Mitsugirly had a JOYful cruise
Day 9: They're kicking us off
Well the day had come. It was time to say good-bye to the beautiful Joy. I set my alarm for 7:30am but was up by 6:30am.
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I got dressed and headed out to see where we were and it was a beautiful sunrise coming up.
The water was still smooth as glass...just like it had been the entire cruise. I have never been on a cruise where you didn't feel some type of movement. This would be a first. The ENTIRE cruise was so calm. There would be no sea legs when we returned home this time. So weird.
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As it was getting brighter outside, I figured I would head back to the room to wake the family up. We needed to be out of the room by 8am and it was getting close.
Up to the buffet for some....eggs, bacon and sausage of course. Then we just hung out waiting for them to call our color while the hubby drank his multiple cups of coffee.
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At one point, I wasn't sure if they had called our color and we might have missed it so I decided to go ask someone directing the people traffic and they told me "If you're ready to get off then you can get in line".
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The line was long but it was moving somewhat quickly. That was until we hit the Manhattan Dining Room and then you was like a gerbil in a maze winding back and forth in the sea of chairs they had lined up. There we would spend quite some time laughing about the adults going back and forth but all the kids would sit in the chairs every time the line stopped. Then some of them would get smart and go over a few rows and sit and wait for the parents to catch up to that row. It was only kids doing it. I found it funny since they are little balls of energy any other time but standing in a line was wearing them out. LOL
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We finally made it and was "dinged" out at 10am. So sad. That sound meant our cruise was officially over.
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We hit the gangway and there was no sounds of laughter or joy or excitement anymore. Everyone was quiet and somber now.
Down the escalator and into the building to find our luggage.
We would find our purple section all the way at the end. There were plenty of porters waiting to take your luggage for you if you wanted.
Once we picked out our luggage we headed toward customs. This would be our first experience of not having to fill out a declarations form. When did they stop doing this? It is now an "oral" declaration if you are over the limit. So weird.
We scheduled an Uber to pick us up and headed to the location they would meet us at. As we waited, there was a food/drink truck parked there so we could get something to quinch our thirst. Wait, we now have to pay for our drinks. Double phooey!
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We were looking at the Uber map and our driver was over at the drop off area just sitting. He kept texting saying he was waiting on us but didn't see us. We told him we were at the pick up area. He circled around a few times and finally found us. I mean if we're being picked up to go to the airport, we're not going to be over at the drop off area to get on the ship. It really makes me wonder about these drivers. It can't be the first time they've ever done this right? We waited about 1/2 hour for him after leaving the terminal inside.
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Into the tunnel we went
We had a late flight leaving at 2:20pm today so we were in no hurry. We hung out for awhile before checking in and then we were getting hungry again. However, airport food is not as keto friendly as what you can find on the cruise ship. I would have to sacrifice my diet at least for today. I ended up with a PIZZA! I didn't care at this point.
We had 2 flights on the way home.
We boarded our first flight.
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We had a funny flight attendant that made jokes during their flight safety speech.
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He started out as "Hola, Bienvenidos blah blah blah I don't speak Spanish sorry."
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"Raise your hand if you are hot" (It was hot on the plane at that point). Then he said "Ok, raise your hand if you are average looking" Ohhhh, "hot" I get it.
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Then he ask if there was any problems with the people that had android phones connecting to the wifi. Everyone started checking their phones. He said "Good, now that you all have your Androids out, I'll be coming by with a trash bag for you."
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We sang Happy Birthday to one of the flight attendants.
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"Good evening folks and welcome to Nashville, the new Vegas. We hope you enjoyed your flight and as always thank you for flying Southwest."
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We arrived in Nashville and our second flight would be at 7:35pm. We had about a 4 hour layover there. Everything went as planned and our second flight was on time. However, while we were waiting to catch that flight, some weird number kept calling the hubby's phone. He didn't answer. Then Sakari's phone rang. Then mine. We started comparing numbers and it was the same number. So, I answered. I hear a voice say "Hi, can you tell me if your husband Sam is with you? This is Norwegian Cruise Lines". Um..... "Yes, he is why?" They tell me that they needed to talk to him. Oh my, what has he left behind this time? Well, they proceed to tell him that they have him as still on the ship. HA! He wishes! They said his card must have not worked when they "dinged" him out.
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Sakari kept herself busy drawing on her ipad. She was drawing pictures of some of her friends in her class.
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We arrived in Columbus and it was good to be back.
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I have to add that on the way home, the hubby decided to break his diet as well and we stopped at Taco Bell. I'm happy to say that I gained less than 2 pounds during this cruise and by the 3rd day of being back home, I had lost that and another '3 pounds on top of it so all that cheating did not hurt me at all. I made sure to rub this in the hubby's face of course. I've managed to lose another 8.2 pounds since the cruise. Go me!
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So thoughts on the cruise...
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It was PACKED! Spring Break didn't feel the same as it used to. We were at full capacity. I actually walked away from this cruise saying "I will never cruise again during Spring Break". Will that hold true? Who knows. Maybe it will be a faint distant memory when Spring Break rolls around again. I don't know. But these mega ships packed with this many people just gets uncomfortable at times. I found myself wishing that we were on a smaller ship with less activities and maybe we would have had a different experience. Who knows. We may just have to do land vacations during Spring Break next time.
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We did enjoy every minute of the cruise. Don't get me wrong. I think maybe next time Sakari will need a friend or someone with her to keep her company. I'm not sure if she enjoyed hanging out with mom and dad the entire time or not. She said she did but who knows. I just think she would have had a better time if she was with kids more her age. Things have really changed since our last cruise. She was an entirely different child back then. We'll see what happens in the future.
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What's next for us? Sakari has been begging for an Alaskan cruise. Maybe we'll do something different next time around. New places and new animals sounds pretty good to me right now. Of course it's been in the high 70's over the last few days so that might be influencing my thought process right now. :)
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I hope you all enjoyed the review.
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Until next time....
