Were safe and sound on board! We left Port Canaveral with smooth sailing, but by the next morning, we were in some fairly rough seas.
The whole ship is creaking and is really rocking. Yesterday the bridge report said 8 – 13 foot seas with the wind being “Moderate Gale Force”. This morning the seas are 20 – 30 feet and the winds are stronger. We’re sailing into the high seas, and the gale force winds are blowing ACROSS the ship – so, we’re getting it from every side!
I felt pretty crummy most of the day yesterday, and PJ (hubby) was in bed all day. He got dressed for formal pics and then went back to the room. The boys also got dressed for the pics, but really wanted to go enjoy activities at the Stack. I ate alone, but the rocking in the aft of the ship is worse (we were in Animator’s Palate last night).
I overheard an officer telling someone we should have calmer seas when we get closer to St. Maarten (at least that’s what I thought I heard!). One can always hope 
Last night I took some chewable sea sickness pills and bought a pair of sea bands. Within 2 hours I felt GREAT! I was able to get up and eat this morning with no problem. The creaking is definitely keeping people up at night – it sounds like the ship will break apart any minute. Of course, I’m really not worried – I’m sure she’s been through worse. The funny thing is, we had seas like this during part of our last 7 Day Disney Cruise in 2004. That was because of a hurricane. We purposely chose NOT to do another cruise during hurricane season – yet, here we go again. Someone said there was a tropical storm by Puerto Rico – I wonder if that’s where these seas are coming from. Go figure – a tropical storm in December.
We really haven’t taken very many pics – DH is our family shutterbug and he’s been in bed. This morning I got him the same magic pills I took and sea bands – so hopefully, he’ll be feeling better soon.
Now for some of the good news ! The sail away party was great, and we really had fun getting our pics done the first night. They call the setting “Lifestyles”. It is just a white background, and the position your family in lots of neat poses. I’ve been wanting to do pics like that for a long time, so I was sure we color coordinated. The grandparents have been begging for a good family photo, so this was a great opportunity to grant their wish
We got there for our photo shoot a bit before the 7pm start time. Since we were the only ones their the photographer took TONS of pics. They turned out GREAT! More money, more money, more money!
At 7:45pm on Saturday night they had a special tree lighting ceremony in the atrium. There were carols, characters and, of course, snow. The tree and lighted garland are simple, but elegant.
Our boys are enjoying their time in the Stack immensely – we haven’t seen much of them.
Yesterday and today are sea days. The pools are open, but not as crowded as I would expect. Probably due to the rough seas. The sun has been shining most of the time :thumbsup2 Eating breakfast and lunch ouside at Topsider’s is interesting. Yesterday, DH and I had salt and pepper races – we set the shakers side by side and waited to see which one moved the fastest.
I was able to snag Palo Brunch reservations when we got on board, so we enjoyed a relaxing, albeit rocky, brunch yesterday. Palo’s is beautful and the selection was decadent. We’re not drinkers, so we passed on the champagne or Mimosa (one glass is included with your Brunch). It costs $20 to go to Palo and if you like fancy restaurant style food and atmosphere, that is the place for you!
We managed to go to a shopping tour seminar given by Pippa. She had lots to tell us about Disney approved/guaranteed places to shop in St. Thomas and St. Maarten. Since we’re not
We went to a show the first night – but left early for pics. Due to the rough seas, I didn’t feel like sitting in the forward theater yesterday, so passed on Golden Mickeys. I am looking forward to seeing Twice Charmed today, though. That is new since we cruise 3 years ago.
If we get some pics taken and uploaded, I’ll post them either here later today or tomorrow evening after our day in St. Maarten.
