The Amazing Cruise

Sorry for the delay, I have been swamped. Ok here's our cruise story. Here's our ship the Enchantment of the Seas sitting in the Bermuda water.

Last Friday we packed up and drove to the dock in Baltimore. We were all so very excited. We were greeted by the Royal Caribbean crew and made our way to the boat around 2ish. This is where it gets ugly for a minute. Get through this it gets much better.

Royal Caribbean gives you this SeaPass cards and they are great. They add a picture to them and your credit card info and you only need this card on your cruise. Super smart idea, right?! Well Chaz is still primarily in his wheelchair. He was leading our crew down to the loading ramp. He was carrying his shower bench in his lap, his hands are full because he is using them to wheel himself to the ramp. This red haired female with glasses, who was about 5' 7", large build and was about mid-forties begins yelling at Chaz for his SeaPass. I, of course, have all four of them in my pocket because we just got them and how is Chaz going to hold it and who in their right mind would give them to their 7 and 10 year old. I pick up my pace carrying our carry-on and my laptop bag. By the time I reach Chaz she has yelled at him five times for the SeaPass. Chaz finally states, "Christ lady, hang on." She then yells back at him, "You have to have that SeaPass with you at all times. You watch your language. I want an apology right now or you will not board this ship." (The security guard stood there in horror. He was as shocked as we were.) Chaz says, "Fine, I am sorry I yelled back at you for yelling at me. There happy?" She then yells at me and wags her finger in my face and said, "Everyone needs to keep their own SeaPass on them at all times, no exceptions." At this point I am ready to take her out. The girls were scared of her. I then tried to get us out of there. I asked the guard if there was a more level access point for Chaz. She interrupts and yells at me again, "Ma'am this ramp is fully ADA compliant." That was it. I yelled back, "Did I question if it was ADA? No I asked for a more level access point. He's not only missing his legs he's missing an elbow and injured his shoulder. He does not need to wheel himself up a series of five ramps with that high of a slope. Is that ok with you?" She snaps back and says, "Fine he goes this way and you and your girls go this way." I looked at her and said, "Gees, thank you so much and you have a great day." The security guard took Chaz and apologized to him in route. Then the Royal Caribbean folks helped Chaz the rest of the way to the 4th floor. I was then informed by Deryn that the lady was "really scary and shouldn't have been so mean."

We met Chaz on the 4th floor and found our room. We were greeted by our stateroom attendant and she was just the sweetest. Her name was Liliana and we all really liked her. She made us feel very welcome and thank goodness because that red haired lady did not start us off on a good foot. We dropped our stuff and went to lunch. By the time we finished lunch it was time for our safety brief, which was super organized. When they finished they let us out and held back the crowd. And we walked in front of the crowd, I lost count of how many people stepped up to thank Chaz for his service and literally pat all four of us on the back. It was very cool and to me God's way of saying forget about that idiot a few hours ago. Here's one of the surprises she left us one night!

We got a big kick out of this one. Liliana had heard us call Ry "stingray." ;)

And for my Mom and sister, yes Dino came along. He needed to get his passport stamped too. And you can see he had a great time. ;) This was the first surprise Liliana left the girls.

Ok back to Friday, after lunch we went exploring and called the grandmas. The girls wanted to tell them all about the boat. Here's Ry taking her turn talking to either Gee or Nana.

I love this picture of Deryn helping her Daddy through the crowd. Once again I really feel sorry for whomever tries to dates Chaz's girls. There's a very tight bond there. ;)

We met this awesome couple from Maryland and chatted with them. Here's our picture from later on in the cruise. They were so great and helpful.

Here are some pics of the inside of the boat.

After sailing for two days we reached the beautiful Bermuda. The locals came to the dock and yelled "Welcome to Bermuda" again and again. It was very sweet of them. Here are the girls checking it out.

And here are the locals welcoming our ship...

Here's us fresh off the boat...

Here's Chaz and the girls checking it all out...

And here's some of beautiful Bermuda.....

As you can see it was absolutely breathtaking. We had such a great time exploring. The locals were so welcoming and we consulted them and what to do and where to go and it paid off. We ended up at a beach that was just some of us from the cruise. It was quiet and wonderful. Bermuda is known for it's pink sand beaches. We bought pink sand at the gift shop and chose a quieter beach. If you look close Deryn is holding a handful of sand with orange in it. So we got the best of both.

The girls loved riding on the opposite side of the road. We also went snorkeling and had hundreds of fish greet us. It was as if we were in an aquarium. It was amazing. Our girls are water babies and here they are having fun with Daddy.

As you can tell by the smiles, we had the greatest time. We just relaxed and had as much fun as we could handle. And yes, the food was awesome. The first night we were there we were given table 191 and had Eduardo and Lucia as our wait staff. They were great and you could tell enjoyed spoiling the girls. The only down side is that there were not a lot of kids there. But the ones who were there are stuck together and they all had a ton of fun.

We want to again say thank you to Operation Second Chance for this fantastic blessing. Family is the best medicine and we are so thankful to know people who feel the same way. Thanks again Cindy and Pauline!!!!