June 19, Sunday
Today was Father’s Day
but luckily, we celebrated early. On Saturday, we took Michael to one of his favorite restaurants, Oasis Bay, and gave him some fun gifts.
We left for the airport by 8 AM. By the time
we parked and got through security and got to our gate, it was 30 minutes until
they were going to board. We sat in front of the loudest family ever on our
flight. The parents and the nanny
couldn’t handle all four kids. We had fun commiserating over it later at dinner.
We got our luggage and got the shuttle to the Comfort Suites North Miami airport hotel. We got to our room and got a little bit settled and then walked over to the IHOP that was about half a mile away for dinner. On the way back we stopped at the Circle K next door and got some sodas and things. I gave an FHE lesson and we talked about how with God nothing is impossible. We also said nice things about Michael and then everybody had a turn having nice things said about them. Then we went back to our room and got ready for bed.
June 20, Monday
Michael and the kids
went to get breakfast and I kept getting ready. Apparently, the hotel breakfast
wasn’t what they promised and it was mostly cereal and toast and things. There
was a line for the elevator to get down to catch our shuttle and they asked us
to be there by 10:15 AM. There were so many people there that I didn’t know
what they were going to do to get us to the port, so I asked when I was
checking out and they said they have a charter bus that takes us. That made a lot
more sense. The shuttle driver was very upbeat and told us to leave our
troubles behind and we were on vacation now. When I had called the hotel to ask
about it, they said it would take 15 minutes, but it took more than half an
hour. The family that sat right in front of us were already watching the safety
video. I kind of thought that’s what they were doing but I wasn’t sure and I
figured we would just worry about it later. I wish we had done it on the
shuttle but whatever. We enjoyed our ride through the tunnel under the ocean.
It was fun to pull up to the terminal and see the huge ships. There was also a
Carnival one, NCL, and Disney. We were the first drop off. The porters were
right there as we got off the bus ready to take our bags. I had been nervous
because one of the tags that I printed was a different color than the other
tags, but the porter assured me that that didn’t matter and the important thing
was to have the right cabin number. We tipped both the bus driver and the
porters. I was glad I already had everything tagged properly. I was nervous
about leaving our luggage. It’s kind of like when you leave your luggage
outside at the airport. I like to see that it’s going to the right place first,
so we stood there for a few minutes watching it go down the belt and then we
headed over to check in. We walked over to enter the building and saw that
there were signs for different rows with the check in times, but they didn’t
even ask us what our time was, they just waved us right on through. The first
guy inside asked us if we had any children under 13. Actually, I think he asked
if everyone in our party was over age 12 and I told him that Jonathan was only
12. He was asking if he was vaccinated and I said he was so he waved us
through. I think unvaccinated children have an extra step to go through. Then
the next place we went was to show our passports. She asked us how many in our
party and how many cabins and split us up into three different places, but that
was ridiculous because I had all of our documents. As soon as I realized it, I
called the kids over to join us and she checked us all in. I had to show each
passport picture one at a time and she’s took a picture with her tablet. She
didn’t even ask to see the vaccination cards. I’m guessing because I had
already uploaded the images of them through the app and they were accepted. As
we walked away, apparently the lady said, about me, “I’m glad she was
organized.” I didn’t hear it but the kids told me because they heard it and
thought it was funny. Next was security. I didn’t realize we couldn’t take
water in our water bottles, just like you wouldn’t be able to at the airport.
You are able to take a certain number of cans or bottles of drinks per cabin. I
didn’t want to do that, because it sounded like a pain because then you would
have to carry it all day till you got to your stateroom. Not all day it turns
out, but still. Instead, I had ordered some water cans to have them put
directly into the room. They ended up being really nice, big glass bottles, not
cans. Anyway, security wasn’t too bad. We didn’t have to take off our shoes or
anything crazy like that. Emily and Jonathan drank their water out of their
water bottles and we did just fine. Then we went up some escalators and had to
have our boarding passes scanned. I had thought we were done with the documents
and I forgot all about scanning the Set Sail passes. Apparently, the Set Sail
pass is our boarding pass and it basically turns into our Sea Pass card
onboard. They were left at our door outside our cabin and we got them when we
went to our cabin for the first time. After they scanned our Set Sail passes,
we were able to get a picture taken.
Then we got on board. I was feeling so happy
because there was always a part of me that thought something would fall through
with this trip, like our flights would get canceled or one of us would have
Covid or some crazy stuff like that. But I was just so thrilled walking on
board, realizing that we made it and it all worked out. The first time I
thought that was when we were standing in line for security. I knew we had made
it because all of my documentation had been approved. I had some bad dreams and
daydreams that I had forgotten something when we tried to check in and it
ruined the whole trip. Once we got on board, they pointed us to where we needed
to go for our muster drill. They scanned our Set Sail passes again and we went
to see how to put on a life jacket and then we were instructed to go watch a
little video. So, we found a little spot with a seating area and sat down and
watched it. We looked through the daily planner to try and figure out what we
wanted to do. I read multiple times that as soon as you get on board you should
get your tickets for the shows that you want to see. I was so confused because
the only shows that were on the list were first come, first served. There were
no tickets to get. Andrew was anxious to
go eat lunch. All the kids were hungry because they didn’t get a good enough
breakfast and by then it was about 12:30 PM, I think. I wanted to figure out
how to get on the Voom internet I had purchased, though. Daniel was having
trouble seeing all the activities because he wasn’t on the wifi. We got the internet
figured out. I had bought the Voom internet plus streaming for all of us. We
went to the Windjammer for lunch. As we were walking in, we realized we had no
way to show that we had the drink package so that the kids could get sodas at
the soda machine. We found out later that you need to get a special cup that
works with the machines. Michael and the kids got those later at the Café
Promenade when I was at guest services. They were brightly covered with a lid
that seals and a plastic reusable straw. When we were at the Windjammer, we
told them we had the soda package and they brought us sodas. I’m guessing they
just do it on the honor system since most people haven’t had a chance to get
their cups. If you already have your Sea Pass card, you can request the cup at
the Windjammer. However, we hadn’t been to our state room yet to get the cards.
We were surprised to find out that the soda cups they give you are meant to be
reused. We didn’t understand that because, where do you wash them? I’m not that
picky about food, but I have to say I wasn’t wild about the choices at the
Windjammer. I will say it’s very kid friendly because they had hotdogs and
hamburgers and we all found some things to eat. I just was expecting it to be a
little bit better. They had a ton of food. A lot of it was repeated. I did
enjoy the carved roast beef, mashed potatoes, steamed veggies, and coconut
cookie. After lunch, we went to our staterooms because there was an
announcement that they were ready at 1 PM. However, only my carry-on was
actually at the room so nobody had their luggage to organize.
The cabins were fantastic and much roomier than I had imagined!
Michael and I were in a connecting room with the boys.
Emily and Jonathan were a few doors down the hall. They made a mistake and put their beds together but they fixed them.
I can’t remember exactly when, but at one point
we looked at our TV and realized that they had extremely inappropriate show options listed on the
screen. We tried to set the parental controls and we assume that made it so
they couldn’t buy them, but it didn’t hide them from the options so that was
very frustrating. We decided to go to guest services because we had a few
issues with our room. Mine and Michael’s room and Emily and Jonathan’s room
both had beds together, even though I know I requested to have all of our
cabins with separate beds. The beds are smaller than a typical twin bed/king
bed size so it was better to have them separate for me and Michael. They also
needed to unlock the door between the two connecting rooms and balconies. They
also didn’t bring us the distilled water and extension cord for Michael’s
CPAP. While we were waiting in the guest services line, a guy came up to us and
asked if we needed help and he was able to help us with all of those things.
When we got up to guest services, I had them punch our Sea pass cards so we
could put them on lanyards and print room keys for Michael and Jonathan since
they were switching rooms. I also asked them to put a limit on the credit card
for the kids but they weren’t able to do that unless they disconnected the kids
from my account then did it and then put them back on my account so we said
forget it. I also told them that they forgot to put the passes for the
excursion for the VIP dolphin swim in the room for Emily and Michael. Finally,
I asked about my beach bed that was taken away and they said that I would need
to go talk to the shore excursion desk. She called them for me, but they
weren’t able to help me. After that, we
walked over to the shore excursion desk and the guy there told me the same
thing. I thought I’d at least try again. He couldn’t give me a reason as to why
mine were canceled and not someone else’s and why they couldn’t leave me with
one instead of taking away both. I asked if they ever have cancellations and he
said he would put me on the waiting list in case they do, so at least that’s
something. Then we walked down the Royal Promenade.
While I was waiting to talk to the shore
excursion guy, the kids and Michael went across to Café Promenade to ask about
the drink package. They all got their cups so they can use the soda machines
around the ship. After I was done talking to shore excursions, we walked down
to use one of the Coca-Cola machines and they all got their drinks. Then we
just started walking around the ship.
We walked around for a while. We saw the pools
and went to deck 13 and saw the Flow Rider, basketball court, and rock-climbing
wall. Michael, Daniel, and Andrew all played basketball and we held their
drinks for them. Emily joined them eventually. She joined Michael’s team and
they scored against the boys.
After basketball, we went back to the rooms to
get our swimming suits on. It was fun to watch the Carnival Conquest ship sail
away and wave to them. I wasn’t going to get my suit on because I hadn’t packed
it in my backpack today, but as we were standing there getting ready, they
brought me my suitcase so that worked out. I thought it was kind of funny that
the only two suitcases we had at that point were mine. It’s almost as if the
porter knew I was a nervous mom and would need mine first, ha ha. We met the
room steward and he said he would do all the things we had asked to be done.
Then we headed to the pools. I had read multiple times that you should take
your swimming suit when you board the cruise because you’ll be without your
suitcases for many hours and then that way you can still go to the pool and
swim while you wait for your bags. However, what nobody tells you, and I wish I
had thought of, is that you should also make sure you’ve got flip-flops or
sandals and some kind of T-shirt or cover-up. Michael just had his polo shirt
so he had to wear that and he and all the boys had to wear their tennis shoes
to the pool. We found the towel station and checked out towels for everyone. I
couldn’t find a chair in the shade by the pool, so we went into the adults only
area, which is actually for guests 16 and up, and found some nice chairs there
for me to sit in while everyone went to play. I had offered to watch everyone’s
backpacks and phones and everything because I didn’t want to get in the pool.
Michael went in the hot tub in the adults area near me.
The other kids went on the waterslides and then
Andrew joined Michael and the others played in the main pool and hot tub. We
were supposed to sail at 4:30 PM and we ended up leaving at 4:50 PM. I watched
from the window.
Michael left the hot tub and joined the other
kids for a little bit and then it was just Andrew in the hot tub. I noticed
three little kids in the hot tub who were probably between the ages of 10 and
13. I was really annoyed that no one was telling them they needed to get out,
and then a few minutes later one of the workers did tell them to get out so I
was glad that they keep an eye on that. When the kids finished swimming, we
turned in our towels and went back up to the room. All of our luggage was there
and the steward had already separated our beds and was in the process of doing
Emily and Jonathan’s beds. We quickly got dressed for dinner and went to the
main dining room. We tried level five but that was the wrong one so we had to
go down to level four. I realized later when I was looking at the Sea Pass that
it actually says very clearly on there that our dining is at 6 PM on deck four
and it even said our table number. Our table was in the back right next to the
stairs. It was nice and secluded there. The kids were all pretty happy with the
choices for dinner. I ordered two appetizers, the chicken Waldorf salad and a
crabcake. I had the prime rib for dinner and the warm hazelnut chocolate cake
for dessert. It was really good but I was stuffed. Three of the kids got
chocolate cake, Jonathan got the fruit plate, and Michael got a blueberry and
pear cobbler that was sugar-free. While we were eating, I saw photographer
walking around and I was pretty excited to have her take our picture. However,
she went to all four of the tables around us and completely skipped us. A
manager-type guy came to our table and asked how everything was and I mentioned
that I wish that photographer had come to our table so he contacted somebody
and she eventually came. She took our picture as a group and also individually.
She also got a picture of just the kids and just me and Michael so that was
nice.
Daniel and Andrew Emily and Jonathan's pictures were better the next night.
Dessert!
Andrew wanted to leave
to go work out but I made him wait for the pictures first. Actually, he offered
to stay around until the pictures were taken because he knew it was important
to me but asked if he could go even though the desert hadn’t come yet and we
let him go. After dinner, we walked straight over to the Schooner bar because
they were having a Queen Name That Tune game. We were pretty confident we would
do well, but we actually only got 10 out of the 20 right. They had some tough
songs in there that I hadn’t heard before. We came back to the rooms because
Emily and Jonathan wanted to go watch the movie Eternals on the pool deck at
9:30 PM. They went off to do that. Andrew came back from the gym and then he
and Daniel went to go get pizza at Sorrento’s. Then they came back and Andrew
changed his clothes and they went to the teen area. It’s called Social
033. At first, they weren’t too keen on the idea, but eventually they warmed up
to it and I’m glad they went together. Michael and I relaxed for a bit and then
he decided he wanted to go check on the kids and walk around. I told him that
was fine because I needed some time to just sit and relax and rest. The boys
had a good time at Social 033. They played pool, and then some other kids came
and asked to play with them. Apparently, Andrew played with some boy against
two girls. Daniel watched and heckled Andrew. They lost the first game because
they put the eight ball in the pocket at the wrong time. Then the girls did the
same thing two games in a row so the boys won. Andrew and Daniel also tried to
play foosball but they lost the ball and gave up and came back to the room.
June 21, Tuesday
We stayed up way too late last night. It was after midnight when Andrew
came to tell us that his toilet wouldn’t flush. We told them to just use ours
in the middle of the night if they needed to. As we were getting ready for bed,
we realized ours didn’t flush either. So, we figured we better call somebody.
We called the housekeeping number and asked for the stateroom maintenance
people. She said she would send somebody right away so I figured that was
great. Next thing we know, a few minutes later, we heard the toilet flush. Then
we heard the toilet flush in the boys’ room. I guess they had fixed it
remotely, which was kind of weird but also very cool. We called back and
they said since they can fix it without coming to our room they did and it’s
been working fine ever since. Later today, while I was standing in the hallway
waiting for the boys, I realized that they have access panels in the hallway
and that’s probably how they fixed it because the toilet backs up to the
hallway. I think it was almost 1:30 AM when I finally fell asleep. Michael and
the kids went to breakfast at the Windjammer.
Morning view from our balcony
When they came back, the kids
were talking about how they really wanted to go on the rock-climbing wall so
they did that. I wasn’t ready otherwise I would’ve gone and I asked them to
take pictures and they did.
By a little after noon, Michael was anxious to
go back to the pool. Andrew had gone to work out. The rest of us went to the
pool and I found another chair to sit in. This time it was just one chair but
it was close by where I had sat yesterday. The pools were so crowded, they gave
up after a while. Even the line for the waterslides was too long. So, we
quickly turned our towels back in and decided to go play mini golf. We had fun playing mini golf, but the course wasn’t
great. There were no walls on the outside of the greens so if you hit the ball
too hard it would go into another course. Michael, Andrew, and Jonathan went
first and then Emily, Daniel, and I were together. We kept track of our score
but the other guys didn’t. I won by a few strokes.
After that, we went back to the room. Emily
wanted to shower. Michael and the boys changed out of their swim trunks so we
could go to lunch. I really wanted to sit by the window overlooking the sea and
I finally found a table. It was actually pretty close to where we ate
yesterday. They had pork schnitzel so I was pretty excited about that. I went
off to go to guest services to ask a few questions and Michael and the kids
went up to the arcade to play air hockey. I asked them at gift services if I
could redistribute the onboard credit and they said they couldn’t. I also asked
if they had an escape room because I had read that they did on Freedom of the
Seas but maybe they quit doing it because of Covid. I don’t know. Somebody was
wrong. When I asked the guy at guest services about it, he looked at me like I
was crazy. I asked about the photo package and he told me where I needed to go
about that. I also found out that for Coco Cay we can just get the towels as we
get off the ship. I went to the photo area because I bought too many photo
packages. They had told me I needed a photo package for each cabin, but they
have just been asking for my cabin number and putting them all on the same cabin
number so I don’t understand why they told me that. He said I would need to
come back later to talk to the manager about that issue. I lost my Wi-Fi
for a little bit. Luckily, I was able to receive a FaceTime call from Michael
while I was at the photo area and we all agreed to meet back at the room. I
asked the kids to all meet over in Daniel and Andrew’s cabin. We read
scriptures. We decided we were going to leave at 5:30 PM to get pictures and go
to dinner. It was Dress Your Best night so Emily and I wore dresses and the
boys and Michael wore button-down shirts and slacks. We got pictures in a
couple different spots and then we went right into dinner.
Yummy appetizers!
Jonathan and Emily
After dinner, there was one more photo op and
everybody obliged. Then we went back to the room and changed our clothes into
more casual clothes and went to the Finish the Lyrics game show.
It was fun to see this cute towel animal when we came back to our room.
I wish I had known what
it was going to be like because we were running late and I was waiting for the
boys while Michael, Emily, and Jonathan all went to go get soda and meet us
there. Unfortunately, I missed the chance to be a contestant on the game show.
Apparently, I could’ve done it because they didn’t have enough people at first.
Oh well. It was fun to watch. Emily and I would’ve both done really well. I
don’t know why she didn’t volunteer. She just got shy in the moment and
regretted it later. We had fun watching, anyway. After that, we planned to go
to the Flow Rider because Andrew really wanted to ride it. He went all the way
back to change into his swim trunks and we met up at the Flow Rider but the
line was too long and he didn’t want to wait. So instead, we headed back to the
rooms. I decided to go back down to the photo gallery to figure out what to do
about the photo packages I had bought. He basically said that I shouldn’t have
him refund one of the packages now because if I change my mind later then I’d
have to pay full price. But he said they would still give me a refund on the
last night if I didn’t need all those pictures so that works out great. He also
told me about some upcoming opportunities to get the pictures and where the
photographers will be at Coco Cay. I came back to the room and the boys had
gone to their Social 033 club. Emily and Jonathan were watching a movie in
their cabin. Michael was out on the balcony doing some reading.
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