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Ok so I am going to do this journaling style, so there will
be a lot of annoying details, but I just really want to remember everything
about our trip.
Little background… Trav and I will celebrate our 10-year
anniversary in March and we had never done a REAL vacation together. We went to
Vegas for our Honeymoon because that’s all we had the money for. Since having
children we have gone to Disneyland twice and San Diego once and we always
drive. Trav and I had never been on a plane together. Since getting married, we
have worked really hard and avoided vacations because of responsibility.
A few years ago, we decided that we wanted to go on a cruise
for our 10-year anniversary. I knew it would be expensive and was doubtful that
it would actually happen but Trav was insistent that we had earned this. If you
know us well, you know that our marriage has been extremely difficult. The
first few years were brutal and a lot of difficult things went on with us, but
we have persevered! We began pricing things out and saving money. We got a
chase southwest credit card and started putting everything we could on that
card to earn us points. We booked the cruise in Feb 2019 and went in Jan 2020.
We earned our plane tickets there and back with points and had the cruise paid
for several months in advance. We also ended up booking an excursion at all 4
ports. This wasn’t our original plan but this really was an “all out” vacation
for us so we went for it!
We dropped the kids off at Trav’s parents’ house on Thursday
night to prepare for our 6:25 am flight on Friday morning. I did better than I
thought… I didn’t cry… but it was extremely difficult for me and it was a
moment that I had dreaded since booking the cruise. We were away from our kids
for 9 nights total and the most we had been away from them previously was 2
nights. My dad picked us up at 4am on Friday. Check in went well and we even
got to sit by each other on the plane. I sat in the middle and trav got the
aisle seat. The gentleman by the window was very kind and it was an uneventful
flight. We flew to Chicago where we did not change planes. They let us off the
plane though (if we wanted) and I was surprised to see Christmas decorations
still up at the Chicago airport! We boarded the plane again (window and middle
seat this time) and a teenage/early adult guy sat by me. We flew to Atlanta
this time and had a 2-hour layover. The airport is huge and there were tons of
restaurants but we decided to have a burger and hotdog at 5 guys. After waiting
about an hour, we were able to board our last plane to Ft Lauderdale. We sat in
a window and middle seat and a woman with dreadlocks and a mask sat next to me.
When we landed it was chaos! So many people were trying to get Ubers. We
requested an uber on the app and waited… we had never done the uber thing so it
was a little nerve racking for me. However, I was pleasantly surprised when the
person who picked us up had a very nice clean care and was super friendly! She
was from Columbia and suggested that we see the new Hard Rock Hotel/Café! We
had never heard of it but after she took us to the hotel and we settled in, we
decided to try it out! Our hotel was a funny family owned joint that was a lot
nicer than it looked! We paid $160 for one night, thanks to it being a night
before cruises leave. We took another uber to the Hard Rock and it reminded us
a lot of the Bellagio, a lot of gambling and shops with a water/music show. It
was really fun to see and we went to bed that night totally exhausted from the
day.
The next morning we got up and ate some snacks we had packed
for breakfast and requested an uber to the Miami Port. It was a lot and traffic
filled ride. Our uber driver did not speak English well but he was kind and we
made it where we needed to go. They took our luggage right out of the uber and
we got in line to go through security. That took about an hour and then we were
on the boat! We were a few hours early and had absolutely no idea what we were
doing so we followed the crowds up to the Lido deck where all of the food was.
We waited in line and got our first cruise meal… burgers from Guy’s Burger
Joint. The deck was packed with people and music was blaring. I’m sure we
looked like fish out of water as we attempted to figure out where we were and
what was going on. Eventually we found our room and were able to put our
luggage away when it was brought up. We got some fruit (to balance out the
burgers haha!) and found some lounge chairs on deck. We called the kids to wish
them one last goodbye and the ship finally set sail! There wasn’t much to do
till dinner but we had a hard time finding the dining room so we were a little
late. We sat with another “couple.” We had a hard time figuring out their
relationship at first. Man and Woman…. Not married…. Not a couple…. Not siblings…
old friends from college!! It was a
little odd but we thoroughly enjoyed spending every evening with them and
talking about our day. It was fun because they were not the kind of people that
we would typically connect with, but they were so fun and nice and I really was
sad on the last night! The ship had lots of shows throughout our voyage. We
enjoyed the shows with singing and dancing most. The cruise director, Kyndall
Fire, was also hilarious and honestly enhanced our cruising experience!
The next day was a Day at Sea. We got up and ate a light
breakfast and exercised. The boat had a track on it so we just walked/ran for
about 45 min. People might think that exercising on vacation sounds weird but
honestly, I love to exercise but I never get to do it without feeling guilty
that I am not watching my kids. So, to be able to exercise guilt free was
definitely a “vacation” activity for me. We also made the decision to always
take the stairs on the ship. We did this partly because the elevators take a while,
and partly for our health. We got in swimsuits and laid out a lot. We read some
of our books. I learned the thriller dance on the lido deck. We ate. Went to
shows. It really was just a chill and relaxing day!
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