Sailing into the sunset

Of course I had to write about our cruise - how could I not! True this is after the fact, but I far like writing after-the-fact as opposed to during the event. This way I can savor the events a lot more.

Several weeks before the cruise: We used the cruise as an excuse to meet up with the Chandras! Not that we needed an excuse, but the "cruise" offered more of a forum. We pretty much just got together and hung out and got nowhere on booking the cruise!

2 weeks before the cruise: It was our wedding anniversary, and we were no closer to booking a cruise than we were any of the prior weeks! Spring Break was around the corner - March 13th! Rajesh (Charndra) came over to fix doors, and we started narrowing down possibilities. Sonal wanted to limit cruise departures from Galveston (booked) or from New Orleans (only one cruise departure left). We decided to leave it for Sunday when we were going to meet for dinner (on top of the earlier dinners we had already had getting nowhere). Sunday came, and we got down to the nitty-gritty. Srikanth printed a lot of possiblities so that we could compare and shop and narrow down our choices. Finally Rajesh called armed with information. Of course our cruise of choice was more expensive than we thought. The salesperson finally suggested Costa Cruises... the PENTHOUSE SUITE!!! We were ready to jump on it. Rajesh wanted to sleep on it, and book first thing Monday morning. Monday came, and Rajesh (the wheeler and dealer) got to cruises.com and found our cruise - with a much better price! We were going to sail for about $250 a piece plus tax! What a deal! We were ON!

1 week before the cruise: Sonal and I went into a shopping frenzy - buying sun dresses/t-shirts/swim stuff. Rajesh accused us of using up the money we saved... in shopping! But hey, we NEED to look good right? In the meantime, the kids had math tournaments and what-nots. We looked for a rental van, and couldn't find any. So we settled on plan B (our Odyssey). Rajesh wanted to ensure that we all fit... so we had another dinner on Sunday night to iron out more details! Everyone was getting excited (albeit a little nervous about the car trip there).

2 days before the cruise: Wendesday... Sanjana came home feeling ill! What timing! We had to keep her home on Thursday, and rush her to the doctor. Thursday was also the day I was on Jury duty - I went there hoping not to be picked, and wasn't! I got extremely lucky - I was juror #11. Had I been juror #10, I would have been picked for sure! So I rushed home, and then rushed Sanjana to Dr.Y my sweet and wonderful pediatrician. She was diagnosed with URI and put on antibiotics. Sonal's theory: I get to count my lucky stars because my kids fall sick BEFORE my trips and I can be armed with medicines to counter them... good theory... I am still not buying it... it's just some sick conspiracy to make sure I am as stressed as possible prior to trips :)

D-Day - Friday the 12th: We had decided to pull the kids out of school early. Sanjana stayed back home (to recover) and we just needed to pick up Suvedh. Srikanth came home early (lunch time) so that we could get an early start. I had SIX meetings to attend and matters that cropped up to be put to rest prior to leaving... par for the course!

Sonal was wonderful, and prepared sandwiches and wraps for dinner so that we didn't need to stop for dinner. We packed everything into the car, and left RIGHT on the DOT!!! at 3PM! The drive was smoother than expected. With 4 drivers, we took turns and chatted all the way (at least 2 of us - the driver and a passenger) were awake at any given time. We did SO good that we were there at around 11am (in spite of losing an hour crossing the time zone while travelling East). By the time we checked in, they had opened up the ship, and we boarded in time to have lunch on the ship! An added bonus that we were very happy to peruse! The kids explored the ship from top to bottom and in no time were experts on the best way to reach all the different places.

We, of course, had to catch up on sleep and unpack. Our dinner time was set at 6pm. Our waiter, Alfredo, took great care of us. The dining was quite slow paced with a lot of pauses to help aid digestion so that more could be consumed. Dinners were 8 courses long! There was an abundance of food which lent to the decadent feeling. Andrea was the person in charge of cruise entertainment, and had jugglers and dance troups and singers belting out tunes. "Rocket Singh" (our nickname for Rocky) our maitre de was kind enough to arrange for some Indian food for us for at least three dinners. He had arranged for Dhal and a Veggie one day; Fish and dhal on another; and biriyani and dhal on yet another occassion!

Sun the 14th and Mon the 15th: At Sea days - what more can I say! We took advantage of the facilities in the ship, the gym, the sauna, turkish steam bath, jacuzzi etc. The kids were nowhere to be found at one point. We did have them come with us and enjoy some of the entertainment. I caught up on reading "The girl with the dragon tattoo" - Stieg Larson, "Half Broke Horses" - Jeannette Walls, and "Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society" over the trip. I also read a couple of the kids books - "Vladimir Tod Chronicles - 8th gr bites" - and "The name of this book is 'Secret'"...

Tue the 16th: By this time we had lost track of the day/date. We were quite isolated, and didn't know of any news (didn't really have an urgent need to know). This was the day we landed at Charlotte Amalie. The kids and men were going to snorkel. Sonal and I took off into town on our own. We went to the Amber museum where we saw samples all sorts and sizes of Amber. There was Amber that had entire scorpions in them - quite horrifying! 

Monday July 11th 2011!  I realized that I had started this blog, and never published it... shame on me!  The rest of that trip was really a blur.  We landed in Puerto Rico (went on the zipline in the rain forrest) and the Bahamas (went to the beach) and landed back.  The ride home was quieter and spent in the wonderful afterglow of the trip. 

Another Cruise?  Bring it on!

Thank you for reading.