Day Eleven ~ Last Sea Day

The captain was not wrong!  I woke up about 7:30 and the ship was rocking.  The seas were really rough, and the winds were strong, and it was cold!  All the outside decks were closed (gusts of 70 mph on deck) and the pools and hot tubs were drained.  Nobody could go outside.  It was rough.  It was like this all the day.

We ordered breakfast one last time....but ate in the room.  No way we wanted to be on the balcony in the cold, windy weather.  But we had to take pictures of one last sunrise....if you can call it that!

Wish you could tell how very rough the sea was.  Friends of ours had lunch in the dining room on deck 3, and they said the waves were crashing over the windows.

The plan is to pack and relax.  We headed downstairs to collect pictures, and then to the Champagne Bar to wait while Elanore made up our room.  I was feeling AWFUL!  Mike and Charlene saw us sitting there, so came to chat with us.

Eventually we went to the room to pack :(  One of the saddest parts of the trip.  We hit the Windjammer for lunch....brought it back to the room....and finished packing.  We went to the Schooner Bar for a drink.  If I'm going to feel drunk from motion sickness....I may as well have a mudslide, right?  And a nap.

We had plans to meet the gang and Steve and Michaela in Dizzy's at 3 for a mixology demonstration.  So after a nap, that's where we went.  The gang was there, and we joined them, and another couple, too. Steve and Michaela walked in right after it started and decided not to stay.

This was really interesting and fun.  The bar tender showed us how to make 5 different cocktails, and we sampled each one.  And now I can make my own mudslide and B52 and a few other things that I don't remember the name of.

We made a few last minute purchases on the Promenade and came back to get ready for dinner.  Another long bath and a glass of wine and a book....fabulous!

Eleanore was in the hallway when we left the room to go upstairs for drinks.  She is a sweat heart and was fabulous to us.  The first day I left her a note asking for several things, and she was right on that.  She took care of any request I had and did a great job cleaning up the room.  And turn down service is one of my favorite things, and she was always prompt with that and gone before we came back for the night.  There was one steward that we saw turning down rooms after 11...sometimes going on midnight.  I wouldn't have liked that.

 Doug decided he liked mudslides after the mixology class.  Finally broke out of his mango lava flow rut.  Michaela and I needed one more "Dillon Special".

Tonight I was really happy that Steve and Michaela were with us.  I was so over-socialized and just wanted to sit at the table and have my drink and eat some cheese sticks and chill.  So did they.  Doug is very social, and it's the last night, and he may never see these people again, so he was making the most of his time to talk to them.  He made plans with Mike and Charlene to meet up there after dinner for one last drink, then we were off to dinner.

Dinner tonight was SO good.  We really loved our wait staff. John and his assistant Ketut were fabulous! They were funny, and remembered our preferences, and made recommendations, and made us feel like they really cared about our dining experience.

Although the rough seas and alcohol were getting to me and I wasn't feeling well.  After dinner I wanted to rest before going back up for drinks.  So we went back to the room for a bit.  And that is when we saw the saddest sight of the cruise.....everybody's luggage sitting in the hallway :( Anyway, rest wasn't enough, and I just stayed in the room.  Doug went off for drinks and then to The Chamber to say farewell to Savio. 

I took a bath and tried not to die.  Actually I knew I wasn't going to die, but it felt like I was going to.  I rested and about an hour later started to feel human.  If I hadn't already been in my jammies, I probably would have gone out to meet up with Doug.  But instead I just went to bed.  I was sleeping by the time Doug came back to the room.  Bummer.

So the last day wasn't exactly what I was hoping for.  Rough seas are no fun.  Feeling yucky is no fun.  Waking up in the morning and being kicked off the ship....no fun!  But I laid there thinking about how blessed I felt to be able to take this trip.....it has been an amazing vacation!

Debarkation Day

This is a sad, sad day.  Time to go home.  We got up and went out on the balcony....FREEZING!  It was in the 30s.  So not in the Caribbean any more.

We headed to the Windjammer for one last breakfast.  We sat near a window and watched while we neared the city and the bridge.  We finished up breakfast and headed outside to watch Explorer go under the bridge and back to the city.  We had planned to head back to the room for our coats first, but there wasn't time.  It was COLD!

We went back to our room, bundled up and sat on the balcony one last time.  Doug snapped a few pictures while heading into port.

 

It was very cold out this morning!

While heading back to our room, we ran into Mike.  Must have a picture!

This is how I feel about having to leave the ship.

And then it was time to head to the Maharajas Lounge and wait for our number to be called to leave.  We had #2.  First off is people that walk off with their luggage.....obviously not us!  And then suite and pinnacle guests.

We hung out and talked and checked in at home and checked out Facebook and email.  And then it was time to go :(  We got separated from Steve and Michaela at this point.  It would have been smoother if we hadn't, but it worked out in the end.

We head down to Deck 1, get on the little bus to go back to the port, and arrive where the luggage is.  Whew....we found all of our pieces.  I gathered them together, and Doug sat with them while I stood in line for a porter.  Finally got the porter, and he breezed us through the customs line.  We breezed through customs and then went outside to wait for our driver.  And Steve and Michaela.  They had a very hard time getting an elevator, but once they did they were breezed through the customs line, too.

Our driver was there and then Steve and Michaela and then load up and back to the hotel to get our cars and head home.

So long Explorer.  It's been a great time!

There was an accident on the NJ turnpike and traffic was backed up, so Doug found a different route to get started home.  After that little bit of a snafu, we were on our way.

We stopped for lunch at Cracker Barrel; may as well end vacation the way we started it, right?  I got out of the car and walked through a pile of leaves and then my allergies realized we were home....oh fun lol.  

Lunch and back in the car and a nap for me.  After I woke up I started to get excited to be home.  I was going to get good coffee....we stopped at Starbucks on the way home....and see my boys and my girl and my doggies and sleep in my own bed.  I love vacation, and I love coming home to my people.

It was a really fabulous vacation.  It wasn't always what my expectations thought it should be.  And I learned to be flexible, which is not a strong suit of mine, and good things are coming from that.  I really love cruising and cannot wait to do it again!

And the next chapter is.....

I'm a Weight Watcher's leader!

I just spent an exhilarating, exhausting, overwhelming, energizing, and educational weekend in Baltimore going through intense basic leader skills training.  I learned so much.  And now it's official....I am a WW Leader :)

It was a long time coming.  I've been overweight most of my adult life, except for those 15 seconds when I lost weight after Isaac was born before I got pregnant with Allen.  In 2008 I decided it was time to lose that baby weight (so what if my "baby" was 15 lol). 

I had gone to WW so many times that I didn't want to do it yet again!  So I tried to go it alone.  I lost 14 lbs. that way and then nothing.  Doug joined WW in Jan. of 09, and in February I decided to join, too.  I have lost 76 more pounds since then.  I have 10-15ish more to go to be at my Happy Weight, but for the first time ever in my adult life, I am in the healthy weight range!!  It is still unbelievable to me.  It was a long, long, long, hard road, and I'm pretty impressed with myself that I made it and didn't give up when the going got tough (and it was tough).

I'm excited to be able to help other people achieve their goals.  Anxious and excited!!

Here I am before I started losing that "baby weight"

And now nearly 100 lbs. lighter!!

Obviously my fashion sense hasn't changed over the years, even if my body did LOL.

6 months!!

That's how much time I have left in my home schooling career.  SIX MONTHS!!  Where have the last 15 years gone?  How did these people grow up overnight?  

Weren't they cute?  I thought they'd stay little a whole lot longer.  

 But aren't they a great bunch of young men?  They make me proud.  But I still wonder how the past 15 years have gone by in the blink of an eye.

Allen finished his math today.  Math in our home school is a thing of the past!!  I don't know who was more excited....Allen or me!

I've been feeling quite melancholy this holiday season.  The season of my life is changing, and while change is good, I'm not so good at adjusting to it.  I know the next season will be just as lovely as soon as I transition into it.

I've already started that transition.  I'm training to be a Weight Watcher leader.  I'll be heading to Baltimore in a couple weeks for 3 days of intensive training.  No stress there right in the middle of December!  But I'm looking forward to it.

It is exciting to think about the future and wonder what it will hold.  Hopefully more time with Doug, travel, grandchildren and lots of family around.  But wow.....this season went really fast, and I'm feeling a little wistful that it is almost over.

Some Final Thoughts

Just wanted to share a few rambling thoughts.

This vacation is more than I could have ever imagined.  I'm so blessed and grateful that we were able to make this happen.  Thanks Babe.  I know it was expensive and way more than we'd ever spend on vacation.  But I can't think of a better way to celebrate being married to my best friend for 20 years....even if it was 2 years late ;)  It was worth waiting for.

I was very impressed with the crew.  Everybody we talked to was happy and friendly and we really enjoyed getting to know a few of them.  So many people told us how very much they love their job.  I didn't hear one complaint.  We did speak with a new crew member...a month with the company.  She expressed how much she loved her job, but how the transition to being gone so much from her family was difficult.  I can only imagine.  Especially for the ones that are married with families.  It really makes me appreciate that I see my husband every week.

So I talked a lot about food and weight so thought I'd update with that.  I was a little stressed about that part of the trip.  When we planned the trip I didn't care.  What happened happened and I'd lose it again eventually, ya know?  But in October I hired on with Weight Watchers and am in the middle of training to be a leader.  It was important to me to be at goal after this trip.  And I worked very hard to have a nice cushion.  I had 5.8 lbs. of wiggle room.  I also made a plan.  I mostly followed that plan.

I planned to only have 1 heavy egg breakfast, but ended up having 3.  I planned to have pastries for breakfast once, but that didn't last.  I planned to have oatmeal for breakfast most days, and I did.  I didn't overdo the pastries, but I did often have 1/2 a croissant and a small danish or 1/2 a danish.

I planned to always take the stairs.  It took the stairs 85% of the time.  I almost always went down the stairs no matter how many flights it was.  I generally went up the stairs but with this exception....if it was more than 4 decks AND I was wearing heels AND/OR the ship was really rocking....I took the elevators then.  I was more concerned with not touching the railings than taking the stairs.

I was only going to finish things that were excellent.  The majority of the time I ate 1/2 of something or even less and called it done.  I didn't eat until I was all the way stuffed.  I left over half of the desserts half finished...it had to be excellent to be worthwhile eating it all.  I did eat a LOT of cookies and drank as much as I wanted.  I tried to eat things I don't normally have and really enjoy the food and not just eat mindlessly.  I did pay attention to the WW good health guidelines and worked to meet those most days and was successful. I know I purposefully met the healthy oil guideline on the days we had salad in the main dining room.  I'm not sure about the other days not knowing how they prepare things.  I think the healthy oil is the hardest one to fulfill while traveling.  But I did great with the other things.  It is easy to find power foods on the ship!  And they have a vitality menu if I wanted to only eat health conscious things.

So how did I do?  Well, I gained 6 lbs. in the 12 days we were gone, although only 11 of those days was I off program.  I consider .2 lbs. over really being at goal.  And since my official WW weigh in on Tuesday, I've lost an additional 1.4 lbs. according to my scale.  I thought it would be more difficult getting back on plan.  But really it's been relatively easy.  I spent the first 3 days ONLY eating my 29 daily points.  I NEVER do that!  I almost always use weekly points daily.  Yesterday was the first day I ate more than 29.  I was having quite a hungry day.

So I'm confident these 4-6 lbs. will be gone in a few weeks, and then I can continue on to my goal, which is 4-9 more pounds to my happy goal.

What else.  Oh I was very concerned about wearing a swim suit and being uncomfortable.  I may have lost a lot of weight (94 lbs. before the trip), but I also realized that ideal body weight is not the same as ideal body image!!  But the first warm day on the pool deck I was observing people.  There were very few hot bod type ladies (or men for that matter) walking around in swim suits.  Mostly there were middle age and older ladies that had middle age or older bodies wearing tasteful suits and looking comfortable with their body.  That was very helpful to me, and I quickly let go of the self-consciousness of what I looked like in a swim suit.  I even donned the bikini on Orient Beach...my thinking was a bikini was really overdressed there ;)  I even have pictures and am not afraid to show them to people....even if I have a muffin top without clothes that are too tight.  Let me tell ya...hanging skin is not so pretty...but it sure beats 94 lbs. of fat!!  So it is what it is.

What else....I am hooked.  I'd love to do this again for our 25th anniversary in 3 years.  Heck, I'd love to do this twice a year LOL.  I really, really enjoyed being spoiled and pampered.  There were so many first; first time swimming in the ocean, snorkeling, leaving the country other than Canada which is 4 hours away, being on a ship.  I was in awe for most of the trip.  I walked around for 3 days saying, "I can't believe we're on this trip", over and over and over.  I think Doug had the most fun watching me.  For 22 years we've tent camped and spent weeks at the lake in Dad's lake house, which were great vacations, and I wouldn't trade them for anything.  It was what we could afford since we chose for me to stay home with the boys and to home school them, and I am very blessed that I was able to do that and would do it all over again.  But wow is it so different going on vacation and not taking my work with me.  I'll quickly be able to be used to that lol.

The very best part of the trip was being able to spend 12 entire days with my very best friend.  We really valued that time together.  It takes us 6 weeks to see each other than many days usually.  After talking with crew members whose wives, husbands and children are at home and they only see them every 7 months...I sure appreciate those 8 or 9 days a month we do see each other.  But I really, really loved being with Doug every day all day.  It was a precious precious trip and I'll cherish the memories forever.

We met some fabulous people!  I really appreciate the Cruise Critic forums.  I learned a lot that made this trip not as overwhelming as it would have been if I had no clue what I was doing.  And we made great friends.  Ya'll know who you are :)  And I have to say it is really fun to answer questions on the forum now instead of asking them.

So, I had a fabulous time and am hooked!  I'm also very appreciative and thankful of the fact that we were able to take this trip and will not take it for granted.  It was so very good for us.  It came at just the right time when we really, really needed to get away and reconnect.  And the weather was gorgeous!!  I did a lot of praying for good weather. I didn't want to spend lots of money for rain....we live with rain on a regular basis...and snow...and don't see a lot of the sun.  I soaked it all up and am thankful it was gorgeous weather.

And now I'll quit rambling and leave ya with a picture.  We took a lot of pictures (1200+) and had a lot taken (140) so we're all about pictures lol.  Wally from the CC forums was joking on the last day that if he went into the photo gallery, shut his eyes and threw a dart, he had a 1-3 chance of hitting our picture lol.  But we had great fun!  We had a great fabulous wonderful time and I'm so thankful.

Disembarkation Day

We woke up about 6am on our final morning.  No breakfast delivery is available on the last day.  So the plan was to go to the WJ and get breakfast and bring it up to the balcony.  But after opening the balcony door we changed the plan.  Gosh was it COLD!!  We're definitely home in November now baby.  Although the sun was shining brightly.  Amazingly we don't have any pictures from this morning.

So we headed to the WJ for breakfast.  My plan when we left was I would be right back to WW and tracking points on Sunday morning.  So I had oatmeal and fruit with fat free milk.  Doug had one last big breakfast.  We sat by the window and watched NYC come into view.  We watched while we went under the bridge, which is much more exciting when you're leaving port!

We went back to our room abut 7 and finished up our packing.  We sat on the balcony for a while and then left the room for good.

We went to the Aquarium Bar and  called home and checked FB.  Then we went down to the Chamber where the suite guests were to meet.  We were the first to disembark after the self-walk off people, which there is no way we could have done with our luggage LOL.

About 9 am we were in line to get on the elevator and head down to deck 1 and onto the shuttle and then to customs.  It was a breeze walking through there, and not at all crowded.  We found a porter to help with our luggage and went to dock 119 to meet up with Rita and Gary and wait for our car.  It went by so fast!  It was quick and easy.

We were back at the hotel picking up our car by 10:45. First stop after loading up the luggage was STARBUCKS!!  Finally a fantastic cup of coffee.  We hit Starbucks again when we got back to town because I needed beans.  The next day I had my morning pressed coffee and was buzzing on caffeine....I overdid the reentry to real coffee I think lol.

Anyway, it was a gorgeous day for driving.  We stopped at Wa Wa's for gas and lunch and then in State College to pick up my girlie.  She is happy to be home.

We only had about 2 1/2 hours left after getting Chevy.  I drove until it was dark and raining.  Yep....getting close to NE Ohio...rain rain rain. Although it stopped before we got home.  But it was COLD!!

It was great to get home and see the boys.  We did miss them.  And the house was fantastic!  And they had ripped up the living room carpet for us :)

We had a truly amazing time and hope to be able to do it again for our 25th anniversary.  I jokingly told Doug when these people we feed move out and we get a raise from the drastic drop in our grocery budget....maybe we can go more frequently.  I am definitely hooked!

Day Zero
Day One
Day One Cont
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven
Day Eight
Day Nine
Day Ten

Day Ten ~ Last Sea Day

Our last day :(  We slept in until about 8 and had requested breakfast be delivered at 8:30.  We were hopeful we'd be able to eat breakfast on the balcony, and we did....bundled up of course.  We had eggs Benedict and omelets and fruit and pastries and hasbrowns and bacon.  Delicious!!  I loved that we were able to order off of the main dining room menu for breakfast.  The regular room service breakfast menu was not this extensive.  I did my morning weigh in before breakfast, and I notice I keep inching up, but not more than I had room to gain, so that is good.  I was anxious to get home and see what I did weigh.

It was VERY cold and VERY windy.  We wandered and got pictures.  Most people were not outside, so it was like we had the ship to ourselves.  

The first thing we did after breakfast was head down to the photo gallery on deck 3 to make sure all of our pictures were on the disc.  We had to collect them all....and what a sight that was!  We had 140 pictures....a record LOL...and they were all on the disc :)  We talked with Camila and Chavonne for a while and then left to do other stuff.  

This is the 4th deck promenade.  It was usually a quiet place to stroll or sit and relax if you didn't want the business of the pool decks.  We liked to walk out here at night after dinner.

The Solarium....notice the sweatshirts.  It's a sad site. And the lack of sunshine!  I thought we'd spent more time here, but we liked the energy on the pool deck.

We wandered to the kids' and teens' portion of the ship.  The entrance to the arcade.

Deck 14, the sports deck.  This is the only time we were up there. They had putt putt and basketball and roller blading.

And a rock climbing wall.

It is cold and windy and no sun...the pool deck was empty!!

As was deck 12.  It was windy enough that they stacked the lounge chairs so they wouldn't blow around. Not even the die hard walkers were out in this wind.

Dee, our room steward, knew how much I enjoyed the towel animals, so he made the ones I couldn't keep and refreshed the ones I did, and set them on the bed as a surprise for me while making up our room in the morning,.  Aren't they cute?!?

Sadly we had to think about packing.  So we got things organized....I wore almost all of my shoes...all but 1 pair!  This is almost all of them.

Stacking of the clothes out of the drawers and closets.  I triple checked to make sure I got everything, about 5 times lol.  I can safely say we left nothing behind!

Yay!  The sun did come out and visit in the later part of the day.  It was still cold and windy, but the seas were surprisingly calm and the sun was gorgeous!

The monkey and penguin lounging in bed.

The right half of our balcony, taken from the sitting area of our room.  Gorgeous!!  I wish I were there right now.

The only sunset we saw.

Adventure Ocean looks like a fun place for the kids to hang out.

The wake on a surprisingly calm last night at sea.

Passengers hitting up Johnny Rockets one last time.

I have no idea where this is taken from, but it feels so peaceful to me.

We finished packing and went for lunch in the WJ.  I still don't like that place lol.  We napped and then I took a long soak in the tub with one last glass of wine.  We got ready for dinner and put our luggage in the hallway.  It was too sad of a sight to take a picture of.  Then we got ready for dinner and headed to the Champagne Lounge to meet Kathy and Mark for one last pre-dinner drink.

In the dining room the waitstaff and chefs did a parade and sang.

Captain Olav said a few words.

Steve and Connie had dinner in Portofino's, so it was just us with Ken and MaryLou.  We enjoyed a leisurely 2 hour dinner just talking and laughing.  They are truly a wonderful couple.

We had yet another wonderful dinner.  I had spinach dip with tortilla chips, the sirloin with mashed potatoes and asparagus, and a brownie mousse sandwich for dessert, which was DIVINE!!  I just couldn't eat it all though.  Doug had shrimp cocktail, the sirloin and I cannot remember what he had for dessert.

We headed to the theater for the farewell show, and got there about 1/2 way through and sat in the back.  We were hoping to talk with Dwayne and Berry, and we did see Dwayne at the end of the show, but Berry wasn't there.  We never did get to see him to say good-bye.  These two guys made our cruise most enjoyable.

We went to the Chamber for Motown hour and danced a little.  The hotel director came down and was talking to us.  Doug made friends with him at the beach it seems.  He bought us a drink. The DJs bought us a drink.  We were pretty much drinking for free this night.  We sat down there for a good hour and a half.

At 11:30 we had to go to the photo gallery and pick up our CD.  So we did that.

Then we decided to wander the ship. We stopped on deck 8 and took a picture from one of the balconies beside the elevator.  I love this angle of the Royal Promenade.

We rode up further and were in one of the glass elevators.  Earlier in the cruise we happened to be in the elevator after somebody had pushed every single button.  So we stopped on every single floor. And we were alone in the elevator, so I told Doug he had to kiss me at each stop.  So this night I told him he had to kiss me at each floor, even though we didn't stop.  We got to the deck we wanted, and there were Mark and Kathy...they told us to get a room LOL.  We really were acting like newlyweds on this trip. In fact one of the DJs was shocked to find out we've been married 22 years....he guessed 5.  I love that people think that!

Doug took a picture of us from the elevator.

We really didn't want this evening to end.  We knew waking up in the morning we'd be back to reality.  So we got one more drink and sat on the balcony one more time.  It was 1am, the sea was glass, and it was comfortable with a hoodie.  We just sat and talked about this amazing trip.  It was more than I could ever imagine.

We finally went to bed knowing in the morning we'd have to leave.  I was sad about that, but I was counting down to GOOD COFFEE!!!