When Ship Happens

Our Christmas Cruise - Carnival Triumph

Mom couldn’t go with us on this one, so the 3 of us set out on our adventure all by ourselves. To make this vacation time work… I had to work a 12 hours shift the day we were leaving for Galveston. By the grace of God, I was able to leave work early. I headed home, the boys loaded up the car while I changed clothes… we packed up the hedgehog and were off to Mom’s house to drop Pudge off to spend a week with his Maw-Maw.

 

In this process we discovered Trenton had turned off the lights in the house Mark meant to leave on… and didn’t unplug his Christmas tree in his room… so back home for that. 2 minutes later down the road I realized I forgot my watch, so we turned around again. Only instead of grabbing my watch I got side tracked grabbing more stuff I thought we forgot and we left again… 2 minutes later, I remembered my watch again, so we turned around for a 3rd time and that was a success. I thought Mark was going to strangle me, but he only smiled :)

Pre-Cruise Hotel:

Our drive to Galveston was uneventful. We made good time and hit little traffic. I had booked us a room at the Holiday Inn Resort on the Seawall. 2 queen beds on the executive floor with an oceanview balcony.

Red Flag #1. There was one gentleman in line in front of us. He didn’t seem to be the happiest of fellows and eventually stormed out the door…

Red Flag #2. Instead of assisting us the girl said she would be with us in a moment and picked up the phone. She told the caller on the other line she would have to go as she had guests in front of her. Then she picked up the phone again and called a guest at the hotel… telling him if he would pack up all his things and come back down to the lobby she would see what she could do to get him another room. Then she picked up the phone again and called someone about a reservation…. Really? Hello? Standing right here in front of you! Finally, she ran out of things to do and decided she would check us in. As she hands over the paperwork she thanks Mark for being an IHG Gold Member and tells him because he is such a valued customer they have upgraded us to a room on the executive floor. Mark says “Umm… unless you are giving me a refund, no you didn’t… that’s the room we reserved.” She says “Oh… well, here are your room keys” Customer Service Rating – 0

Red Flag #3. We were not given any direction in finding our rooms so we wandered around the lobby looking for the elevators… ended up wandering down a hallway and finally found an elevator… outside! As we reached the “executive floor” we stepped off the elevator and I thought good gracious it is cold! What happened to the heater? Then I realized it was cold because we were surrounded by concrete… and we were still OUTSIDE!

Now… I am not quoting Wikipedia or Webster’s here, but as a college educated adult, it has been my understanding it is a …

Motel- if you enter your room from the outside of the building

Hotel- if you enter your room from the inside of the building

Resort- is a hotel with a lot more cool shit so that if you didn’t want to leave the premises you don’t have too. In my observation this Holiday Inn Resort …. Is an over-priced Motel. What in the world gave them the idea they could advertise themselves as a resort? Was it because they have a restaurant and a pool attached? Guess what… almost every Motel 6 is next to a Waffle House and has a pool… you don’t see them advertising a fabulous stay at the Motel 6 Resort?! At least they leave the light on for you… the chick at the front desk of the Holiday Inn won’t even check you in until she is through making all her phone calls for the night!

Oh… I almost left out the best part. We made it to our rooms… they were clean. It had a balcony and we could see the ocean. Fine. I picked up the phone and dialed the button labeled “room service” … and got the chick at the front desk. When I inquired on placing my order she said she would have to transfer me. So we ordered room service and patiently waited for dinner to be delivered. Next thing we know amidst the howling wind outside the door we hear a guying calling “Rooomm Serrrvice” over and over. We opened the door and stuck our head out… He was 2 doors down and said “Oh, there you are.” He didn’t even know who had ordered the food… he was just walking up and down the hallway hollering and hoping some hungry fool would open the door! We ate our dinner and crawled into bed for a well deserved nights rest!

Embarkation: We arrived to the port about 11:45am. Besides booking the Suite we also had Faster to the Fun. The priority line was short, but they were having problems scanning the passports. We were held up there maybe 10 minutes. After that we breezed through the security scanners and walked up to check in at the Captain’s Lounge. They had already started boarding so we walked up to the counter with no wait and got our Sign and Sail cards and then walked straight on to the ship!

With Faster to the Fun our room was ready when we boarded the ship and all our luggage was delivered before 1:00pm. We were able to get everything unpacked and put away… and the cabin fully decorated before we headed upstairs to our Facebook Meet N Greet.

We were lucky enough to have another fun and active Facebook group. It was such a joy to meet everyone in person. You guys really help me pass the days counting down :)

The Suite: It was everything we had hoped for and more. With 3 of us in the room it really helped having the extra space. There were 2 closets and set of drawers (1 of the closets had shelves). There was more than enough room for all our clothes and to put away all our luggage. They made the couch into a bed for Trenton. We each had our own “nightstand” and there was still an extra chair to sit in. The extra dressing area was perfect. I could take a shower and then get out of everyone’s way getting ready. The cabinet with the safe had 2 extra shelves below it. We also had a fridge in our room. A big surprise was the extra plug in outlets. There were 2 in the dressing area part and 1 over the little set of drawers so we had an outlet to plug our Christmas tree into which was perfect! The balcony was twice the size of a regular balcony. We had 4 chairs and 2 small tables.

Of course… I can’t finish talking about the suite without mentioning the bathtub! We had a full size bathtub with jets. The very first night Trenton informs us… he is taking a bath. The water ran for a while and then all of a sudden we heard the loudest noise. It was the equivalent to the toilets flushing on the ships… the extremely loud sucking noise… only it just kept going… over and over. I heard Trenton start screaming so I ran to the bathroom and I am trying to yell through the door over the noise to find out what in the devil is going on in there. Trenton comes barreling out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel…white as a ghost. There is water spraying all over the bathroom! The sound is still continuing over and over again. I finally made my way in the bathroom and slammed the shower doors shut to stop the spray of water before I could compose myself to figure out what was going wrong. I finally reached back in the shower and turned off the jets. …. Apparently… If you don’t have enough water in the tub and you turn on the jets it makes a horrendous noise and shoots water all over the place. Some of the jets start sucking if they can’t blow out… so one of the jets sucked up against Trenton’s leg, while the rest of the started blowing and spraying water. It was hilarious! Mark and I laughed so hard we cried! Trenton was not particularly amused. So… you have been warned. Make sure you have enough water in the tub to fully cover the jets before you turn them on :)

Christmas dinner was wonderful.  We sang Christmas Carols in the lobby.  There were snow machines that made it snow.  Jingle bell braclets were handed out to everyone. The captain and his crew were hanging out. 

Totally sorry about the Creme Brulee above.  I was so excited it was offered, because it is not usually on short cruises.  .... and it was really, really good!  LOL  I dove right in until I remembered "Crap... I didn't take a picture!"

Overall… the Christmas Cruise was a total success! No cooking… no cleaning… no relatives that wouldn’t leave. Just a wonderful relaxing time. Santa does visit cruise ships if any of your kids are wondering… I think he saves the boats for last so he can rest a bit when it’s over.

Carnival Triumph Post Red Bags and 2.0 Upgrades

Carnival Triumph is my new favorite ship and Progreso is my new favorite port…

OK…OK...  So the thought about Progreso might be a little drastic… but we did have a FANTASTIC time.  That blog is still in the making! 

First, let’s chat about the Triumph.  I love this ship! LOVE IT!  Our first time on her was a disaster.  We had thruster issues on that cruise and lost almost an entire day.  We also missed our scheduled port, Trenton ended up with food poisoning on the way down to Galveston (he was medically cleared to cruise) and then our luggage was delivered and someone’s smuggled wine had burst and leaked all over our luggage and clothes.  It had the ingredients of a cruise from hell, but we still managed to walk away feeling as if we had a wonderful time.

I was worried at that time because the Triumph was a smaller, older ship than what we were used to.  It didn’t have all the bells and whistles and I thought there was a good chance that we would be disappointed.  It was totally not the case.  So this time around after a mini face lift and the addition of the 2.0 upgrades… my expectations were high and they were met!

Disclaimer:  My Mom’s cabin had a leaky faucet.  It was leaking into the wall and also flooded the bathroom floor… daily.  The plumber was there 3 times during the 5 days and it he still couldn’t fix it.  *Don’t ask her opinion of how things went.  **That’s why I blog and she doesn’t :)

Our cabin right down the road was fine.  It even had one of those beds that unfolded from the ceiling.  Trenton thought this was some pretty cool shit.  He befriended the room steward, worked out a deal to get that bed made, left my Mom with the leaky faucet room and moved right on in!

 

The boat itself seemed to be in fine condition.  It was not completely redone and “Sunshined” but did seem to have all the necessary replacements from my point of view.  Our cruise group from Cruise Critic and Facebook organized a cabin crawl which took us down to deck’s 1 and 2.  The carpet all appeared to be new.  The rooms that were shown were all very nice and had the new flat screen TV’s.  There were also zero odors.  I sniffed down all the hallways just for you guys.

 

My Take on the 2.0 Ugrades:

The main pool has been redone.  They added the “over flow” option thing around it.  I am sure it has a proper name, but I don’t know it.  Sure does make it nice to sit there with your feet in the water while the kids play.  They also added a couple of shower thingy’s out there and some new hot tubs.  Trenton has a thing where he wants to be the first person down the slide on each boat.  The Triumph slide was closed at first... but he was finally successful and even confirmed with the employee that he was the first :)

On each side of the main pool are the Red Frog Rum Bar and the Blue Iguana Tequila Bar.  They were always busy and provided some more seats out of the sun by the pool.  I did not partake in any drinks there because 1) anyone over the age of 25 should not drink tequila.  No, seriously… it isn’t a good idea and 2) we were behaving on this trip.

Alchemy Bar:  I could not pass this one up.  I just ordered off the menu and tried the Chipotle Pineapple Martini. Holy Moly was it delicious!  I have been dreaming about it and will certainly be hitting it up again in January.  It was pricy but worth every drop :)

EA Sports Bar:  Must have been great.  It was always packed when it was open. We did walk through when it was closed and it looks very nice!  We are Cowboys fans (Unfortunately) and their game was not on the list of those to be played fleet wide.  I was pleasantly surprised to see the Cowboys game would be showing on the big screen by the pool.  It wasn’t, however, shown in your cabins so if you are a Cowboys fan… there is hope for you yet to catch the game at sea.

Guy’s Burgers did not disappoint.  They fully lived up to their reputation.  For some reason I was under the impression you ordered the type of burger you wanted and they made it for you.  (Some people have told me you still do… but this wasn’t my experience… I will investigate further in Jan.)  Instead you get in line and they just give you the buns with cooked patties and cheese.  There is a condiment bar off to the side where you actually make your burger.  The signs are up if you wish to follow the recipe or you can just add toppings to your heart’s content.  Mark was in heaven… especially after he figured out he could ask for 2 patties and make it a double heart attack… I mean double meat cheeseburger.  I can’t tell you how many he consumed in the 5 days… but I am fairly certain it’s in the double digits.

Blue Iguana Taco Bar.  In the mornings you could get a breakfast burrito.  There are lots of choices for meat and topping… including hash brown potatoes and y’all know I love potatoes!  They also had breakfast tacos you could get with fried eggs on top.  Those were delicious and messy!  In the afternoons you could still have burritos or tacos…just not the breakfast kind.  I’m in love with the fish tacos.  Just like Guys Burgers off to the side was the “salsa cart” with all your toppings, fixings and fresh watermelon.  Yumm!

Chopstick’s had the Asian food.  It was good.  Line was never very long and moved fairly fast.  I loved the egg rolls (they called them spring rolls).  I’m not one to argue.  Whatever those rolled up things are called… they are delicious!

Regular ole stuff…Main Dining Room: 

We had Your Time Dining.  We usually ate early (between 5:45 and 6:00pm).  Wait was never more than 5 minutes even on formal night.  Food was good as always.  It always amazes me the amount of people that will stare at you as you are eating and ask how something was… but will never try it for themselves.  My advice to you timid cruisers is eat it… try it… you have already paid for it!  If you don’t like it… send it back.  Your Momma isn’t going to send you to bed with no dinner if you don’t eat it.  Spread your wings a little.  You will be pleasantly surprised.

Casino:  Usually we are casino players.  As a matter of fact we were on this cruise with a casino discount and free cash at the casino desk, but we didn’t gamble much… back to the behaving part from above :) I am sure we were disappointing to the Carnival Marketing Geniuses… but oh well.  There is always next time!  The casino has been rearranged a little.  Instead of 1 poker table, there are now 2 and there are several new slot machines than before.

Shows: While we weren’t drinking much or gambling we decided to hit up some of the shows we typically miss when we are.  The Welcome Aboard Show was great.  Jen the cruise director is funny and engaging.  The next night we went to see The Around the World show.  It was nice, but seemed a little long for us.  Trenton got bored and we ended up leaving before it was over.  We kept meaning to go to some of the comedy shows, but never made it. 

The Love and Marriage Show was awesome… but mostly because my grandparent’s friends that went with us celebrating their 60^th wedding anniversary ended up winning!  They brought the house down and were hilarious… especially when the question was asked if they got $1000 for each time they “made whoopee” on this cruise how much money would they have?  She answered $0 and he answered $5000!  Ha! She got up out of her chair and walked around to stand in front of him with her hands on her hips!   Jen the cruise director was laughing so hard she couldn’t speak!  We all piled back in their room and enjoyed the bottle of champagne and they were ridiculously happy to have a ship on a stick! 

Arcade:  Trenton never misses an arcade.  Prior to the upgrades the entrance to the arcade looked like a Caboose from a train.  It was really rather neat.  That is no more.  It is more of a bland entrance now.  I do not like that cosmetic change.  The arcade on this ship is small… or so it seems after leaving the one on the Magic. It does have a super awesome air hockey game.  Now… let me explain this little game.  Trenton says “Hey Mom, do you want to play air hockey?”  I say sure.  We swipe our card and I say “$2  for air hockey!  This better be a darn good game!”  1 big red puck comes out and we proceed to bat it around… then all of a sudden I hear this noise and I kid you not 20 smaller pucks come sliding onto the board.  20 pucks flying back and forth!  It was exhausting!!  About the time I think we have gotten them all deposited into the little slot… the noise comes again and 20 more pucks come flying out.  Good grief!  The score says I lost... miserably… but if you are looking for a fun way to burn a few calories this little game will do it!

Medical Deck:  In all honesty I got ridiculously sick on this cruise.  I never have sinus issues but somehow on this ship I developed my very first sinus infection.  I was fine during the day, but every evening I thought I was going to die!  I finally gave Mark directions to the medical deck while I shoved a pillow over my face.  I actually went through 2 boxes of Kleenex.  I am sure our room steward thought someone had the plague.  Mark came back with pseudoephedrine.  $20 for 10 pills…. Then they told me people make crack out of that stuff.  Comforting.  At least I could breathe some.  After my little episode in Cozumel though… it left me almost deaf for 2 days. (That’s another blog)  So late nights and partying were not for me. 

My only complaint for this cruise has nothing to do with Carnival, but everything to do with the Hampton Inn in Galveston.  Twice now we have stayed there pre cruise.  I love Hampton Inn’s.  I love their rooms and beds.  I love their free breakfast.  They offer cruise parking (at a price) and a free shuttle to and from the ship.  The first time we used them was May of this year.  We called when we debarked and they told us the driver was under the orange flag… which he was not.  It was raining.  We waited approx. 30 minutes and after multiple phone calls ended up carrying our bags down the ramp and paid for a taxi. 

This time we expressed our concern on being picked up and they assured us we would have a timely ride back to the hotel.  Upon debarkation we called and were told the shuttle was on its way but was picking up another party of 7.  We waited approximately 10-15 minutes on the curb and the first shuttle arrived.  The party they were there to pick up only had half of their members present as the rest had been detained in customs.  The driver would not take our complete party (even though we had some in wheelchairs and it was very hot outside).  He just told us he would take the first part of the group ahead of us, drive fast and be back soon. 

Again after waiting we ended up taking a taxi.  Literally 50 minutes later, AFTER we got a taxi, the driver called my phone and told me he was back at the port and wondered where we were!  Umm… Houston already!  While I really like staying at the Hampton Inn’s.  I will never again pay to park my car there and rely on their transportation.  Both times it would have been cheaper for us to pay for parking at the port than pay for parking at the hotel and still end up paying a taxi.  Save yourself the frustration!

On another note… both vehicles were totally invaded with ants upon our return (and yes we cleaned everything out before we cruised… there was no trash or food to draw them in).  They had completely made themselves at home while we were gone!  Both vehicles and all our luggage had to be fumigated :(

Hampton Inn Shuttle Service=ZERO!  Carnival Triumph=TEN!

 

Our Carnival Triumph cruise continued...

To Be Continued… Part II

To catch you up on our “Wheels falling off the train cruise”.  We had just returned from our summer trip aboard the Carnival Valor.  I was at work one day when Mark calls and says “What do you think about taking another cruise?”  Now, that is similar to asking “What do you think about having 2 feet?”  Well, I kinda like that idea.  Or, “What do you think about living in our home instead of being homeless under a bridge?”  Well, I kinda like that idea too.  So when he calls me at work to ask “What do you think about taking another cruise?”  I got a little frustrated.  “Babe, listen.  I’m a little busy up here.  You know the answer to that.  What exactly are you getting at?”

This is when he tells me some friends of ours were thinking of taking their first cruise… in December.  It was just a little 4 day trip to Cozumel on the Carnival Triumph, but it was over a weekend and all 4 of us could go for what we normally pay for just 1.  (Hmmm…. My wheels started turning.  We could all take off from work.  4 days was doable.  The price was good.  Trenton would only miss 2 days of school.  We have never cruised in December…)   And then he says “It will almost be Christmas time so instead of exchanging gifts for you and me, we could just get ourselves a cruise”.                  YES PLEASE.  SOLD.  DONE.  BOOK IT.  NOW… Seriously, hang up the phone and call Carnival and give them our credit card number.

We’re going to Cozumel in December!  Texas will be getting cold.… we will be getting our tan on…. Ecstatic was an understatement! 

I had to work the day we left to go down to Galveston and had been up since 5am.  Mark got the job of finishing all the packing and loading the van.  SO, after the long drive down, followed by the sleepless night with Trenton we were a little exhausted.  Since the boat was having propulsion issues we had the choice to cancel the cruise and get a full refund…. And now the kid was sick.  We were so looking forward to this cruise though and when the doctor said he was not contagious we decided to just go ahead and go.  All the emails said we could get onboard at 6pm, so we called the porter at 4:30 to come load our luggage and take us to the pier.  AFTER the luggage is packed the porter says… “Oh, we aren’t taking anyone to the port right now.  The shuttle won’t actually come until around 6pm to take you.”  WHAT?!  I want to go right now!  This is when the first real emergence of Mark’s horns came out.  I saw his eyes squint at me and the glare come out…. Here we go. :)

We attempted to file back in our rooms, but since it was after the initial check out time, our keys no longer worked and we were locked out!  Aaaah, perfect.  Mark looks at me and says “I am going for a walk.”  Mom looks at me and says “I am going to find something to eat.” … and then there were 2.  SO, Trenton and I called the front desk and had new keys delivered.

We didn’t actually get on the shuttle until almost 7pm!  We had been waiting in the lobby with 50 or so other guests for over an hour.  The whole day was gone!  By the time we arrived to the port the line to get into the terminal was outside and all the way down the sidewalk.  It appeared all 2000 passengers were in line.  This was our first time to purchase the Faster to the Fun.  Thankfully we were able to walk around the perimeter, skip the 2 hours of waiting and get up to the counter.  There was 1 family in front of us.  However, they had about 7 children (no joke)… NO ONE had passports… and 1 adult had checked her birth certificate IN HER LUGGAGE.  So we waited…. Forever. 

Now, my optimistic personality says… we just skipped 2 hours of waiting in that long line.  I can wait here for 30 minutes while they figure out this hot mess in front of us.  Half the kids were running around in circles bumping into everyone, the other half were crying and screaming. The adults were oblivious to the fact they even HAD children.  It really was not a pleasant situation.  It seems Mark had lost his optimistic personality about 2 hours ago.  So after standing there for 15 minutes or so he asked another rep if someone else could check us in and in Mark’s defense the guy rudely said NO.  That didn’t go over well and then the worker refused to give Mark his name… yada yada yada.  PLEASE just let us get on the boat!  It was not until AFTER we were finally checked in and received our cards that we got the paper telling us we were no longer going to Cozumel, but Progresso instead.  Oh yeah…. Mark HATES Progresso.  We have already been twice and only once on purpose.  At this point I decided we should all play a game… “The we don’t know Daddy game”   No one objected.   :)

We finally made it on the boat, our cabin was ready.  Mark dumped his bag and thankfully took off to go calm himself down.  About this time the room steward knocks on the door and is delivering our luggage.  I am thinking “Now this is service!”  Only the room steward says “Ma’am, you might want to check your bag.  Something inside spilled and it’s all wet.”  Huh?  What do you mean?  I didn’t pack anything that could spill.  Then he pushes Mark’s suitcase in the door and it is practically dripping with something…. And it reeks!  Seriously… what the hell is that?  It couldn’t have spilled on anyone else’s suitcase?  Are they just trying to pick on the pissed off guy?  Cheese and crackers… this is gonna suck!  So, I open the bag and yep all his clothes are wet.  I called my mom and said “Come smell this bag.”  She initially says No!, but consented and seconds later all 3 of us are in the floor of our cabin sniffing the suitcase.  Mom comes up with the logical answer… Red wine.  Bad Red Wine.  By some luck… this foul smelling business is only on Mark’s dark clothes.  All the light ones were good. 

Trenton says “Mom, what are you going to do?”

Me:  “Um, hello… not tell him!”

Mom: “Really… you don’t think he is not going to notice smelling like foul red wine for the next 3 days?”

Me: “Fine.  How many quarters do you have?” 

Well… I’ve got the answer for you.  Not enough!

Now, I COULD have gone down to guest services, but the lobby was a disaster because we were still embarking so I chose to stand in the hallway and beg for quarters…. Don’t judge.  I was exhausted and desperate.  By this time you could smell the suitcase in the hallway and people were more than willing to donate for a worthy cause.  8pm laundry started! 

Now this is the way to start a quick winter get a way.  Propulsion issues, vomiting child, long lines, Progresso, Mexico, clothes drenched in someone else’s red wine and laundry.  We all want to do laundry the first day of vacation.

By now it is time to head to the muster drill.  Mark was still MIA.  Mom had gone for a drink and when we arrived Trenton and I had different muster stations.  This did not go over well with me.  He isn’t standing over there by himself and if this boat goes down … the way this trip is starting off that is a good possibility… you can bet your biscuits he won’t be getting in a different lifeboat than me!  So, we got escorted inside to the handicap waiting and took a seat in the chairs.  Perfect. 

My phone goes off with a text message from Mark “Where are you?”  Silly me.  I thought Mark was at our muster station and looking for us.  Nope.  He would be hiding in the bathroom drinking a beer.  “Seriously?!  Something is wrong with you!”  He says, Nope.  Something’s about to go down and I don’t want to miss it.  You will thank me later.  Hmpf

Well, he was right.  Something did go down.  Apparently he found someone having a worse day than him!  This couple had paid $3000 to get married that afternoon… only the boat wasn’t here for that to happen.  When they did let them on board with all their guests, they had 20 minutes for the wedding and reception.  The ice sculpture was melted, the food was cold, they were supposed to have a suite and somehow were downgraded to only a balcony, the bride was in tears… and then the security guard got headbutted ...  By the tiny little 100 pound bride.  She lost her ever loving mind!  LOL  … and Mark had the front row view peeking out from the bathroom!

Somehow, she did not get into trouble for this little incident and Carnival agreed to refund her money she had paid for the wedding, but what was done was done.  Upon reflection, she says she doesn’t even remember it!  She said she has never done anything like that before and all she remembers was she just kept getting madder and madder… and then her head hurt!

And that my friend’s was Day 1 of our “Wheels fell of the train” very first (and possibly the last) 4 day cruise.  Don’t worry.  One day doesn’t make or break the Hunt family.  We were all dancing and gambling away by the end of the night and determined to have a good time.  Until we got back to the cabin and Mark says… Ugh, what is that smell…. And where are all my clothes!  :)   Shhhh

Aaah... It never goes as planned!

I am a planner, a researcher, a thinker.  The majority will call it having an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.  I like to refer to it as just being prepared.   What I have learned over my years of vacation planning is no matter how hard I try… nothing ever goes the way I plan it.  (That in no way deters me from attempting another time.  I am quite stubborn and persistent…. To put it mildly)

Three times we have planned to drive to Galveston and spend the night before the cruise.  Ironically, these are the only times mishaps have happened prior to boarding.  When I am forced to fly by the seat of my pants, all has turned out well!

Our first trip to Galveston was our first cruise ever.  The one where I totally tricked my husband into cruising after HE specifically said “no way, no how, not ever”…. So, we arrived in Galveston pissed off and not speaking to each other.  Through some online travel/hotel thing I had booked a deal for a “Hotel on the Seawall”.  What we got when we pulled up was something equivalent to the Motel 6 in the “hood” about 6 blocks away from the seawall.  Perfect….just Perfect.  But hey!  They offer a free shuttle :)

We checked in and hauled our bags up the stairs to the second floor.  The room was okay… in a motel-ish sort of fashion.  We decided the only thing that was going to improve this night was to just go see the ocean and get a beer.  So we called a cab and headed out.

Down at the seawall, apparently there is not much of a “night life” so to speak.  Every place we went was about to close at 10pm!!  We gave up, called our cab and detoured through a convenience store for a 6 pack of beer and headed back to our “Hotel/Motel in the hood”.

Upon arriving back at our room we heard scuffling outside the door.  It appears the 3 people in the room next door were having somewhat of an argument/mild domestic disturbance.  They were quite friendly to us and were more than willing to share their dirty laundry, so we took our beer outside…. Sat down and watched the show.  (Our front row seats to the knock off Jerry Springer show involved 1 girl, 2 boys … and shall we say “a sword fight”.  Anyhoo…. We played Dr. Phil for awhile and called it a night:) Suddenly, we were feeling much better about ourselves.

The second time we headed down to Galveston early we were cruising with our son and both of our mothers.  That’s right … 2 MIL’s, me, hubby and a kid….  All in 1 van, headed down the road for a 5 hour trip.  Approximately 3 hours into this little road trip my husband’s mother CALMLY says…. “I forgot my passport at home.”  …. YOU MUST BE KIDDING?!  Nope.  There is nothing like turning around to go back home after 3 hours on the road.  Our 5 hour road trip turned into 11!!  (Side note)  My mother in law claims to be psychic….. and you didn’t see that coming?!  On this same trip she also left $400 worth of souvenirs on an excursion when she LEFT them on the tour bus! Now, I love my MIL and my parents aren’t perfect either… but scatter brained is putting it mildy!  Thank goodness her son hasn’t inherited any of those traits….. yet.

Third time we attempted to go to Galveston it was like the wheels fell off the train!  I got off work early so we were heading out earlier than planned.  We were avoiding the high traffic times.  Everyone was in a good mood… which never, ever happens!  This was unheard of! LOL 

Then, 30 minutes down the road I checked my email and there it was… an email from Carnival.  The boat is having propulsion issues and won’t arrive back in Galveston until 3:30pm.  Do not proceed to the pier until 6pm.  HOLY BANANAS!  It was only a 4 day cruise and now we are basically missing almost a whole day!  We had even purchased the Faster to the Fun so we could get on board as early as we could to start enjoying our vacation.  So the grumbling ensued in the van.  We decided to continue on instead of turning around and going back home.  We had already booked an awesome hotel… The Hilton ON the seawall and got a room with a view of the ocean.  (I was sure of it this time).  We would just spend the day in Galveston… visit the beach, go to some museums… we’d make a day of it.  Everyone was happy again... somewhat. 

We arrived in Galveston at 10pm.  Naturally, everything was closed.  We even asked the young looking kid who took up our luggage “So where do you guys hang out for fun?”  He just shrugged his shoulders.  OK… “Where can we get something to eat?”  His response… “You could order a pizza.”  Perfect… we’ll do that.  Pizza ordered.  Trenton and Maw-Maw headed to their room.  Hubby and I piled in the bed and turned on the TV to wait for our pizza.  Phone Rings.  It’s my mom saying the words you NEVER want to hear when you are on vacation.  “Trenton is throwing up.” 

WHAT!?  What did you do to him!?  He was fine 15 minutes ago!

So I go collect the kid and sure enough he is throwing up… every hour… all night long.  He’s not normal by the way.  He doesn’t act sick.  He isn’t laying there lifeless.  He is watching TV, playing on his ipod… keeping me awake and then “Oh… hold on.  I’ll be right back.”  So 7am comes, Trenton’s back in the bathroom and my husband looks at me and says “So what are you going to do?”  WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?  Like… I am the only one with the ability to solve this situation?  I said “What are YOU going to do?”  He says… “I am going to go to sleep.”  HMPF

Fine.  I called the front desk and asked for the nearest emergency clinic.  There’s only 1 on the island.  Awesome.  Could you call me a cab please.  I jumped in the shower… then threw Trenton in to hose him off a little.  Got us dressed and grabbed the trash can liner going out the door to go meet the cab.  Bless that little cab driver’s heart.  He saw me carrying the trash can bag and kicked it into high gear!  I am certain the cab was airborne at times.  In no time at all we came to a screeching halt right in front of the door to the clinic :)  We were in luck.  There was NO wait.  Went right in and thankfully the doc said he ate something bad the day before and should be at the end of the course.  We were cleared for cruising!  He gave me a prescription of anti-nausea medicine just in case and sent us on our way!   After that Trenton took a 4 hour nap at the hotel… Clearly we had time :)  And was fine ever since.

So the REAL adventure came next.  Our little 3 and now ½ day cruise upon the Carnival Triumph turned out to be one of the strangest of all.  Complete with line cutting, head-butting, broken bottles of wine (none related to the other) …. And a really good time! :)

To Be Continued….