First Day On The 2012 Cricut Cruise

Karen, Wendi and I arrived at the port around 1pm, when the letter we received told us to arrive. We waited in line to get checked in for 2.5 hours. The rest of the Cricut group  arrived earlier and told us they got on the boat without waiting in line like we did. We were told that it was immigration day, whatever that meant, and it took longer to get checked in. I did notice that every once in awhile one of the check in people would hold up a passport and it would say MEXICO on it and then they would have to call a another person over and it would take longer. We would later find out that it was Spring Break in Mexico and that was the reason for the hold up as probably over half the guests were non-US citizens and their passports were all having to be checked out very carefully. I also found out that many of the teenagers were super rude and the small children ran around unsupervised quite often which made for an irritating experience to say the least.

After finally making it on the ship we made a mad dash directly the Muster Drill so we could learn how to put on our life jackets in case the ship started to sink. Poor BFF Karen was totally irritated at this time and surprisingly, I was nice and calm *okie thinks this surprised Karen and Wendi at this time, and also surprised okie*. We finally made it to our room. By the time we made it to the room I had one of my bags but poor Karen and Wendi didn’t have any. It was time to go to dinner and it was casual, thank goodness because we sure didn’t have fancy clothes! The only saving grace about dinner in the dining room that night was the company! We were seated at a table with Treva, aka TP98, Sharon I2BZ2W8, and Richard from Provocraft and his wife Brianna. The food was mediocre *okie thinks the taste was quite similar to likes a microwave meal* and the service was terribly slow. The waiters were not very friendly and I found myself wish I had my service staff from the previous year's cruise. I spent part of the time going from table to table looking for Karen Silva aka flyswhistle and mingling with many of the other Cricut guests. I never did find Karen but found out later she was seated away from us since she had booked through another company.

After the dinner we went back to our room to check on our luggage an luckily it was in our room. Our wonderful steward was a lady named Ingrid, and was at our beckon call about anything we wanted or needed. She had a heck of a personality and a great sense of humor. She told us she was there to “spoil” us. We changed clothes and since we finally had our toiletries we put on some make up and headed to the Sail Away Cocktail Party.

I took time before leaving for the Cocktail Party to snap a picture of BFF Karen on the balcony. Karen and I have decided we will not cruise without a balcony again if we can help it. It was nice not to have to have to leave our rooms if we wanted to look outside and enjoy some fresh air. Most mornings we went out in our nightgowns to greet the morning and it was great for when we were in port to be able to see out before we got off the ship.

At the cocktail Party Dan Larsen from Provocraft made a few announcements, one being that the last Golden Cricut would be given away during the cruise. He also announced that each person included in the classes would receive a quarterly membership to the Cricut Circle. I quickly told BFF Karen “girl you will get a free cartridge for that!”. I did finally find Karen Silva during the party, or she found me, and we had a great time catching up. Dan had each person tell who they were, how long they have had been using a Cricut and where they were from. I think I got hushed a few times due to my loud voice due to the 4 margarita's I had during the course of the evening *okie won’t mention the few other drinks she had as well* and luckily the ones who were saying hush didn't hear me say "oh kiss my butt, I'm having fun" or maybe they did and that's why some folks decided early on they didn't care for me *okie cracks up laughing*. I was able to finally meet the two Canadians, Jennifer and Leila, that I had been wanting to meet, along with Danita who is from Georgia. I also got to talk to Margie, aka bleedingcricutgreen, for a bit and let me tell you that woman is hilarious!

Danita, Jennifer, Leila, Shirley

After leaving the Cocktail Party a few of us found the lounge Bolero's and decided to partake in a "slushy drink", as my new Canadian friends called them. We shared quite a few laughs and once we finished our drinks we went back to my room where we found Karen, Wendi, Sandi and Sandy. 

I believe I vaguely remember Danita telling us something the next morning about how she couldn't hang with us anymore....but she did *okie grins evilly*.

 

Jennifer, Danita, Sandy, Leila

Being the good hostess's we were, we showed our guests the view from the balcony and told them they were welcome to come visit and share the balcony with us. A few did come and visit a few times during the cruise and it was nice to be able to sit outside and not be crowded in a room. 

I took the opportunity to snap a few pictures, this one showing a few of our guests on the balcony.

We all decided to go to the casino and hang out for a bit. Somehow we ran into the Pirate Parade. In my mottled memory I remember us trying to go up a staircase and being told we couldn't until after the parade and that is when I noticed some folks sitting around in their best pirate attire.  Since pirates are not something I tend to see I did get a few pictures and good thing because that is the only reason I remember the pirates *okie makes a mental note to remember that Royal Caribbean does NOT skimp on the alcohol in drinks*. We finally made it to the deck that the casino. Danita told us she was going back to the room to get some money and would return, she never returned and it was the next day we saw her...HA HA HA.

In my usually style of wandering around being nosy I had lost everyone else and decided to go back to the room. It took me what seemed like forever to find my dang room! I kept walking up and down the dang hall reading the numbers and then I would look up and down the hall and think "I know there are not 300 rooms in this hallway!" Come to find out I was on the wrong side of the ship. Luckily I remembered my room was close to the library and after crossing the library I was able to find the Barbie display and I knew I was close. BFF Karen and Wendi were already in bed but not asleep. We discussed the events for the next day but none of us remembering exactly what were were suppose to be doing and when. When I finally laid down to sleep I was hoping I would at least remember I was on a dang cruise ship and that I had something that I was suppose to be doing the next day!

 

To Be Continued…..