Monday morning we got up early to finish getting everything ready for our trip and got the children ready for their crazy day of babysitter swap day. Promptly at 8:15 Liz showed up to take over and I found myself unexpectedly sad to be leaving my children who just the day before were driving me crazy!!! Anyway, they were so excited to be playing with Liz that I had to chase them down to get a hug and kiss good-bye. We made it to the airport, checked our bags and found out that our flight was delayed, but thankfully Delta had already booked us on another flight out of Atlanta since we were going to miss our first flight. After a bit of rushing through airports and whatnot we made it to Ft. Lauderdale. As we waited and waited, hope that our luggage made it began to diminish when I looked around and noticed that it was just us and a very few other people still standing their waiting for bags. After talking to a Delta agent we found out that they were on their way on the next flight and would be arriving at 3:40pm so we left them instructions to please deliver them to the boat asap and left. As excited that I was to be on vacation with Pratt, I have to admit that I was a little pouty and worried about our luggage. We made the most of the first day on our ship, ate lunch, walked around, went to our room, and when dinner time came we went to dinner. Trying to stay optimistic I just knew that when we turned the corner to the hall where our room was we would see our luggage sitting in the hall waiting for us.....but, it wasn't!!! They missed the boat and the next place we would be able to get them was a day and a half away!!! Oh, I was so sad! Not because I needed this or that but because I was excited to show Pratt my new swimsuits. Anyway, we spoke to the guest relations on the boat and they were very helpful. I am sure that this isn't the first time something like that had happened, but they made us feel so special and accommodated us in the most wonderful way! Jan, the girl we worked with, was the best and when I felt like I could cry she was very calm and reassuring. Of course, Pratt was wonderful in how he stayed upbeat through the whole thing and stayed positive and calm the whole time!!! Thankfully on Wednesday around 4:30pm we got our luggage and the first thing we did was put on our workout clothes and head to the gym to work off all that food and drink we had consumed. If you are ever considering a cruise, I would highly recommend Royal Caribbean. Based on our experience, everyone was so friendly and helpful. All the staff were kind to us and helpful in many ways from free tux rental to discounts at the spa to a little extra splash in our drinks.
Anyway, that was the worst of the worst and we had a wonderful time. This is a picture when we got on the boat before we knew for sure that our bags didn't make it.
Because our bags didn't make it we didn't have anything to wear for formal night. Thankfully Jan took care of us and arranged for Pratt to have a free tux rental and gave me a dress and some shoes to wear. The tux and my shoes were a little big, but we had a great night!!!
We did two excursions while out and about. The first stop was Grand Cayman and we did a Jeep 4x4 tour of the island. We drove through all these little neighborhoods...kind of got the chamber of commerce tour, visited a national park, went to Hell (seriously, that was the name of the place), visited a Rum Cake factory which was wonderful (we had free samples of rum cake and let me tell you, it was the best cake I have ever had and am kind of wishing right now that we had bought more than we did), and ended up at a little beach bar for lunch and to hang. Unfortunately at this point we didn't have our bathing suits so we elected to had back early to the boat and see if anyone knew anything about our bags. And much to my great joy and relief we were able to find out that our bags were there and we would be getting them sometime that afternoon!!!!The next day we were in Cozumel. Our excursion for that day took us over to Cancun, on a 45 minute bus ride (without air conditioner), a 5 minute trolley ride and we finally arrived at the Tulum Mayan Ruins. It was pretty neat to see the remains of this ancient civilization and learn a little bit about them. Turns out that unfortunately not much is known because some archbishop destroyed most of the records by fire. Anyway, one thing I could figure out is that these people know how to pick a place with a view. On one side of the wall it was blazing hot and nearly unbearable, but on the other side of the wall, in the city there was a nice cool ocean breeze and breath taking views of the ocean. After we were done there we went to a little beach hut to have lunch and swim for a bit in the ocean. After being so incredibly hot, that ocean was so refreshing and I really didn't want to get out to get back on a hot bus, but it was either do that or be stuck without my luggage again:)
This is a picture at the Mayan Ruins. Isn't that view just wonderful!?!?!?!?
Here is a picture of our boat. We took this on the tender in Grand Cayman. While at port in Cozumel we were docked next to the Oasis of the Seas which is the largest cruise ship in the world. It made our boat look like a dingy it was so big!!!
One thing that was nice about not having our bags was that since we didn't get to wear our formal clothes on formal night we wore them on our anniversary night. It was fun to get all dressed up for that night since it was such a big night for us. We had wonderful table friends and am so glad that we got to meet them. They were very friendly and just fun people to be with.
It was a great trip and I am so thankful for the 10 years that Pratt and I have had together.
Oh wait, one more story....when we made it back to Savannah on Saturday we were tired and ready to go. I was dying to see the children and give them great big hugs; well, as our luck with our luggage would continue when we got off the plane a horrible storm came through. The power was knocked out at the airport, the firemen showed up, and of course in weather that bad no one in their right mind would be unloading bags from the plane. So we waited for an hour to get our bags. We were greatly relieved that we got them and the jury is out as to whether or not we will ever check bags again:)
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