Vacation Recap, Part 1

This post is derived from my notes, pictures, and scans of the Carnival Capers papers (the “cruise newspaper” you get in your room each morning) – which apparently will be edited in because they’re still on my lappy which is not with me currently. ‘Scuse the grammar and not-quite-so-sharp-as-normal wit – I was on vacation (and I’m too busy to edit much, dangit).  Enjoy, and don’t be too jealous!

Saturday: Get us to Galveston!!!

Planned to get up around 6am to leave by 7am.  Got up around 7:50 and was on the road by 8:30.  Misjudged the distance to Galveston, thought it was 2-3 hours, ended up being 4.  The good thing was we planned on getting there SUPER EARLY so we just got there within the window we could get on board (it was 12:30-2:30, we got there around 1:30).

The drive was actually nice (well, I wasn’t driving, but Zliten was actually commenting it was a nice drive).  There were lots of cows and I called out to them all, “Hey BARBECUE!!!”  We decided brown cows made the best bbq because you could say “how now” to them.  Dunno how that is relevant but hey, it made sense then.  And cows should be fed BBQ sauce and marinated with it while alive constantly to get the best flavor.  You’d think we were hungry!

Parking was a breeze and I prepaid for a discount, the embarkation took about 30 minutes (where some cruises have taken 4 hours), and then we headed for first the dining room to change our late dinner to early (who starts dinner at 8:15? srsly) and then for fud.  Despite the idea of having a healthy lunch the first line I found was burgers.  As my only rule was, I stopped when I was full.

Apparently this is not how to wear the life jacket.

Thank goodness Zliten shows me how…

See, there I got it!

We did the lifeboat drill and got our traditional silly pictures in them (above), and then headed to the bar to see the ship sail away.  Wanted to do it outside, but DEAR FLUFFY LORD it was cold.  I was even wearing a leather jacket.  After two rumses and diets cokeses, got back to the room and YAY LUGGAGE.  OMG frantic unpacking, changed for dinner (I have cute clothes that are too nice to wear to work, I want to WEAR THEM DAMMIT) and sat down to a table with 2 grey haired couples.  At first I thought it was going to suck, but they ended up to be pretty cool and I’m looking forward to dinner to hear more stories about their lives.  They said Joel looked like John Lennon – not sure I agree, but a nice compliment nonetheless.  Dinner was shrimp cocktail, salad with breaded zuchinni and tomato, and tilapia with carrots and mac n cheese. Ellie and Tony, Olea and ….crap, forgot the guys name.  Writing it down so I remember (BTW, it was Gary).

After dinner we stopped by the gallery and found out about how the art bids work and got a free print.  It’s actually pretty awesome, can’t wait to frame it and put it up!  Went to grab some wine, then to the show.  The dancers are HORRIBLE.  They look like they recruited a second rate cheer team and just gave them the choreography yesterday.  I like to give entertainers the benefit of the doubt, but srsly.  And the lady singer had a costume about 2 sizes too tight.  I was thinking “honey, get it in your size and you’ll look HOT, but now you are sporting Costco size muffin top”.  However, the comedian was actually HILARIOUS.  Sort of like a somewhat sane Larry the Cable Guy.

Then we headed to the piano bar for the name that tune trivia contest, got 10 out of 20, winner got 17, bah – we totally wanted the “piece o ship” trophy.  Then we did some sing along fun at the piano bar, and he actually encourages you to get up and sing with the piano, so Imma have to do that one of these days.  Just not ready for it today.

We escaped in time to get bathing suit clad (bikini even, it didn’t feel right but it was the first time in public) and in the hot tub.  Met some chick named Christine who was here with her mom and grandma, and we left shortly after the drunk dudes she invited to join her.  Headed to the room, ordered room service, and now watching Handcock.

For anyone keeping tabs, that’s an apple and oatmeal for breakfast, jerky for a snack, burger, salad, a few fries and rings for lunch, shrimp cocktail, salad, tilapia, and some bites of chocolate cake and port something cheese for dinner, and a salad for a night snack.  Nitey nite.  Hoping to run 5 ish miles tomorrow morning before more fun and games.

Sunday: Super Fun Day at Sea, or Where is my Lipstick?

Well, I’m now writing this Tuesday afternoon so that might tell ya how busy-fun it’s been.  Sunday we woke up around 9ish, Joel sprang out of bed and headed to the gym, I sorta relaxed my way up (I envy people that can pop out of bed and right onto the treadmill, that’s so not me…and why I workout after work).  The sway of the boat was pretty severe, and it was straight FREEEEZING outside (yay cold front :P) so I hit the gym instead for a 3.5 mile run and some arm fun.  The gym was pretty crowded since it was a sea day,  but I got by.  Sometime in your life, you gotta try the treadmill on a rocky boat.  Seriously weird and sorta fun in that “fear for your life falling off the treadmill” sorta way.

I was a dumbass and blindly beelined to the gym without thinking – I forgot to eat anything, drink anything, or even grab a towel so I was a mess when I left.  I beelined to the lunch line and snagged 2 pears and a glass of water and got some of that in there fast so I could get over that dizzy feeling from both the low blood sugar and the boat rock.  Note to self – don’t do that again.  Then lunch – a gigantic salad and half of a huge turkey sammich.  Salad was great, turkey was meh, but it did the trick.

Then we went to this art collecting for dummies and learned about how different reproductions are made.  The lithographic proccess is actually pretty impressive, I did not know they cut pieces for each different color – I thought it was just, like, xeroxed or something.  And it was interesting to find out how different factors affected the collectablity.  We plan to hit the art auction the last day to check stuff out (but probably not bid on anything, considering we need to eat and stuff once we get home), and of course get the free schwag (print) and the free champagne.

We wanted to do the cheesy Austin Powers dance class but the stage was pretty full when we got there and the boat was super rocky, so we refrained and had a drink at the bar instead.  Then, being a girl, I had to retire back to the room to get all spiffified for formal night.  My hair was not cooperating but I think we managed to reach a compromise after lengthy negotations.  The captain’s cocktail party was fun –free wine, wine, and more wine.  Wine with dinner, which was *some sort of appetizer I don’t remember*, salad, and lobster and shrimp.  Joel had the prime rib, and wanted some of my dinner, which had long since disappeared, so we got another order to split.  This totally broke my “stop eating when you’re full, stupid, rule, but it was absolutely delish and I did just get fruit for desert.

Then back to the piano bar for more wine, wine, and some more wine and met up with our hot tub friends.  Hit the hot tub again before it closed at midnight, and then changed and hit the piano bar for one more (you guessed it) wine, and then headed to the midnight comedy show.  It was actually pretty hilarious, and of course very offensive and dirty, as any good might show should be.  We were sorta drifting off cuddling on the couches there so we headed back to bed, and sometime later, drifted off again.  Yes, there may have been a period of time I ommitted back there ::grin::.

This post will be ended with a public service announcement.  Please don’t be these people.

They are crowded around a little flat screen TV, in the middle of a beautiful ocean, on formal night, watching football.  Come on people.  For 51 weeks of your life, you do this.  This week, get your suit or fancy dress on, comb your hair, ditch your jersey, and enjoy a night of looking and feeling swanky and check the score later.

Ok, will be back tomorrow with Part 2 – Cozumel and Progresso, here we come!