Last day of the cruise

Our cabin was equipped with two fold down beds that were about 5' off the ground, and then a queen sized beds against the one wall. We put Z on the one bunk, but even with a roll guard, I was terrified he would roll off the bed. So each night, we would take the blankets off the bunk, and make a little bed for him on the floor.


The last morning, we wake up. J looks over the edge of the bed to check on Z. Says, "Where is Z?" I respond with a, "WHAT?! What do you mean, 'Where is Z'?" I look in his bed (because it would be SO easy to not notice a kid in his bed -not-), and sure enough, he's gone. Our cabin is tiny. He is nowhere to be seen. I am a light enough sleeper that I know I would wake up if the door opened. I look under the bed, and sure enough, there is he. He has crawled to the opposite end of the room, and is curled up in a little ball, wedged in the corner. I attempted to get a picture.

Luckily for me, the flash woke him up, and he crawled out. I seriously have no idea how we we would've gotten him out of there if he hadn't crawled out on his own steam.

Overall, we had a wonderful time on the cruise. Although the children's program was great, and I loved the caregivers, the cruise was not very child friendly. There were two swimming pools, both on the same deck. One of the pools was closed and empty the majority of the time we were there, leaving a scary, big hole with some netting tossed over it. The pool deck was incredibly crowded, which was bad enough. But the majority of the people there were falling over drunk. It was not someplace I wanted my kids to be. So even though my kids were really excited to swim, they didn't get to swim on the vacation, which was a little disappointing to them. Apparently this particular cruise is a known "party cruise" or "booze cruise". Alcohol was strongly pushed, even at 8am. I didn't think I was particularly uncomfortable being around alcohol. I still think I'm fine being around alcohol, I just don't like being around drunks. Next time, I think we'll choose a cruise that lasts a little longer, and has a more sedate reputation. If I had been in a different stage in life, this cruise would've been a ball. As it was, I did have a wonderful time.

I know this didn't happen on the final day of the cruise, but I am going to talk about it here anyway. The night before, we were sitting in the Windjammer Cafe', waiting for the buffet to open so the kids could eat dinner before going off to the Pirate Night at the kid adventure area. we were looking out the window, and saw this:


We were really excited at first, because it looked like three huge great white sharks. As we watched though, they didn't seem to move like sharks. After doing some research when we got home, we have come to the conclusion that they were giant ocean sunfish, or "Mola Mola" fish.

The kids did not want to leave the boat, and seem anxious to go on another cruise. We really did have a wonderful time.