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Cruise Day #2 — At Sea

Nov 22nd, 2011 by

We started our day at 6:30am by heading down to Cafe Promenade for coffee (for us) and milk (for Emerson). Not surprisingly, we ran into Mom and Pop already there. We spent some time chatting before everyone headed upstairs to breakfast in the Windjammer.

Following breakfast, we walked around the upper decks watching Emerson frolic aboard the ship. We then headed to the kids club to pick up a bag of loaner toys (a fairly paltry selection compared to what was on offer on Celebrity Infinity). Libby and Emerson then went to the open play time with Mimi. And, I did pretty much nothing.

After playtime, we had a light lunch and then I returned to the cabin with Emerson for her daily nap. I read and finished watching a movie on the iPad while she slept for nearly two hours. Nap time over, Libby returned and took Emerson off to a Crayola Beginnings class, which was followed by open playtime. Meanwhile, I went off in search of a wheat beer (found a Leffe at the Two Poets Pub) and a quite spot to read (finding none, I opted for our cabin’s balcony).

Emerson and Libby returned to the cabin around 4pm — the former covered in marker stains; the latter blissfully unaware/unconcerned. We spent the next hour or so out on the balcony of either our cabin or with Mom and Pop next door.

Tonight was formal night in the main dining room, and we managed to get all dolled up (cruises out of Florida are generally my one exception to the ‘no formal night’ rule). Once again, dinner was very good. Emerson are two bowls of guacamole and also had half of my escargot (to the amusement of her grandparents and great-grandfather)! She continued to be very well behaved… lasting the full 2 hours with minimal fuss. Everyone else seemed to enjoy their meals too — uniformly good to very good.

Following dinner, we briefly strolled through the Captain’s Gala party (in search of nighttime milk for Emerson). She enjoyed the music, lights, and disco ball effects on the Royal Promenade. After we returned to our cabin, I went back to the party to nab a glass of free champagne (ok, technically cheap sparkling wine–but free alcohol of any kind is a rare treat aboard a ship). Unfortunately, my consumption of it was promptly foiled upon returning to the cabin as Libby managed to hit me with the bathroom door, thereby sending the contents of the champagne flute down my dress shirt and trousers. And so ended our ‘relaxing’ day at sea. :-)

Posted in Navigator of the Seas | 2 Comments »

Cruise Day #1 — Fort Lauderdale

Nov 22nd, 2011 by

We departed home around 7:00am and had a pleasant and uneventful drive to Port Everglades down in Fort Lauderdale. Following a couple of rest stops, a coffee break, and a refueling, we arrived at the port a little after 11:30. I deposited Mom, Pop, Libby, and Emerson at the terminal with the luggage and proceeded to park the car. Unfortunately, our terminal (#29) was some distance from the garage and required me to ride a shuttle bus back to the family. As luck would have it, I managed to catch up with Libby’s parents on the shuttle. The bus ride took quite a while due to traffic. And, we arrived back at the terminal at nearly 12:30.

Thanks to Pop’s needing wheelchair assistance we sped through security and check-in. However, we were forced to wait (along with others) for over an hour before boarding the ship. You see, RCI seems to now require a change of wheelchair / staff to assist passengers onto the actual ship. As such, a queue formed of passengers waiting for the only two assistant-waiters-turned-wheelchair-jockeys (one lazy and the other lazier still) to assist them aboard the ship. Totally unacceptable treatment of elderly and/or disabled passengers. I’m also starting to think that Port Everglades just sucks as I’ve now had both my worst embarkation and disembarkation (on a Nov 2009 cruise aboard Navigator) experiences at this port.

After finally(!) boarding the ship, we headed to lunch (at 2:00). Since dinner was in only a couple of hours, we all ate very light. After lunch, we moved into our cabins (three balconies in a row on Deck 7), unpacked, went to the muster drill, and dressed for dinner.

Our table in the MDR is on the middle tier (of a three story room) and in the far back corner. It has lots of room around it and is somewhat isolated from the other patrons. In short: ideal. In the interest of brevity, I went mention what everyone ate–I’ll just say that the meal seemed to be universally enjoyed by the family and of pretty high quality for a mass market cruise ship’s MDR. Emerson–as on Vision of the Seas this past summer–was a dream. She ate her ‘mole’ with gusto and despite the usual chaos of the first night amused herself for nearly two hours. Bravo!

It’s good to be back aboard Navigator. She remains the most architecturally impressive ship I’ve sailed upon. And, she might be a contender for being my favorite. But, she also feels perhaps a wee bit crowded.

Tomorrow’s our first day at sea.

Posted in Navigator of the Seas | No Comments »

Away we go!

Nov 20th, 2011 by

We’re off to Ft. Lauderdale to catch our (almost) annual Thanksgiving cruise aboard Navigator of the Seas. We’ve done this yearly since 2009, skipping 2010 because Libby was too far along in her pregnancy to cruise. In fact, we were aboard Navigator in ’09 for a four-day sailing to Cozumel, Mexico. This year, we’ll be visiting Grand Cayman, Jamaica, and Haiti on a 6 day itinerary.

As usual, I plan to blog along the way.

Posted in Grand Cayman, Haiti, Jamaica, Navigator of the Seas | 1 Comment »

Back in Tampa…

Jul 20th, 2011 by

We departed from New York late (which reminded me of why I dislike returning through NY airports) due to ground-based airplane traffic gridlock at JFK, a slow boarding process, and a reconfiguration of runways (just as we were #1 for takeoff). All told, we landed in Tampa around 12:30am, reaching our home at approximately 1:40am. Both Libby and Emerson slept for the entire flight home… I napped for maybe an hour.

All things considered, it was a successful travel day, filled with both highs (e.g., the London cab driver, Emerson for the vast majority of the flight time) and lows (e.g., the usual JFK-related problems, including a deficient airport facility and larger than average percentage of rude/obnoxious/impatient fellow passengers—who were a special test of my patience on this day). Indeed, this was far from our worst experience in domestic or international travel, as we’d feared it might be.

Encouragement – for next summer’s overseas adventure with Emerson!

Posted in Delta Airlines | 1 Comment »

In New York…

Jul 19th, 2011 by

Yesterday, I forgot to mention that we’d purchased (8 pounds for adults; kids free) roundtrip shuttle tickets to/from our hotel. It worked fairly well from the terminal to the Radisson. However, the 9:15 shuttle for our terminal (4) never showed up. We waited until 9:35, and then I grew impatient. So, we hoped in a taxi that had just arrived and went to Terminal 4.

En route, I commented to Libby that I’d learned my lesson (albeit a little pricey) to not use the shuttle for the return trip (as taxis are only a bit more expensive and a lot less hassle). I think the can driver overheard our discussion.

On getting to the terminal, the cabbie hoped out, sorted our luggage onto a baggage cart, and told me the cab ride was on him. It seems he had a soft spot for us, especially with a wee daughter in tow. He’s the proud father of four girls, one of whom I noticed (based on a sign in his cab) he was donating his tips to support her charity bike ride for the RSPCA between London and Paris. I thanked him profusely and insisted he take a 20 pound “tip” for his daughter.

After he departed, Libby commented that she had a “good feeling about the cabbie” from the moment we stepped into his vehicle. Oddly, I had the same feeling, which was proven to be justified. What a kind man, and I’m sure wonderful father. In the end, the entire experience was very affirming of the goodness possible in strangers. Hopefully, he felt the saw way.

As for the flight… no upgrade today. But, we had confirmed Economy Comfort seats that made the trip far more enjoyable — extra leg room (useful), more recline, and free drinks (not especially helpful today). I almost feel bad for calling it “oxymoron” in the past…

We were delayed leaving, but Emerson fell asleep on the taxi out to the runway. I watched a Qantas Airbus A380 do it’s takeoff roll (very cool), while we waited a good while to takeoff ourselves. Emerson slept for about another hour in the air. By then, it was time for lunch… of the “toddler” meal, she ate grapes and crackers.

After lunch, she spent 25 minutes playing with a straw and a water bottle… threading the straw through a narrow opening. Next, we used the iPad to watch an entire 50 minutes of Sesame Street, followed by 23 minutes of Mickey’s Clubhouse. She sat through both shows happily.

After the videos, we played with some apps on the iPad, both old and new. These were less successful as they didn’t amuse Emerson as long. So, we returned to Sesame Street (with snacks and drinks along the way).

With 2:55 remaining, it was time for a diaper change (nighttime diapers are really useful for travel too). She returned with a new pair of draws on and watched videos for another hour or so. At this point, Emerson started getting tired, and I managed to get her to drift off to sleep.

Unfortunately, she awoke with a start with about 1:30 left in the flight. She then proceeded to have a mini-meltdown, which we believe was 100% attributable to her teeth (we noticed her gums were bleeding before takeoff in London and it looked like 2-3 new teeth may be coming in). So, we administered baby Tylenol, and she settled back down fairly quickly. So, minor crisis handled… though I think it nearly killed Libby. :-)

Things remained fairly calm until final approach when she started crying again. We’re not sure if it was her teeth or maybe her ears due to the pressure change. Whatever the case, she was asleep by touchdown and remained so until we cleared customs, baggage claim, and security.

We had dinner at JFK, and we’re now back in the Delta Sky Club. If we’re lucky, she’ll fall asleep for the flight and remain asleep until some sort of reasonable hour tomorrow morning.

Will update with the final installment, probably later tomorrow. 😉

Posted in Delta Airlines | 2 Comments »

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