Sailing Away

I have
gotten a few days behind on these blog posts.
The Disney ones took so long to write because so much happened in a day
that it became difficult to be motivated to write. Especially when life on a cruise ship is all about
relaxation! This is actually our third
full day on the ship and I’ve got some time while Will is having a nap to get
caught up. Let me just paint a picture
for you of my surroundings while I write.
I’m sitting on our private verandah, it’s about eighty degrees and we
are surrounded by perfectly calm blue ocean.
It’s our day at sea and it seems we have dropped anchor somewhere
between Nassau and Castaway Cay. The sun
is shimmering on the surface of the water and the currents are creating an ever changing shade
of blue as far as the eye can see. This
is paradise.

Now let me
take you back a few days, January third.
We were not scheduled to board the boat until 12:30 so we had a lovely
slow morning, sleeping in a little, eating breakfast, packing up and putting
out rented house back in order. I was
feeling a little sad that this part of our trip was over but I was also so looking
forward to the cruise. The last four
days have been jammed packed and I was looking forward to a slightly slower
pace. The boys were out of their minds
excited. By the time we said good bye to
Grandma Jane and Eric and loaded in to the car they could not contain
themselves. The silliness pouring out of
the back seat was outrageous, We resorted
to technology to tame them for the hour and a half drive to Port Canaveral. Out the window the weather was deceiving, it
was a beautiful sunny sky but as we drove further south I had hoped the
temperature would climb up a little, it didn’t, it stayed steady at 48
degrees. We weren’t going to let a
little crisp weather dampen our spirits, it was still better than the snow
squalls we knew were happening at home.

We arrived
at Cape Canaveral, dropped off our rental car and took a quick shuttle to the
Port. As we came over one bridge we got
the first view of our ship. It towered
14 stories above the ocean’s surface and was so beautiful! Will and Nate were vibrating with excitement,
the most important thing they saw right away was the Aquaduck, the onboard
water roller coaster, that they have been dying to ride. That
was the first thing Nate wanted to do but it was far too cold to be exposed to
the elements in bathing suits! I have
got to give it to Disney, their organizational strategies are
unparalleled. Despite the fact that
there were thousands of people in the boarding terminal all trying to check in
at the same time the lines moved quickly and we were on the gang plank headed to
the ship in about 20 minutes. As we
entered the Grand foyer of the ship, the hosts announced our arrival and
welcomed us to our vacation. This ship
really is a work of art. The Disney
theme is present but subtle. The colours
of the ship are soft and muted with punches of Disney flair! The chandelier in the Foyer is stunning,
thousands of crystals and stained glass layered together, it immediately tells
you this is a special place. Our
stateroom would not be available for about another hour so we took a quick look
around part of the ship and then found a place for lunch. We sat in the sun on the 11th
deck, behind floor to ceiling windows to stay warm and eat our first meal on
board. Neither Will or Nate were
thrilled to stop and sit for a few minutes, they were ready to explore every
inch of the boat. It took some
convincing, but we got them to eat and when we were finished our room was available. We headed down one floor, found our corridor
and opened the door. Will’s birthday
surprise revealed itself as the room was all decked out in birthday decorations
and a cake was waiting. Will was over
the moon! Nate was excited too but
absolutely did not want to stay in our beautiful room. I wanted to explore it’s features and look at
the view from our deck but the boys were ready to go. Nate very plainly pointed out that there was
no fun stuff for kids in the room. True
enough so we were off. We took them to
get checked in at the Oceaniers club and have a tour of all the fun play
rooms. Both boys had been looking forward
to playing in this spot since they found out about this feature of the
boat. Truthfully, Ken and I were pretty
excited too. This is a very secure area
where you can drop your kids off to play with other kids, no parents
allowed! It is a really cool place with
screens everywhere, an interactive play floor and different themed areas for
play. There is a recreation of Andy’s
room from Toy story (Nate’s favourite spot).
There’s a Nemo area filled with computers and a submarine where you can
look through a periscope and see the view from the bridge. There is a Tinkerbelle’s Tree house dress up
area, a Monster’s Inc playground and on the other side of the snack room is the
Oceanier’s Lab, this is Will’s favourite
spot. Both boys wanted to stay right
away but it was nearing time to sail away.
We headed back to our state room to bundle up, that’s right, for the kickoff
of our Caribbean cruise we were cozy in jeans, socks, shoes, sweaters and
scarves. Even with these precautions
Nate was so cold that his lips turned blue!
The party atmosphere on the main deck was electric. Crew members handed out red and blue
streamers that filled the air with colour.
We sang, danced and chanted, “we’re on vacation!” When I say we, I mean Nate and I. This was all too much for Mr. Will. This was a dream of a life time for him and
he wanted to quietly take in every second.
He found a lounge chair, slightly away from the crowds where he could
watch as the boat pulled out. To others
he may have looked sullen or sad but we knew this was a moment of deep concentration
and joy for him. Nate and I danced away
and didn’t even notice the moment we were set in motion. I looked over to check and Will and noticed
that land was passing along beside us.
Nate and I joined Ken and Will along the railing to watch as we headed
out to the open sea. We were all looking
for the spot on the rocks where three years ago we had sat and watched the
Disney Wonder head out. It seemed
impossible to believe that our someday had arrived.

Once we hit
the open sea and there was nothing around us but blue it was time to head
inside, warm up and get ready for dinner.
This cruise has a rotating dinner schedule where you are booked into one
of the three dining rooms each night.
Our first dinner was to take place at the Animator’s Palate. The animators palate is a vibrant restaurant
created specifically for kids. There are
screens everywhere and characters from Finding Nemo continuously swam by. This was fantastic because the boys were
exhausted from a very exciting day and the show kept them very occupied! Half way through dinner, much to my delight
was a turtle talk with Crush session just like we had experienced at Epcot,
fantastic! Although we knew the boys
were tired, they would not go to bed without a play secession at the Oceniers
club. We reached the gate to the club
and they could not get in there fast enough.
Other kids being dropped off were teary and hesitant, not our two. Before I could even say good bye and have fun
they were gone and Ken and I were alone!
We immediately headed to the
adult part of the ship and had a quiet after dinner drink. It was the first time on this grand adventure
that we really had to sit and catch our breath, it was the moment we had been
looking forward to for weeks! At 8:30
we knew it was time for the boys to head to bed. Tomorrow would be yet another day full of
adventure and we wanted them to be well rested.
We dragged them out of the club, got back to our room and put them into
pajamas. Despite being exhausted, the
new beds were too exciting. The couch
folds down into a bed and Will’s bunk came down out of the ceiling. They both needed to explore these very cool
new sleeping spots. Ken and I headed out on our veranda for a
drink under the stars and listened as the boys giggled and swapped beds. Eventually the novelty wore off and they
drifted off the Neverland. Ken and I
also crawled into our fluffy, white bed and drifted off with the gentle rock of
the ocean beneath us.