Sunday, September 25, 2011

Come Sail Away

We had our first cruise experience this weekend! Ariel was doing her natural beauty pageant on the Golden Princess ship and as part of the event we got to stay over night. I had always wondered if we would like to take a cruise so for us it was a cheaper way of experiencing it and seeing if we liked it. Overall it was a pretty positive experience. The crew on the ship were so kind, some of the people cruising on the ship not so much. More on that in a bit.

We started our morning early with a cab ride to Surrey were we were meeting our bus. It was about 6am when we got to the McDonalds and checked in. We got on the buses and headed on our way to Seattle. The boarder crossing was pretty fast and easy, although the boarder guard was bugging us in regards to Ariel. You should get her a 'born abroad certificate', basically a birth certificate saying she is American... insert me rolling my eyes.... not for the fact they want her to have her papers but because its $600 just to get it!!!! Um, multiply that by 2 kids... um, not happening anytime soon. Good grief!

The bus trip is pretty smooth, they had Finding Nemo playing and got everyone a donut snack. The girls were all in matching t-shirts and contestant tiaras, so cute. Ariel started to feel sick at the end of the trip, as we hit several big bumps. Thankfully she didn't toss her cookies, but it made her pretty groggy and cranky once we were off. It took only one look at the ship to perk her back up... wow!


Checking in was fast and easy, they really have a system. Before we knew it we were on the ship and seeing our room. It was small but super cute. We had won an upgrade and got a balcony room, which Ken was excited about. So pretty to see the sea.

We hit the buffet and filled our tummies, this is also when we met 'cranky cruisers' as we called them. We were in line, me first, then Ariel and last Ken. All of us were waiting for the meat station as he was carving each piece. This strange woman came and budged in front of Ken and was holding her plate above Ariel's head. She kept making faces like she was frustrated and finally I looked at her and she snapped, 'I can't get through, make your girl move!' Um, you budged in front of us?! What?? In a state of shock I pulled Ariel back and she shoved her plate in for meat and left. So basically she wanted in front of all 3 of us? What a nut job... Ken wasn't thrilled... in fact he had a few choice words. Eep. Good thing the food was good, cuz we sure felt crappy.


Shortly after lunch we wandered around the ship and explored. I had forgotten our bathing suits, along with a few other things, doh, so I hoped we didn't see the pool as I knew Ariel would want to go swim. Every time we passed it Ken called it a fountain, haha. Only worked until her friend said she was going swimming, but thankfully she didn't seem interested at the time, dodged a bullet there.

The ship had muster drill and we took part to learn what to do in case of emergency, and then it was finally time to get ready for the pageant.


Ariel was tired but excited. She did her thing, a tad nervous which wasn't like her, so I think the busy morning or travelling took its toll for sure.


She won a princess title and was happy with her trophy and crown. It was during crowning we had a surprise visit, a friend from church saw Ariel (our event was held in an open area where other cruisers could come watch) and came looking for us. She was also on board overnight with some friends and it was too funny to see someone we knew! It was nice for her to see Ariel get her prize then too, so that was fun.


All the contestants together.


Once the pageant ended we had dinner and took Ariel to the kid's lounge for some fun with some of her friends. They got to watch Tangled, make a craft and all the kids got a turtle stuffed toy to take home for being good, cool!


While Ariel hung out Ken and I took in the 'British Invasion' show. It was cheesey but fun, but hey that is cruise ships for ya. We picked Ariel up and I took her back to the room for bed while Ken went off for the movie under the stars showing of 'Super 8'.


The next morning we were up early... earlier than we thought. We had been told we would probably leave the boat at 8-9am... can you say 730am! They called our number and we quickly made our way. Kara was kind enough to pick us up, and I texted her with our new timeline. I felt bad because I didn't think that would happen, not that I expected her to come any sooner. I sent a text update as we made our way, and I couldn't believe we were done and ready to go at 8am! Crazy! So we found a table so Ariel could watch her movie on the mini dvd player and Ken and I caught up on messages on our phones we had off while at sea.

Kara arrived and we went back to Stella's to see Xander, who stayed with them during this whole adventure. It was great to see our little man, who was indifferent to us returning, such a turkey! We went to church and came home for a lazy afternoon. Thankfully its a professional development day tomorrow so no school! Ariel can catch up on some sleep from the weekend... as can Mommy.


We had fun, it was a great mini trip and sure I'd cruise again I think... Disney has a ship right? Hehe.

1 comment:

kelly ens said...

looks like it was a great adventure!!! :)
well, aside from that rude lady! :(

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