresses and showed their bottoms!  Then they said Male and Female team leaders- switch clothes!  OMG! People just started stripping right there!  We saw boobs and bottoms and all sorts of unmentionables!  By the end of the game most women in there were without a bra, most men had no pants on (still had on undies THANK GOODNESS), and the male team leads were dressed as women doing the can can! Click pic to enlarge!  My throat was sore from squealing at the end of the night.  It was SO funny!  When the game was over one man still didn’t have pants!  They were all the way across the room! WILD!

We stumbled back to the room (the ship was seriously rocking and rolling) and packed our suitcases.  We tried to sleep but the ship was rocking so much that our closet door kept banging open!

Next up….debarkation and the road home.

Nassau Day!

We woke up to more cloudy skies and more rain!  But it wasn’t heavy and it did let up after breakfast.  We had our usual breakfast at the Windjammer buffet. We changed into our swim suits and spent the morning and early afternoon in the hot tubs and pool. Since it was raining off and on and since we’d all been to Nassau a few times we decided not to get off the ship.  This meant we had the hot tub and pools pretty much to ourselves.  Because we were in our suits we also had lunch at the Windjammer.  We didn’t want to dry off and change into real clothes just to change back into suits after lunch.   It was a laid back day.  We met Eric from Manhattan (shout out! Holla!) who works for Twitter.  He was fun.  We were all in the hot tub and I was curious if it was salt water so I had him taste it.  He thinks it’s fresh water, by the way.

After our afternoon nap we dressed for dinner and the show.  The show that night was a magic show by Haines Magic. It was really good!  Momo and I couldn’t get over how cheesy the magician spoke.  All full of dramatic pauses.  He’s the William Shatner of magic.  At one point he brought up a guy from the audience.  Chris!  He’s a little guy Momo and Sara met at Señor Frogs!  It was really cute.

Dinner was really good that night.  I had a baked feta and tomato salad.  I wish I’d gotten a picture of it.  I’d never thought to bake feta but it was awesome.  I also had the chilled pineapple and lychee soup.  My entree was the turkey breast with veggies.  Here we are at dinner:  You may be asking yourself why is Gigi posing with a flip flop at the dinner table?  She picked up her flip flops in the cabin to move to the closet and just forgot to put them in the closet and brought them to dinner!

During dessert (I had the Key Lime pie) the waiters all sang O Sole Mio.   Clearly the man in the foreground of my picture is NOT impressed.

Our after dinner show was one of my favorite shows- the Love and Marriage Show.  It has different names on different cruise lines (Disney is Match Your Mate) but the concept is the same and it is ALWAYS hilarious!  People are willing to do anything for a gift basket!  Here we are waiting for the show to start.   Trust me- you HAVE to see this show.  It’s modeled after the Newlywed Game with quiz show questions.  Couples have to audition to get up on stage then the men are taken off stage while the women answer questions.  Then they switch. Interestingly enough the questions were the same on this cruise as they were on my last Disney cruise!  But the answers are always crazy and men are just nuts! We laughed SO hard!

Once the show was over Sara and Momo wanted to go dance and Gigi wanted to stay in the theatre to see RIPD.  I stayed with Gigi.  I love my mother but I’d rather scoop out my own eyeballs than watch that movie again!  We made it back to our stateroom and hit the hay.

Next up…Sea Day!