Cruise 2012

I hope that when I am 80 years old I am half as willing to put myself out there as my mom is.  On September the 23rd my three sisters and I took our mom on a 4 day Carnival Cruise to the Bahamas.  It was glorious.  Sunny, calm and restful.  Well...if you don't count the last night at sea when everyone on the ship became terribly dizzy and sea sick.  One out of four days isn't too bad though.

We started off in two different cities...me from Dulles, Virginia, and the rest of the travelers flew out of Charleston, WV.  Now that sound simple enough.  Just fly to Orlando and meet up with our driver and off we go.  Not so fast.  Their first flight out of Charleston was cancelled.  Then they were rerouted through Charlotte, NC.  No problem.  Then another email came that bumped them back a few hours and put them into Orlando at a ridiculous time and there was no way to make the cruise.  They ended up flying down a whole day early just to make the ship.  Disaster averted:)  I met them on Sunday morning in Orlando and we were off.

Our driver picked me up at the airport sidestepping the 7000 Disney travelers and we drove a few minutes to pick up everyone else.  A mere hour later we were boarding the ship in Port Canaveral and ready to begin our adventure.  

Now...being the seasoned traveler I am, I suggested that just for safety sake everyone take something for sea sickness.  No one listened until it was obvious at dinner the first night that EVERYONE needed it!  From then on we were all heavily drugged with dramamine.  No more issues (until the last night when we would have to have been knocked out to not suffer).

Our first port of departure was Freeport, Bahamas.  Sunny and wonderfully charming.  We had a wonderful day of shopping, sight-seeing, and just being together.  I have to say that the being together, the 5 of us, was by far the best part of all.  If we weren't off the ship then we were in one of our two rooms laughing, talking, or just figuring out what to do or eat next.  The only time we were at sea was at night which was helpful for my never ending bout of motion sickness that medication simply dulls but never eliminates.  

I have to say that this is the first time all of us have traveled together sans husbands and children.  We had so much down time and enjoyed all of our meals leisurely.  I don't know why it took us so long to come up with this idea....remember I said earlier that our mom is 80, but we have determined to make it a yearly event (not cruising but going on a trip) as long as it is physically and financially possible.

Next port was Nassau, Bahamas.  Another beautiful place with so much to enjoy.  We went on a horse and carriage ride through historic Nassau.  I was afraid our horses might collapse from exhaustion but they seemed to hold up amazingly well.  We shopped for our shirts that mom wanted for our photo and determined that she was still and always will be  the boss of us:)  

I cannot wait to see where next years adventure will take us but I promise that there will be more fashion friendly attire and many smiles to brighten our days.  We are so thankful that God has blessed us with such a wonderful mom to enjoy.  She was such a trooper and willing to do anything and everything we suggested.  Life is good!

It all comes down to this...I love my mom and my sisters to the moon and back!