Cruise - 2nd Day At Sea - Helicopter Rescue

Thursday morning marked the beginning of our return to Port Canaveral, or so we thought.  I woke up that morning hearing several announcements for some female to contact guest services.  This was a common occurrence throughout the week for people's names to be announced over the intercom to contact guest services so we didn't think much about it.  However, they kept calling for the same girl over the hallway intercom, every 20-30 minutes for a few hours.

Finally, around 10am, they called over all the intercoms (even in bedrooms) for one last opportunity for her to contact guest services or they would begin to do cabin searches.  Not too long after the cabin search warning, the cruise director announced that they had found the girl but that there was an unrelated medical emergency on board.  She asked for anyone with emergency room medical experience and specifically an anesthetist to contact guest services.  We were at breakfast at this point and not really sure of the situation.  Halfway through our meal, there was an announcement that the captain was at full speed and rerouting for help with the medical situation.

We proceeded about our morning meal and then planned out our day.  After we were done eating, we changed and headed to the top deck to resume our typical lounging spots.  However, when we got up on deck we were hit with tons of wind and realized how fast the boat was cruising!  For the next few hours there were announcements that the injured person had been stabilized and that the captain was in contact with the US Coast Guard and we were headed back south towards Puerto Rico.  The cruise director finally made an announcement that the US Coast Guard was going to do a helicopter rescue and air lift the injured person off the back of the ship and that we were all welcome to watch from the top decks.

We were given a time frame of when the rescue would take place, so we when the time was getting close, we headed to a different area to get a better view of the back of the boat.  It was really windy at that time and we knew that the wind was going to cause a delay.  About an hour after the window we were given, a plane and helicopter were finally spotted in the sky.  The plane did a continual circular pattern around the boat throughout the entire helicopter rescue.

(Awaiting on the very windy deck for further announcements about the helicopter rescue.)

(All the people standing on the top decks watching the rescue.)

(The helicopter hovered perfectly still in relation to the moving cruise ship.  First, one of the US Coast guard repelled down onto the back of the ship -- we couldn't see the area that he repelled down to.  The entire back of the ship was roped off for privacy/safety during the rescue.  Then a basket was lowered followed by a stretcher.  The basket was then raised along with someone sitting in it.  We assumed it was a family/crew member.)

(After the extra person was raised in the basket, the stretcher with the injured person was raised.  You could tell that the person was completely wrapped in white bandages/gauze.)

(Lastly, the US Coastguard that had repelled down first was pulled back to the helicopter.  It continued to hover in its spot until the guard was completely inside the helicopter and the door was closed.  The entire rescue took around 20 minutes!)

(I snapped this picture off our tv screen of how the boat's path shifted due to the helicopter rescue.  The detour from the top point of the original path to the rescue at the the lowest dip took about 4 hours of travelling at full speed.  By the time we had gotten back to our original location prior to detour, about 8 hours had lapsed.  We were unsure of how this would affect our return back to the States, as was the captain.  He made an announcement that more information would be given the following day.)

While watching the rescue take place, Dad & Steve stood on the top deck taking pictures & filming, while mom and I stood on the main deck and watched.  We were standing next to a family that were discussing the days events and we got all the scoop from them.  Supposedly, the girl that had gone missing was a teenager who had spent the evening with another bunch of teenagers/young adults and she fell asleep in their cabin.  They also said that they had heard that the injury was to a crew member. He was apparently working near a steam valve that blew; resulting in 3rd degree burns over 60% of his body.  The next morning, the cruise director did confirm that this was indeed what had happened.  

After the helicopter "show", we went and got something to eat before heading to our rooms to get ready for the last formal evening.  At dinner, or waiters were crazy as usual and full of napkin and dancing entertainment. 

(Arthur showing us how he used binoculars - made out of a napkin - to watch the helicopter rescue that afternoon.)

(Steve then had the binoculars and used them to keep an eye out on our waiters and dinner.)

(Since the binocular napkins wasn't providing enough entertainment, Arthur & Roberto decided that I should be decorated as the Statue of Liberty -- ha!)

(Obligatory dinner picture!)

(Look at that fancy couple!)

(Our crazy waiters at it again -- Dancing!  I think they were supposed to be doing a set dance, but in the end it turned into them all doing different and crazy moves.  They were nuts, which made dinner so fun!)

 After eating, we took some pictures (both professionally and just by ourselves) before heading to our room to change into comfortable clothes before the evening entertainment).  We opted to go watch a comedian in the comedy club instead of watching the main show (which involved a game show theme).  

(This is one of my favorite photos!  While taking our own formal photos, I asked Steve to take a picture of mom & I together.  He took one of us from far away, and then he wanted to do a close up.  Instead of just using the zoom button, he walked closer and closer to us until the camera was right in our faces.  We were laughing so hard at him choosing to move towards us instead of just using the zoom button.  Oh Steve and your camera skills.  I'm not complaining, though.  His skills continually show mine up.)

(Waiting for the comedy show to begin!)

(The comedian this night was pretty funny.  I can't even remember all he joked about other than lots of "age" humor. )

Cruise - St. Martin

Our last port stop was at St. Martin.  We opted to do a whole day excursion while in St. Martin in order to see the whole island and get the full experience.  The island of St. Martin is actually owned by 2 different countries - France & the Netherlands - so there's a French side and a Dutch side.  We were assigned to 1 tour guide for the day, loaded up in his van with another family, and took in all the history of the island as he drove us around.  Our tour wasn't just simply driving around, we made several stops throughout the day.  We saw an iguana farm, several scenic lookouts, a "creature man", a couple of beaches, and a stop at a store to shop!

(With our tour guide for the day - Deirdrich!)

(Mom & Dad were troopers and road in the back of the van.  They had to crawl out of the backseat at every stop.  Steve and I were in the next bench.  The other family took up the next two benches in the front. We're not sure how the pregnant lady and "old couple" got banished to the back.)

(We got to see all sides of the island and all the different view St. Martin had to offer.)

(I don't remember the story behind this view.)

(Look at the stark difference between the top two pictures and then this one.  Here is the more touristy/built up side of the island.  I don't remember if it was French or Dutch.)

(Iguana Farm!  All the iguanas were randomly perched in the tree.  It's hard to see, but there's an Iguana in the "stick" section of that tree in the middle.)

(Visiting Calvin the "creature man".  He had different sea creatures he had caught form the ocean and let us hold them.)

(Here he's showing the difference in the creatures when they are alive (back row) and dead (front row).)

(Mean freaking out over holding a live Sea Urchin.  It's needles weren't sharp to hold, but they were moving.)

(Steve enjoyed the Sea Urchin holding.)

We stopped at 2 different beaches that provided completely different experiences!  We stopped at the first beach around midday.  I think the Beach was named Orient Bay, but we entered a private portion of the beach.  We just had to pay $5 a lounge chair which also included a free drink from the bar!  The weather was a little overcast and would spit a little resulting in a cold ocean.  We just stuck to relaxing in our loungers  and take walks along the beach (I took one with my mom, then one with Steve).  While sitting at the loungers, I saw something blowing in the wind and quickly discovered it was a 20 dollar bill!  I chased it down and then looked around to see if it belonged to anyone.  I didn't see anyone frantically chasing it, or anyone caring at all of the money flying in the wind.  So we ended up getting our loungers for free!

(Relaxing on our free loungers!  Woot Woot!)

The second beach was Maho Beach.  It's not your typical rest and relax kind of beach.  It's a pretty narrow strip of sand that separates the ocean from the airport runway.  The main attraction of this beach is to stand on the sand and watch the planes fly in over head, or to brace yourself as the planes take off (they send a jet blast that can literally knock you over).  We would all stand and watch the planes fly in over head, but when one was about to take off, Dad and Steve would stand in the "jet blast zone" while Mom & I stood off to the side and watched.  The smaller the plane, the smaller the jet blast (basically you'd feel the wind).  But the bigger the plane, the bigger the jet blast (they can knock you over and also pelt you with dust/sand bits).  We were only there to witness a small prop plane and a medium sized plane take off (it did knock Dad and Steve off the cement barrier they were standing on).

(Here's the best picture to show Maho Beach's set up.  The ocean is to the right, and the planes would fly in from that direction.  The airport runway is just beyond that fence on the left.  There is a cement barrier between the little roadway and sand where the people lined up.)

(We're sitting on the little cement barrier.  I think I'm chastising Steve over what he got us into.  The metal barrier behind us reads "Danger - Jet Blast".  Steve at this point was talking about how when the big planes take off, it literally knocks people into the ocean.)

(Medium size plane zooming in over our heads.)

(My photography skills are very lacking.  This picture was taking by mom who was much better at lining up the planes flying in.  All Steve wanted was a shot of a plane right over his head.  I failed on all attempts an this was the next best thing.)

Our tour ended with a pit-stop at our tour guide's favorite store.  It had some great sales and lots to choose from.  I came out with a dress and swimsuit wrap, Mom came out with the rest of her souvenirs for people, and dad came out with a new hat!  Steve came out with his money - hah!

That evening, we were pretty tired!  We had to hurry up with dinner in order to make it to a review dance lesson for our "super secret dance".  Thanks to all our practicing (and mom's video skills!)  We were some of the strongest dancers during the practice!

(Nightly Dinner picture!)

(Nightly Dinner picture!)

(Have I mentioned our crazy waiters?  This night, Arthur had a huge story about how I'd left my boot up on the Lido deck that afternoon (we ran into him late in the afternoon up there while he was working).  He then came back with my "lost boot".  Ha! What a character!)

Cruise - St. Thomas

Our second port stop was in St. Thomas.  We chose to just do a little shopping in the strip mall right off the boat.  There were more stores downtown, but most of them are the same (or you can get the same items) and it's not worth the cab fare.

(That morning at breakfast, dad brought his dance cheat sheet and was going through the dance with Steve.  He made his cheat sheet by watching the video my mom took during the practice.  Throughout the week, we'd all randomly break out into the dance and go through it together- haha!)

(Shopping in St. Thomas!)

After a few hours of shopping, we headed back onto the boat.  We were hungry so we headed up to the Lido deck  for lunch.  The food area was completely empty!  Which finally allowed Steve to get his pizza.  He hadn't done it yet due to the insanely long lines.  I even think he ended up with a couple pizzas that afternoon.

(I had to capture this historical no pizza line for Steve.  Unfortunately, I never took a picture of the long pizza line for you to fully grasp how momentous this occasion was.)

(No pizza is complete without an ice cream cone?? )

After eating, Dad and Steve took advantage of the empty ship to go try out the water slides. While they were off playing, mom and I took advantage of the empty pool!  Other then one little boy deciding to work on his belly flops in the same pool, we pretty much had it to ourselves.

(After trying the water slides, the guys joined us on loungers.  They went down each slide once but decided they were rough on your back and not worth a second trip.  I sat in the sun a little bit, then got back in the pool to cool down. I never thought about this before, but tanning while pregnant is hard!  Not because you get hot easily, the water kept me cool.  The problem is I couldn't lay on my stomach to tan my back!  So the front of me is a nice gold color while the back is white.  Oh well.)

After our relaxing afternoon of nothing, we headed to another entertaining meal with our waiters.  Then after dinner we changed things up and went and saw a comedy show before heading to the main show that evening.  (I think we did both of these in one night.  My brain isn't running at full capacity recently, I think it's still on island time - haha).

(Nightly dinner picture!)

(Funny story, mom and I rarely knew what each other were going to wear to dinner.  We meant to get a picture of our outfits that evening, but forgot.  I was in brown tights, tan tunic dress, and a brown sweater.  Mom wore brown pants, long patterned blouse, and a brown sweater.  We both just laughed when we realized our outfits were nearly the same!)

(During the entertainment portion of dinner -- every night our waiters did some performance along with the entire dining room staff -- our waiter Arthur disappeared and came back dressed up.  He called himself "Sir Arthur".  Our waiter Fernando showing his mad dance skills with Sir Arthur dancing backup.  I do think this was before he greased up the pole next to our table to dance with.)

(I'm not really sure why he was crouching and holding Steve's hand as we were walking out after dinner, other than the fact that Steve is so tall.  Have I mentioned how cooky our waiters were?!)

Cruise - Father's Day & My Birthday!

It was kind of crazy to get on the boat on Saturday, and reach our first destination Sunday morning.  It would have been nice to have a day at sea first, but that's not how it worked out.  So Father's Day morning, we got off the boat and walked through sketchy Nassau.

(First time to actually see the boat from the outside!)

I'm not really sure what you do in Nassau other than walk around and experience the culture.  There are tons of chotsky shops to buy Caribbean souvenirs and even a giant straw market.  In the straw market, women sell things they've made from straw and fabrics like dresses, purses, fans, etc.  You can buy things at the value they set, or barter with them to try to get better deals.  Mom was able to buy some things, I attempted but no one would take my offers- haha!

(In one of the chotsky shops -- Mom was trying to convince Steve & Dad to buy matching Caribbean shirts, but neither one would go for it.)

(While in the touristy area, Dad found his Starbucks.  He really debated on buying some hot coffee in the 80 degree weather.  In the end, the long line won out and he didn't get his coffee.)

After walking through the chotsky shops & straw market, we trusted Steve to navigate us on a walking tour. He had previously downloaded a pdf to his phone with a map and information of different historical sites.  My parents were exposed to what a real Ackerman vacation looks like & their eyes were opened.  Ha!  I don't think they were fully prepared for what a walking tour entailed.  I will have to admit that I too was uncomfortable at times.  Our tour took us off the main roads (which Carnival had specifically stated not to due to violence/threats).  But int he end, we saw a beautiful hidden gem in Nassau which took away some of it's sketchiness.

(First stop in the walking tour - the main square.  This picture was taken before Mom & Dad realized what Steve had planned for them. . . )

(En route to Steve's "Hidden Gem".  We had to stop and figure out where we were in the map and decide if it was worth walking to.  While sitting here, some lady tried to beg money off of us.  After Mom took this picture and we headed back on our journey, she realized there was a homeless man laying nearby- behind Steve in picture.  I think this is when Mom started to freak out about being in sketchy areas.)

(Steve's "Hidden Gem" -- The Queen's Staircase.  These stairs were created by slaves in Queen Victoria's honor for her help in abolishing slavery.  It had really nice ambiance - that's a waterfall next to it -- and we all decided the sketchy walk was worth the visit.)

(They are holding their hearts because they weren't sure they'd make it - either because it was a long, hot trek uphill or because they thought we'd get jumped by the locals never to be heard of again - haha)

(Good job tour guide Steve!)

We got back on the boat in the afternoon and lounged around until dinner.  This was the first formal dinner on the ship.  We got ready early and took some formal photos before making our way to the dinner.  Our waiters (who were just amazing and entertained more than they served) got my birthday wrong and gave me a birthday dessert on this night.  They even sang a really good "barber shop" version of Happy Birthday.  They then proceeded to bring several desserts out all for me!  Then they brought everyone else's 1 dessert - ha!  After dinner, we headed to a show and then off to bed.  The entertainment/shows on the boat were okay, nothing too special or to rave about; but we still enjoyed them!

(Dressed up for Formal Dinner!)

(Happy Father's Day Dad!!)

(My birthday cake!  This was presented to me while the waiters sang Happy Birthday.)

(I had ordered a melting cake for dessert.  Then they did the birthday presentation and brought me the cake. Then the melting cake I ordered showed up with another melting cake!  They just kept bringing out desserts for just me.  Finally everyone else's showed up.  They said I had to eat it all, but that didn't happen. I think Steve took one of those melting cakes - haha!)

Monday was my actual birthday and it corresponded with our first day at sea.  Mom and I found 2 loungers in the sun and tanned for awhile; while Dad & Steve sat in the shade in another section and read.  We met back together for a late lunch. Then we headed to a music trivia contest, get instructions for a week long murder mystery puzzle, and learned a super secret dance to be revealed Flash Mob style later in the cruise.  Our day wrapped up with another dinner (this time our waiters became dancers for entertainment) and a juggling show.

(These are the first of many ice cream cones consumed by Steve.  He would even make trips specifically to the Lido deck just to get ice cream.  In one day, I lost count when he hit 7 cones.  I'm also pretty sure he ate a lot of cones when I wasn't around.)

(Me in my hippy look - as Steve called it - I think we were headed to dinner.)

(Waiting for the juggling show!  The guy was good, but pretty quick into his routine, we all realized we'd seen him before on our previous cruises!  Steve and I went on the Carnival Legened for our honeymoon back in 2009.  A few months after our trip, my parents did the exact same cruise we had done!)

Carnival Cruise Overview

So I was going to do just one post about the cruise, but realized I have too much to say and too many pictures for 1 post.  I'll try to keep the posts organized and flow in order, but we'll see how it comes out - ha!

The week of June 15th, we went on a wonderful 7 day Carnival Cruise.  We had an absolutely fabulous time and filled our week with lots of relaxation!  To make the trip extra special, we went with my parents (who are an absolute hoot).

This trip was sort of last minute, and by last minute, I mean we booked with less than 6 weeks before the cruise.  We got a good deal on the cruise (especially with it being Carnival - ha!), but wanted to save as much as we could, so we made the decision to drive down.  Nothing like 30 hours of bonding time in a van ;-).

My dad showed up to our house Thursday evening around 6.  He'd been in Detroit all week for work, so Steve picked him up at the rent-a-car place where he returned his car.  Mom didn't make it to our house with their van until 1am!  Let's just say, her day of packing and getting everything in order to leave didn't go as planned.  We woke up early Friday morning and began our drive South.

My dad did all the driving (except for the last 2 hours on the way back to Lima) with Steve riding shotgun. Mom and I hung out in the middle seats (we'd taken out the back seats and put all the luggage back there).  We were able to lay our seats back, but there wasn't lots of leg room (which I discovered to be a big negative).  Other than all the bad heartburn, I did fine with the travel down.  I had more concern about Steve going stir crazy in a car that long, but he did the best of us.  He had the best set-up.  He made a mobile hotspot with his phone (meaning he used his data to create wireless internet) and was able to surf the net, play games, and even work from his laptop.

(Pretty sure he is playing a game at this point!)

We made it just into FL late Friday night.  I think we clocked in an almost 14.5 hour drive (we had to stop a few times thanks to Bean dancing on my bladder).  We stayed at a hotel for free with my dad's travel points and all shared the room together (more bonding time!).  After a quick repacking of suitcases, we loaded back in the van the next morning to finish our drive to Port Canaveral!  We made it there by 1pm and finally got onto the ship!

Here was our schedule while on the ship:
Sunday (Father's Day) - Nassau Bahamas
Monday (My Birthday!) - 1st Day at Sea
Tuesday - St. Thomas
Wednesday - St. Martin
Thursday - 2nd Day at Sea
Friday - 3rd Day at Sea
Saturday - Arrive back in port :(