When we last left our geeks
..
They were sitting not-so-patiently in front of the television sets with the other 10 people in the terminal. There I was, looking longingly at boarding card number two and trying very hard not to plan out the entire days itinerary in my head before we even looked at the Navigator
Sarah and Lionel watched me, amused. I know they know what I was thinking. I cant help it. Im a planner.
Sarah: so what are we going to do first?
Me: oh, I dont know
..I dont have it ALL planned
.(secretly thinking first buffet, then changing and going to the pool, then checking out the room, then unpacking, then going back up to the pool for drinks, then checking out the movie times, then going to Diversions for a drink, then heading to the spa for a tour, then
..)
The hour or so actually passed fairly quickly, as we watched the characters file out for photo ops in front of the model. If it had not been a budget cruise, I totally would have gotten my picture with Sailin Pluto.
I have a big head, and tiny arms.....
And then? People started lining up. I peek at the boarding card of the lady closest to the queue ropes. Six. Ha! Peasant! I win! I give Lionel the look, and he says ok, fine. We can go and STAND. Somehow, I resisted the urge to hold the boarding card with the 2 facing out. Envy me, lowlife, for I will get a cookie before you do.
So there we are, standing instead of sitting. Our situation is truly no different, but we are indeed about ten feet closer to the boat, and in my warped mind that counts as progress. And then, they announced the family of the day which was
..well, weird. This random family got to get on the boat first as part of the Year of a Million Dreams, and walked through the ropes in near silence. You could almost cut the loathing. And hey, boarding the boat first is cool and all, but if youre going to win a YOMD prize? Dude. I would want the Walt suite. Or at least a few free drinks. But I guess being first in line at the buffet is nothing to scoff at.
Thanks to my mad rope-rushing skillz, we were the first party in our tier of boarding on the boat. Which made us about the fifth family to be announced. Ive never been that early before, and I have to admit that it sounds cooler than it actually was. We got announced as Sarah, Erica and Lionel (because the whole we dont have the same last name thing kind of threw the CM off) and walked into
An empty atrium.
Seriously. Where IS everyone???
After a quick left, we hit the lunch buffet at Parrot Cay, which is always my favorite. I get to sit and admire all of the Disney touches without having to fight a seagull for my dinner roll. Did I ever tell the story of the first breakfast on our honeymoon, poolside at the sea in St Pete Beach? I turned to look lovingly at Lionel, and when I turned back to my plate, all googly-eyed, I caught a seagull flying off with my cheese danish.
I hope it got heartburn.
Back to lunch.
As we sailed through the lobby, and past the hand sanitizing police (wash your hands. NOW!), I spied something in the window: a small stack of Navigators that Im pretty sure werent supposed to be there. Sarah distracted the CM for me, and I nabbed one with my freshly sanitized fingers. A high-five and a jaunt through the line later, we sat and noshed on our first free meal and browsed the days events. I was in possession of contraband. DISNEY contraband. Which is the best kind.
I noticed several folks eyeing our Navigator. Take THAT, family of the day. You may have gotten to board first, but I know what time Underdog is playing ALL WEEKEND.
Normally, I only check out the shop specials, the movies and the show times. But this was a budget cruise, ladies and gents. So I scoured the activities, looking for something fun and exciting that didnt involve a special ticket or an American Express card.**
**last year? My dad called me to ask me if I had fun at the martini bar. Word to the wise: dont buy booze with a card whose statement goes to your parents house.
Back to lunch.
As I pointed out some of the evenings events, I learned a few things about my husband and friend. Like, Sarah is up for pretty much anything. Including making Flubber. Lionel, on the other hand, is happy to attend my goofy disco night and scavenger hunt, but draws the line at baring the secrets of our romantic life to a room full of drunken strangers. Which, to those of you who have never been, is an exact description of what goes on in Match Your Mate. Which is funny to watch. Not so funny to participate in. More on that later.
There we were, minding our business, stuffing our faces and bickering over the stolen Navigator, when out of the corner of my eye I see something not quite right: a foot flying up into the air. And then there was a bang. And food EVERYWHERE. You see, we were seated next to a server station, and apparently no one had noticed a small water puddle on the floor. Which might not have been a problem if the ladys shoes had, say, one iota of tread? Instead of being flat and slick? Yeah. She went down.
On the one hand, I felt really horrible for her. What a way to start her vacation. But on the other hand? Hello? Rethink your footwear? Maybe its because I work in a hospital and have seen some really lousy footwear choices (like the little old ladies who have worn nothing but heels their entire lives, only to find 30 years later that they cannot actually get their heels to the floor), but when I choose a shoe to go out in, I pick one that I know I can walk in. ESPECIALLY if I am going on vacation. Over-planners like me, we bring, say, 10 pairs of shoes. At a minimum. You know,
just in case.
So, Lionel was a wonderful person and helped her up. Sarah pulled some spaghetti out of her hair, and after 5 minutes of asking if she was ok I was starting to wonder if we were the only ones in the entire restaurant who noticed the whole incident. Certainly no CMs did. Which I found shocking. Again, where is everyone???
A short while later, one of the head servers wandered by, and we filled her in. She ended up tracking the lady down after several hand gestures to us from across the room (her? Oh
her? Oh, HER!) and oddly enough, the entire exchange between them ended up also taking place in front of our table:
Her: I dont WANT to go to the infirmary. (severe undertones of leave me alone)
CM: but, I want to make sure you are ok? (undertones of please?)
Her: No, I just wish
(looking around)
..it HADNT HAPPENED. (undertones of eh??? EH??? Nudge nudge wink wink?)
CM: errr
..ok then.
Im still not sure what to make of the exchange. I dont know if she truly wanted to be left alone, or if she was secretly hoping she could use her bruises to score some shipboard credit. At any rate, we spotted her later on and she seemed like she was doing fine. So maybe she was having a drink on the mouse after all. Or, maybe she suffered a mild concussion to the brains happy place? Who knows.
After the drama subsided, we grabbed a cookie to go and gave Sarah the grand tour. Animators, deck four, the chandelier, the movie theatre, the show theatre, Route 66, the Route 66 bathrooms, Cove Café, every bar we could think of, the Vista Spa, and the adult pool.
Wait did someone say pool?
We crammed ourselves into the tiny little bathroom stalls near the spa (which seemed to be about 4 times smaller than every other public restroom on the boat) and changed into our swimwear. Ever tried to don a bikini in only four square feet? I still have bruises on my elbows. After dousing ourselves with sunblock and finding our books, we plopped down on the chairs in front of the quiet cove pool.
Ahhhhhh. Heaven.
This is how we spent the next hour:
Sunning
We don't ever have to move again, right?
Hot tubbing
..
RIGHT????
And lounging
.
Right.
First drink tally: one Bahama Mama each. Lets see. Three times the $4 drink of the day, plus small tip, equals a total of $15. It was 2pm on day one, and we still had $185 of our credit to burn. That puts us way ahead of the same time on our last cruise! Two hours into our vacation, I had already deemed it to be a success.
Next up: we peer through our porthole, and head to the muster drill. Which is not to be confused with the mustard drill. Which is a completely different experience.
start???????????
