Sail away

Hey!  We went on a cruise.

We’ve been home long enough now that I’ve sorted through our laundry and even most of our photos.  My tan is fading and I have my feet back underneath me, both in terms of sea legs wearing off and remembering how to function in real life.

I feel refreshed and unusually un-depressed for early March.  But I also feel proud of us that we pulled it off.  We didn’t get covid at the last minute!  We didn’t miss the flight, or the boat!  We didn’t get arrested going through security!  We didn’t lose our passport and get indefinitely stranded in a foreign country or an airport terminal!

All valid concerns.

Mindy’s cruise travel tip #1:  arrive at the airport early.  And by that I mean, definitely the day before the ship leaves, but also multiple hours before the plane leaves.

Travel tip #2:  Find a nearly deserted gate with wraparound windows looking out to the runway, spread out, and relax.

Some of us need time to recover from the fear of getting arrested in security. 

[In what other circumstance in life do you have panicked thoughts like, “Do I have any explosives in my back pocket that I forgot about?]

Boarded, stowed, buckled and away we go!

It was so sunny and mild in Florida that we were already thrilled with the change.  We walked to dinner from the hotel and ate outside!

There being only one choice of shuttle time from the hotel to the port, we arrived well before our official boarding time and found a spot on the patio to wait it out for a couple hours. 

But lo, we were directed to join the line and ended up making our way through customs, security, and the terminal so quickly that I was astonished to find ourselves onboard by lunchtime!

Last year’s embarkation was such a protracted and arduous journey that I was prepared for an exhausting experience, with granola bars, water bottles, fully charged devices, and numerous warnings for the kids to prepare to be patient.  We were overjoyed to find it so painless.

It was a great time for the kids to hop on the Aqua Duck.

And for me to enjoy a Mickey cappuccino.

Last year Disney skipped the famed Sail Away party, and all events on deck were socially distanced.

Not so this year.  The only spot we could find to squeeze in was behind the stage, so we had a good view of the dense crowd.

More thrilling to me than the Sail Away party was the actual sailing away.  Watching us thread our way methodically out of port meant vacation had truly started.

SpaceX launch site

Happy though we were to make it a family vacation, there were times here and there when the kids were all occupied and we slipped away briefly to an adults-only lounge.

Our dinner servers knew that this trip was to celebrate Jeddy’s imminent graduation, so they gave him a special dessert that was garnished with a chocolate that had “congratulations” printed on it, which Jeddy then stuck to his shirt.

Congratulation indeed to Jeddy, and to us for getting him this far, and for having a fabulous send-off trip.