It's Cruise Day! {Family Caribbean Day 3}

 

Our cruise day is finally here! Hip hip hooray! The girls have had such a great time in Tampa, I can't wait to see what they think of the cruise.

Check-in time at the port isn't until 12 p.m., so we had the opportunity to gather up our things in a pretty leisurely fashion. Sam took the girls down for breakfast while I was able to run a load of laundry (it was super nice that our hotel had two washers and dryers available for use) to wash up what clothes we had worn over the three days here. Given that we had a full load, I don't even want to see the laundry pile I'm going to have after ten days!

While the girls were super duper excited, I was just nervous! Sam and I obviously both have passports, but we weren't able to get the girls' back in time for this trip. That's technically fine because they can go on the cruise with just their birth certificates according to the company we booked through and according to the Norwegian Cruise Line website. And even though I read the entire "required documents" section of both their website and our cruise contract, I just felt like I was going to show up there and them say, "well, we still need this."

We took an Uber from the St. Petersburg/Clearwater area over to the port in Tampa, which was an easy 25 minute drive. You should have seen the girls' faces when we pulled up to the port, and two cruise ships sat there. I think it may have been even more dramatic for them because were were just there two days earlier (the aquarium is right next door), and there were no ships in port, so to them, they just appeared out of nowhere.

Drop off and check in for the cruise went smoothly. Because both girls were nervous and excited, they had about 1.2 billion questions ("how do we get on the big boat? why are there already people over there? can we go eat on the boat? are all these people going on the big boat, too?") which made the 30 minute wait in line to check in a little stressful, though really it could've been worse.

The lady at the check in counter starts purveying the girls' birth certificates and puts the information into her computer no problem. And then she takes our passports and puts them in, so I think shew, crisis avoided. And then, she goes back and asks if we have our marriage license to show we are both their parents. What? First, I'm not sure how our marriage license would show our parenthood, and second, both of the names listed on both our passports and our cruise documents are reflected on Harper's West Virginia birth certificate. Willa's Virginia certificate lists it as my maiden name. But, I pointed out as much on Harper's birth certificate, and she just said, "oh, ok." Gah.

dancing on the gangway

Once we made it through check in, we got to walk straight onto the boat. The girls were literally giddy and dancing along the gangway. Norwegian always has loud music going and dancers greeting you right as you walk on, so I think that just added to their hype. The little ladies wanted to see it all (and I was starving because I chose laundry over breakfast), so we decided to drop off our backpacks in the room and start exploring. Except for when we got into the room, the girls just wanted to play in there. What a cool "playhouse hotel" we are going to get to stay in! Willa was particularly excited about the "bunkin bed." We will see how excited she is about it at 9 p.m. tonight.

We love the "bunkin" bed

Sailing away from Tampa

 

The girls' first {virgin} Miami Vice

 

We finally talked them into leaving the room, and we went and signed Harper up at "Splash Academy" so that she could participate in any of the youth activities that interest her throughout the week. That process was pretty quick, but it was pitiful because Willa wanted to be able to stay in their playroom and get a bracelet like Harper had. She didn't understand why she wasn't old enough (and really, we don't either. She's 6 weeks shy of the requirement of age three, but she talks in full sentences, in potty trained, and as tall as any three year old. She could easily hang with the 3-5 year olds Turtles program.) But, rules are rules, so we just signed Wills up for the Guppies age group (which is for "6-35 month old babies"), even though we aren't sure how much we will do since they all require parental attendance.

Food came next, but the girls ate quickly because we told them they could go see the pool afterward, and even though it was windy and about 65 degrees, they were desperate to swim. So, we changed them into their bathing suits. Harper attempted to get into the "big pool," but it was freezing. So, we went back to the Kids Splash Down pool, that was much, much warmer. The girls played and played. The kids' area is actually really nice, with three slides, a small pool, and a kid-approved hot tub which are all 2.5 feet deep or less. Great for our girls' ages.

As we were finishing up our time at the pool to head back and clean up for dinner, Harper grabbed my hand and said, "I love this cruise you got us." :)

"I can't even believe this!"

Willa in the kids' hot tub

Mommy actually got in the heated kids' pool

Bye, bye Land!

We decided on Aqua for dinner, and we are glad we did. We met a sweet server named Devi, and while we were a little nervous at being seated in a long table area directly in the middle of two older couples, it ended up working out so well. Both were grandparents who were thrilled to see our little ones. Since most schools are in session this week, there aren't many children on the ship, so our little girls seem like a novelty to the other passengers and crew. I lost count today of how many people stopped us today to comment on or touch Willa Kate's hair. But, these two couples enjoyed talking to them, and one of the gentlemen at the end complimented them on how well behaved they were. He said he had a two year old grandson, and there's no way he would have sat there and nicely buttered his own bread. :) He told us that he could tell we really work with them, and that was such an encouragement. Throughout the last three days, there have been many times already that we've been frustrated or embarassed. A lot of it is because we have been the kid-free travelers, and the last thing that we want is for our children to be a nuisance or disturbance to someone else trying to enjoy their hard-earned vacation. But, all that policing and correcting really does reap its rewards, and it was just gratifying to hear someone else say that. And really, they were excellent. They ordered the crab cakes and garlic shrimp with a ceasar salad, and split it among themselves.

We will see how the bedtime arrangement goes tonight, but we couldn't have asked for a better first day. We made it. They let us on. Our kids were good. Amen.

Coloring while they wait for dinner

Here's the rest of our fun onboard the NCL Star.