Michelle enjoys traveling with us, but she had never been on a cruise. Floyd and I took a cruise back in February, 2020, and we loved it, so we wanted to take Michelle on a cruise. Of course, boat rides can cause problems for some people, and we didn’t know how Michelle would respond to it, so we booked us a little 5-day cruise to the Bahamas. It was just a trial to see how well she would do.
Michelle has a tendency to make up her mind about something before she ever tries it, so that concerned me a bit. But when we told her that we booked a 5-day cruise for the three of us, she got excited. She said, “That’s great! I just watched a movie about a person on a cruise, and that looks so fun. I can hardly wait to go.” True to her word, she excitedly anticipated that trip until the day we left. She looked forward to meeting hundreds of new people. She envisioned making dozens of new friends. The only negative side to that trip was leaving her cat behind. We all knew that Princess would miss her. But her brother would be home to care for the cats.
We were sailing on the Carnival Elation out of the Port at Jacksonville, Florida. It was a two-day drive from our home in Ohio, but my sisters lived about halfway between us and Jacksonville, so we stopped for a short visit and a free three-night stay.
Our cruise ship set sail on the afternoon of March 20th and returned to port around 8:00 am on March 25th. For Michelle, it was the adventure of a lifetime. Our stateroom was conveniently located on Deck 7, where we boarded the ship. Deck 7 was like the central hub of the ship. That’s where guest services was located and a centralized bar where lots of passengers congregated. They also had music there. Needless to say, Michelle would hang out at the bar to visit with people. By the third day, she’d learned how to get to our stateroom and use her key to get in. So I let her go to the bar by herself. She wasn’t allowed to go anywhere else but the bar and our stateroom. That way, we always knew where to find her.
There was also lots of music on Deck 10 outside by the pool. Michelle loved dancing to the music. Another time she joined a group who were line dancing. Just about every night, she went to karaoke on Deck 9. She got on stage with a microphone and sang every opportunity she had. The last night aboard the ship, they had a karaoke competition that you had to sign up for at a very specific time – right in the middle of our dinner. So Michelle and I ordered, then left the restaurant and ran up one flight of stairs and around the corner to sign her up for the competition. Then we ran back to the restaurant. After dinner, we headed back up the stairs for the competition. Michelle came in 3rd. We were very proud of her.
She met new people and made new friends everywhere she went, and during our down time, she sat at the bar visiting with others. One day, we were walking down on one of the decks when I said to Michelle. “Boy, you know everybody on this ship.” (Of course, I was teasing her. I knew that she didn’t know everybody.)
Michelle said, “No, I don’t, Mom.”
At that moment, someone walked by us and said, “Hi, Michelle.”
I said, “See? You do know everybody.” (Even the bartender on Deck 7 knew her by name.)
She met Tommy Lama in the Mark Twain Library one day while we were exploring the ship. She visited with him for quite awhile. When she asked him what he did for a living, he told her he was a comedian on the ship and invited her to attend one of his shows. We attended the show during prime time because we wanted to make sure it was clean. It was clean. He was fabulous, and we laughed ourselves silly. At one point, he called for a volunteer and Michelle’s hand shot up, so he invited her up on stage. That’s when the show really got interesting because Michelle didn’t answer any of his questions the way he expected. So he had to think really fast for a good come-back. It was a great show.
Usually, we couldn’t even feel the ship moving, but at times the waters got pretty choppy. No one got sea sick. In fact, at night when we were sailing toward our next port and we could feel the ship moving because of the rough waters, Michelle and I both enjoyed the way the movement of the ship lulled us to sleep.
Although meal time became a challenge for us because of how picky an eater Michelle was, one of the highlights of lunch time was dessert. They had soft serve chocolate ice cream and Michelle loved to go serve herself after she tried to eat something. And often she’d go back for seconds. By the end of the week, she’d wander around the cafeteria and visit with people she knew.
During the cruise, we stopped in the Bahamas at two different islands and got off the ship. We stopped at Nassau on March 22 and at Princess Cays on March 23. On each island, we went on a little boating excursion and did some shopping. When we finally returned to Jacksonville, we headed to my sister’s house again, where we enjoyed a short visit, took a walk on the bridge, spent a couple of nights, and headed home.
Michelle brought home reminders of a great vacation. She bought a tee shirt in Princess Cays, but I think her greatest reminders are friends she made who she has enjoyed staying in contact with.
I’m so happy that her first cruise was a smashing success! It was wonderful to see you.