Friday
12/28/2012
To Fort Lauderdale
Thought we had plenty of time, but noon came too quickly.
Made it to the airport and scarfed down a burrito minutes before boarding with
Oma/Opa. E had the best timing for naps: he managed to fall asleep in the few
minutes between the time when security checked our IDs and we had to take him
out of the car seat to go through the metal detector and then again just minutes
before they told us we were on our final decent into Las Vegas. Our flight into
FLL was an hour late, but E napped ½ the time and made us sing/read him Baby
Beluga the other ½. Finally, we got into a taxi van, arriving at our hotel (the
kind which Lisa dubs “A Ballou Hotel” as in “At least we don’t have to worry
about other guests hearing E cry b/c there’s too much noise from the
interstate.”) At 1:30 Lisa and I had our fill and were ready for bed. However, E
was not. At first it was playtime and then he’d only stop crying when we
endlessly sang Baby Beluga to him. Eventually, Lisa put him in the stroller and
pushed it around the room until he FINALLY went to sleep…around 3. Though he
woke up often and at some point we gave in and let him sleep between us. For those of you familiar with the first
night of one of our backpacking trips, sleeping with the dogs in a tent,
well…this was similar.
Day 2
Saturday
12/29/2012
Fort Lauderdale
Breakfast was supposed to be at 9, but everyone was lagging.
Though it turned out not to matter since it was a “grab your mini-donut” type
affair anyhow (Ballou Hotel). Lisa showered with E and fed him his cereal. Then
we met with Nana and Papa for some playtime before walking to the store for
some last minute items and a few ZZZs. Again we thought we had plenty of time
before our noon shuttle, but just managed to get on as they pulled off. Moments
after spotting our ship, Holland America’s EURODAM, we saw cousin Kristin
getting out of a cab with her parents, Wayne and Lynn. Though we weren’t
allowed off the bus to hail her, we finally got her on her cell phone for a
wave. Minutes later, Aunt Carol, Uncle Wayne showed up with Cousins Graham and
Nathan. After introducing Uncle Shaun and David to everyone we headed through
the very smooth boarding process. Much, much quicker than Princess. Our room
8087, was between Shaun/David and Nana/Papa. We had our steward, Azwar, open
the balconies to connect us with Nana/Papa and Oma/Opa. We grabbed a quick bite
at the delicious buffet (E had squeezable baby food in his new fabric strap-on
high chair). Then mama and baby napped while I worked on my book (and this
account) before meeting up with Uncle Mark, Aunt Dasha, Sara, and Haley (who
had already been cruising for a week before we arrived to join them!), and
heading to our mandatory Muster Drill (in Princess speak) and the Bon Voyage
party! We had a wonderful dinner and then I watched E while Lisa took a quick
dip with the cousins in the hot tub before hitting bed herself.
Day 3
Sunday
12/30/2012
Half Moon Cay, Bahamas
E didn’t sleep too great in his new environment, getting up
around 9 times over the course of the night. But we didn’t get thrown off the ship
or anything, so I call it a win. We were supposed to meet for the buffet at
8:30. Around 9:15 the three of us actually got there. The buffet on Holland is
excellent. Around 10, we decided it was time to head ashore to Holland
America’s private island, Half Moon Cay. Lisa told everyone we’d be ready at
10:20. After three trips up to the room from the 1st floor (our
room, 8087 was on the 8th deck), we managed to board a tender at 11
AM and just in time for E to nap. Luckily, he feel asleep in the Ergo Carrier
and slept the entire boat ride and while we took a long walk along the postcard
worthy beach – bleach white sands and a shallow turquoise bay. Stunning. The
family members we sent ahead (okay, the ones that might’ve just gone ahead
instead of waiting for the new parents to stop fiddling around) nabbed a
section of great lounge chairs. The rest of the day was spent swimming,
power-walking the beach, and taking E down his first water slides (NOT on his
own, in someone’s lap – sheesh). He had another good nap on the way back to the
boat and a quick bottle with Cousin Kristin at pre-dinner wine on the family’s
connecting balconies. Another extravagant dinner and then it was my night to go
“out” and so I went to the comedy/magic show. Before going to bed, we decided
we needed to have a drill the next morning on actually getting someplace on
time, since there were excursions coming up that had hard meeting times. So we
set a 9 AM sit-down breakfast.
Day 4
Monday
12/31/2012
At Sea
The lil’guy slept better – not great – but better, halfing
the number of mid-night crying fits. And, miraculously, we made breakfast! The
rest of our first full sea day was reasonably lazy. Naps (for all of us),
reading, eating. Both sets of grandparents took shifts babysitting so Lisa and
I could explore the ship, relax, etc. It was New Years Eve, so we all got
decked out for the formal night dinner…E wore a onesie with a tie on it. They
had festive top hats and tiaras for us at dinner and E enjoyed playing with his
as well as his perfectly sized coffee spoon. The rest of our family had a great
time at the festivities, ringing in the New Year on the dance floor, but we
rang it in from our stateroom. A little
different with a baby.
Day 5
Tuesday
1/1/2013
Grand Cayman
Today was Haley’s fourth birthday! And it was celebrated in
full force, even though the day got off to a rocky start, literately. The sea
was rough and the sky a deep gray. At waking, we found out that we had 30
minutes less to get ready than we thought because of a different tender method
than at Half Moon Cay (which is a much bigger deal with a baby than it would’ve
been otherwise). We made a game-time decision that Lisa and E would stay
onboard because of the wildness of riding the tender to shore and then because
the day’s excursion was going to also be on a boat. Disappointed at not being
together, we parted, but knew it was for the best. On shore, we finally got
everyone together (though not on the same tender) and in their swim trunks.
From there we met with our private guide, loaded into a big van and headed
across the island. In a seamless operation they got us on our own boat and
headed toward the main event: Snorkeling and Stingray City.
First stop was a sandy bottom area spattered with gigantic
orange starfish. They were harder and spinier than the California varieties.
The waves were pretty big, but almost everyone managed to get in and swim
around. Sara in particular enjoyed spotting and holding the creatures. Next we
headed to Stingray City – with what appeared to be every other cruise ship
passenger. I’d dove at a slightly deeper part about 5 years prior, but standing
in waist deep water with the Southern Rays (which have up to a four foot wing
span) as they skimmed by to check us out was a very different experience. Our
guide held one for us to pet, then we got pictures “kissing them” and “getting
back rubs.” Haley had a blast and although Sara held tight to Dasha and
shrieked any time one got too close, she secretly had just as good of a time.
It was a wild time. Final stop was a short snorkel where Haley saw “a thousand
fish.” We got back to the terminal in time to buy E a stuffed stingray and then
back on the ship.
Oma ended up staying with E and Lisa. They spent most the
time napping and relaxing, but had fun. We had a late lunch and then I watched
E by the pool with Graham, Kristin, Nana, and Papa while Lisa and some of the
other girls went to Cupcake Teatime for Haley’s Birthday. The lil’man was
really showing off his new game “Where’s Evan?” with a napkin (his personal
rendition of peek-a-boo) – much to the delight of our waitress. Dinner, as
always, was fun and was followed by present opening for Haley in one of the
lounges. Nana and Papa watched E for a little bit while Lisa and I went to the
Piano Bar. When I got back to relieve them, they said he hadn’t made a peep.
Which, of course, at that moment he woke and started screaming. Seems like he
already knows how to behave with the grandparents, huh?
Day 6
Wednesday
1/2/2013
Roatan, Bay Islands,
Honduras
The ship crossed into Central Time Zone (meaning we gained
an hour) and wasn’t docking until 10 AM, so we got to have a lazier morning, leisurely
getting ready. Lisa and E decided to
stay on the ship because Lisa was feeling a bit under the weather. So after
saying bye to them, Uncle Mark, Nana, Papa, and I lined up to get a tender
ticket. This time, the tendering process did not run too smoothly and we
finally got off the ship at 11:30, almost a full hour late to meet our dive guide. Luckily, a local took us (for a
couple dollar tip) through the hustling crowds, honking taxis, and dazed
tourists just as our ride was about to leave. Our driver, Luis, piled us into a
12-passenger bus and drove us through Coxen Hole. It was a strange mix of third
and first world with dilapidated shacks next to huge Wendy’s. Once out of town,
we aimed toward the far eastern point. The drive was stunning through villages,
jungle, and sweeping views of the hilly island.
At Turquoise Bay Resort, we got all ready for our dives.
Uncle Mark had the brilliant foresight to realize that we wouldn’t have food
for 4+ more hours (and with our cruise ship adjusted appetites, this might as
well have been starvation). The folks at Turquoise Bay allowed him to grab
stuff from their buffet and he came back with a Styrofoam foam tub full of
delicious fried chicken. Another couple hopped on the boat and we took off for
the 3-minute ride to the first spot, The Great White Hole. We hit the water and
immediately dropped to the bottom. And we waited. And waited. Evidently, the
new lady was having some difficulty which became apparent when a weight belt
missed my dad’s head by a few feet and we also collected her snorkel as it floated
downward. Once we were all down, we swam through a site that had a ton of sea
fans and soft coral. All in all, it was a nice dive. And since we didn’t go
deeper than 60 feet, we had a very short surface interval (just long enough to
drop off the lady) before our second dive, The Labyrinth. This dive had
beautiful formations, small walls, and narrow cut thrus. An even better dive
than the first.
Right at 3 PM, we jumped back in the bus for the return trip
to Coxen Hole. Back at the cruise ship terminal, I bought E a souvenir hat and
we boarded the ship just in time for dinner. Once again, the dining was awesome
and E was such a good boy. We were even able to take some informal portaits
before turning in for the night.
Day 7
Thursday
1/3/2013
Costa Maya, Mexico
Day 8
Friday
1/4/2013
At Sea
Day 9
Saturday
1/5/2013
To San Jose
It was an early morning, but we managed to get all three of
us dressed and to breakfast by 7AM. Around 8, it was time to say goodbye to most
of the family. It was sad, but we all agreed to it being the first of many
family cruises. Then both sets of grandparents, Lisa, E and I disembarked,
sailed through customs (thank you, Holland America luggage service), and caught
a bus to the Fort Lauderdale airport. We were completely through security by 9…but
our flight wasn’t until 2. So we found a row of benches and waited. E napped,
played, and fed. So did we. About 1:30 they suddenly delayed our departure
about 45 minutes. A little later, they announced our flight actually had yet to
leave Tampa and no one knew what time it was really going to come, though
supposedly everyone heading to San Jose would make their connection. The delay
turned out to be kind of nice, because Wayne, Carol and Nathan showed up to
wait for their flight, so we had more opportunity to visit. Finally, a full two
hours late, we boarded and took off.
E has had very few problems flying in the past. But, man oh
man, for the first 15 minutes (though it felt closer to 15 lifetimes) of that
flight were awful. He cried and screamed. It must’ve been his ears, but (poor
guy) nothing worked: nursing, his little truck, books, sippy cup, teething
toys, signing, singing. Nope. Nope. And nope. Eventually, Lisa was able to get
him to nurse and that did the trick. He fell asleep in her arms for the rest of
the flight. Though I could see the dread in her eyes, we had another 5
take-off/landings before getting home (you see, in addition to our connection,
we touched down in LA, though didn’t have to deplane). Ugh. But all the rest
went just fine. We ended up arriving in Houston two hours late and had to run
to make our plane – which we did, just in time. And luckily, we had the
foresight to bring sandwiches with us from Florida to hold over our
cruise-engorged stomachs.
After 18 hours since the alarm went off, we met Brian and
Uncle Ron at the San Jose airport and they carted us and all our bags home. The
dogs were happy to see us and we crashed hard after giving them a quick pet.
nice photos! I'm a little jels. We'll have to plan one for all of us one day! Oh, but the link to picasa didn't work for me :( not sure why.
ReplyDeleteAwesome trip! Enjoyed the read and all the pictures.
ReplyDelete