cruisin'

two weekends ago my extended family and i went on our very first cruise. it was a 4 day trip to ensenada and it was great! if you've never been on a cruise, i highly recommend it. i hear carnival cruises are the best, but we were more than satisfied w/our royal carribean one. it's hard not to be when you have access to gourmet food 24/7! not to mention the endless blue horizon of ocean and clear skies all around you. the ship was decorated beautifully for the holidays...garlands and lights all throughout the multiple spiral staircases! we even had a formal nite...kinda like prom...where we all got gussied up and ate in the formal dining room. we were lucky too, [thanks to susan] coz we got our tables switched to a private room that could seat all of us together. and the service was so wonderful! the whole time there, we were asked if we wanted anything to eat or drink...wherever we went! it was awesome. =)

okey, so now i have to share a funny little tidbit...

when we entered the ship on friday, the first thing we saw was a mobile bar serving pina coladas and mai tais. eman got me a pina colada while i unpacked in our cabin. the plan was to unpack and then go to the buffet deck for lunch. we purposly ate breakfast early so that our stomachs could be empty for the famed buffet. however, once we were done unpacking, we were told by the ship's crew to get ready for the muster [emergency] drill. i quickly downed my pina colada and followed everyone to the upper deck. as we lined up and waited for the drill to be over, i noticed a strange unsettling feeling in my gut...something like nausea. "that's strange" i thought. "i shouldn't be seasick...at least not yet...we haven't even left port!" i ignored it...imagining instead the lunch buffet spread...but my gut kept distracting me. first i was nauseous, then i got what i thought were intense hunger pangs. THEN the whole sensation started to move up...to my heart...then to my head. and before i knew it, i grabbed susan's hand and whispered to both her and eman that i was passing out. thankfully, eman got someone's attention and moved me indoors where a college frat boy took one look at me and gave up his seat, declaring, "you do NOT look good." i would have puked on him if i was conscious enough to aim. instead i mumbled, "yah" and collapsed into his seat. for the rest of the trip, whenever he or one of his frat buddies saw me, they'd ask how i was doing. sweet, but embarrassing. especially bcoz i was wearing a church tshirt. "oh great," i thought as i'd pass them. "they're probably thinking 'oh there's that christian girl who drank too much.' i'm going to hell." it could've just ended there, but oh noooooo. being unsure if it was the alcohol or the ocean that lured me to unconsciousness, i, in my infallible wisdom, decided the safe thing to do would be to take some anti-motionsickness pills. so yes folks, my chaser of choice was dramamine. and yes, i was a complete idiot for doing that, and yes, i wonder what i was thinking too, and yes, the next day i was a walking zombie. it was all i could do to stay vertical for longer than 5 minutes in ensenada. the rest of that day was spent in lalaland. needless to say, i don't remember much of that second day. but the rest of the trip was great. here are some picts. =)