Splendour of the Seas

Day One - February 22

My parents decided that the way to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary would be to surround themselves with their children and grandchildren on a 5-day cruise from Galveston to Cozumel (and back again.) Naturally we were all pleasantly surprised and very accepting of their generous offer. I think we had a marvelous time and by the last day I think most of us had finally relaxed and enjoyed ourselves at least once on the trip.

One of the nicest parts of the cruise was that it departed from our former home of Galveston. The cruise ship business there began a few months before we moved off the island, so we hadn't seen much of its impact. Coming into the terminal from the parking shuttle, we ran into an old friend working for Port of Galveston police. On our way home, our porter was someone we knew through our old neighborhood.

We waited for the rest of the family for about 30 minutes in the main terminal after checking in. Mom wanted to have one big group photo taken as we board the ship. The cruise line photographers are fantastic at taking photos of you every day so they can sell them to you the next day or night.

After we boarded and found our spacious staterooms (with a balcony! Thanks Mom & Dad!!), we rushed to the Windjammer Cafe to eat some lunch. The next few hours we had to ourselves to explore the ship. At 4 p.m. came the mandatory lifeboat drill. David, Leah, Alexander, Brian, Lisa, Ashley, Daniel, Laurie, and our family were all at the same muster station. Somehow, Mom & Dad mustered farther down Deck 4. We met up with them to have a photo taken with four of the grandchildren. (We had already taken off the bulky lifevests.)

When the ship left Galveston, Mom & Dad took the grandchildren up to a higher deck to watch, leaving Bryan and I some quiet time. We unpacked all the suitcases and stored them under the bed. I spent a lot of time watching off the balcony, though I couldn't see the city - our side of the ship faced Pelican Island.

Dinner each night is at 6 p.m. - early seating. Now, when Mom booked the trip she specifically requested all 12 of us (14 with the 2 high chairs) be put at one table. They assured her we would be together. However, when we received our SeaPass cards, we noticed we were split between two tables. They assured us this time that the tables were very close together. You can imagine our surprise when we came to dinner and found the tables completely separated by a serving station. We didn't even have the same waiters! (Note: waiters and asst. waiters are the best people to have around when cruising!)

Mom & Dad, David & Leah were at one table, and the Kellys & Jones were at another. We noticed the Head Waiter (a supervisory position over several waiters) spent quite a lot of time talking with Mom. The next night they slightly corrected our dilemna as our second (smaller) table was changed to put us adjacent, though not together.

After dinner, we walked around again and looked at our boarding photos. Then the girls noticed the staircase leading down to a beautiful oval landing. A dance floor they shouted!

So they danced. Cameron did several ballet moves, but the others spent much of their time twirling, twirling, twirling. (I wonder now why I snapped so many photos - they're all blurry with twirling!) After some time doing this, Bryan and I took our girls up to Deck 10 - the Ocean Adventure Kids Club for their sign-up event. (At 9 p.m.) Kids Club consisted of a large preschool / daycare looking room with televisions, games, carpet, couches, hula hoops, toys, etc. Everything a 3-5 or 7-9 yr old could possibly be interested in while cruising. We met the staff and filled out the forms, while Cameron & Brenna made some kind of sugar candy. Cameron later played a ball game called, "Flinch."

Mom & Dad offered to keep all six children in their stateroom so we could go "out" that first night. David kept Alexander and went to bed. (He had only been home from his 3-wk business trip to England for two days and was exhausted.) Brian, Lisa, Leah, Bryan & I headed up to the Viking Crown Lounge. Lisa tired out pretty early also and went down. About 11 p.m. I started feeling guilty about staying out while Mom & Dad had my girls. So I headed down to get them and go to bed.

The "in-laws" stayed out together until 3:30 a.m. I was never really able to fall asleep and started getting worried about them around 2 a.m. I stuck my head out into the hallway at 3 a.m. at the exact same time as my sister. "Have you seen my husband?" she whispered. Nope, but we propped the doors and sat on the floor in the hallway and had a good ol' fashioned sisterly chat. After 30 minutes or so, the culprits appeared at the long end of the hallway – and seeing us – stopped and made motions belying their incredulation of being “caught” by their wives.

They laughed and cajoled themselves down that long hallway, laughing more as they presented themselves to us. What a sight, we two women in pajamas and dishelved hair, sitting on the floor (with Lisa jumping up and snapping photographs of them.) Those three, faces bright with alcohol, giddy with themselves.

Finally, three full hours of uninterruped blissful sleep. (Because the kids wake up at 6 a.m. remember....>)