Life on a cruise ship was interesting, and although there were things that I loved, there were things that I hadn’t really thought about that weren’t my favorite things.  Lily and I still had a great time on board the ship though. And we had plenty of time to look out at the ocean, which was one of my favorite things about being on the boat.

Since we were trying to keep costs down, we went for a room on the first deck, and didn’t mind that we didn’t have windows, because truthfully, we didn’t spend all that much time in our room and we liked how dark it was when we wanted to sleep.  We both loved all the cute little animals they would make out of towels for us, and it was fun coming in each night to see what animal was waiting for us.

Our first full day on the boat, a group of us put on our swim suits, grabbed our books, and camped out on the deck chairs to enjoy the view and the sunshine. We never got much reading in though, because we had too much fun talking. We also got brave and tried the waterslides, which were fun, but the water was freezing, since it came straight out of the ocean. And each one of us managed to get sunburned – ha ha! We all had at least one spot on us where we missed putting sunscreen.

One thing I discovered was that on a cruise ship you do a lot of things because you are bored. I mean, you are sort of trapped on a ship with thousands of people and nowhere to go.  I had a blast doing all sorts of silly things with the group of ladies I was with, but one of the most fun things was when Brandi and I got every song right on the 90’s music trivia. We even sang along every time they played a new song, but we did it all from the hall outside the bar, because there wasn’t room for us inside (and it smelled awful – ha ha!). Good times! 

There was a TV music trivia game we went to where Lily knew this crazy Pokemon song, and so the guy in chage handed her the microphone and she sang the whole song to the crowd. In fact, the first night on the ship, Lily went to sing karaoke all by herself, because I was too tired to go.  I did make it there another night, when a group of twenty of us sang, which was a blast. We also watched a few of the “clean” stand-up comedy routines, ice sculpting, and a round of Deal or No Deal.  And then there was the time we all learned the dance to Michael Jackson’s Thriller – which was pretty awesome.

The best times on the ship were playing games and laughing and talking with friends. I loved the chance to get to know these amazing ladies better (Brandi, Shenai, Karen, Sharon, and Erica).

Having a Sunday at sea was nice in that I avoided all the random activities, and Lily and I sat on a deserted deck for a couple hours studying scriptures and reading talks from the latest General Conference.  It was so peaceful, and since we couldn’t attend church, it was just what we needed.

As a special activity, the ladies from my ward and I decided we should have a little study group together, and opened it up to all the other ladies in our large group. We ended up having a fabulous discussion about the Conference talk that would have been the RS lesson that week. And somehow, I ended up leading the discussion . . . ha ha! Not quite sure that always happens, but I just couldn’t let the “meeting” flop because nobody was taking charge.  And it helped that I had just reread the talk earlier that morning.

Dining on the boat was an adventure. There was ALWAYS food available, which was fun, but also dangerous, since we were always finding ourselves eating when we were bored, which was a lot. So we would have second breakfast, and second lunch, and early dinner – ha ha! Each night, we would go to the Blush dining room and eat at our assigned dining area. Since we were in a large group, we were able to switch tables each night, which was fun. And sometimes they would play music and people would get up and dance.  We even had a formal night, where we all got dressed up for dinner.

Each night we would order from the menu, and upon the advice of my sister, Holly, I would always order multiple appetizers, main dishes and desserts. Which had the bonus of not only letting me try more things, but when something was a dud, I didn’t go hungry. (And unfortunately, Carnival Cruise-line is not known for great food, and so it often saved me.) It also meant I could try weird things, like frog legs – which just happen to taste like slimy chicken.

The one disconcerting thing about dinner, was how the boat would rock back and forth as we ate. It was not my favorite thing, and it bothered Lily so much that she would eat quickly, and then head down to our room. We also had our nightly pictures taken at dinner, and so by the 4th night, we may have gotten a little loopy when it came time for the pictures.

Life on the ship was certainly an adventure – there was good and bad. (Did I mention that it gave me vertigo and I had to get a patch and medicine from a friend??) And although I think it will be my first and last cruise, I am so grateful that I went and that I got to have so much fun with my sweet Lily and my wonderful friends. 

On Monday morning, bright and early, we arrived back in Galveston, and after waiting until our muster station was called, we were finally back on land. I drove our crew back to San Antonio just in time for Arthur to get home from school. What a wonderful girls’ weekend!