Early morning! Patrick slept horribly, too tired from the wedding and he hated his brib in the hotel room. He’s VERY fussy about where he sleeps… Also his second bottom tooth is coming in. Usually we can just move him to our bed, but even that didn’t help on Sunday night.
Kevin forgot his wallet at home so he drove back to Fremont at 6am!!! He was back in time to catch the 7am shuttle from the Biltmore Hotel (where we stayed the night after the wedding) to the San Jose airport. Patrick and I had our free breakfast and we got Kevin’s “to go”. LOVED everything about the Biltmore Hotel… if you’re getting married in the Bay Area, it’s highly recommended!
Arrived at the airport in plenty of time for the flight. Jetblue was nice, roomy and comfy. Patrick was a little sleepy so we had a nice flight. He fell asleep on the descent and only got a 20 minute nap so still not enough sleep for the little guy!
Arrived in Long Beach at 10:00am, POURING rain. We had our umbrella but still got very wet! Taxi to the cruise ship terminal was a flat rate of $30. Great deal, the van driver quoted us $32 and we would have had less room! We had a suite but I didn’t realize we were VIPs so we walked over to the Queen Mary for our registration. After we registered we had 1/2 hour before boarding onto our ship so we walked down & looked around the Engine room on the QM. Awesome! Also saw models of famous cruise liners, including the Titanic. Still raining but only a short walk over to the pavilion to board the Carnival Paradise!
First stop: the Lido deck (deck 10) for lunch. Thankfully, we had checked our bags at the curb. The restaurant was crowded with passengers and their luggage. We sat next to a group of older New Yorkers. They were nice to us, but very snobby about lifting a finger on their cruise. “There’s a dirty tray here… We need someone to take this tray” “There’s still a dirty cup here!” There was a bus tub 10 feet away, just move it yourself! The food was diverse and tasty. I had a salad (still recovering from nervous wedding stomach) but Kevin tried all the hot foods he could find. Very tasty!
Got to the cabin at 1:20pm. Great suite on the Veranda deck (Deck 11)… Plenty of room for Patrick’s crib, a couch and a bar/desk area. We had a private balcony also so we were able to check on the weather and sit outside a bit. Our room.
We got settled in and Patrick was finally ready to fall asleep! Kevin took a nap too and I went exploring. I got the lay of the land and went back to check on the boys. An announcement in the cabin had woken up Patrick! :( Kevin & I were peeved about that.
We got unpacked and organized. A jar of baby food had broken in my suitcase so we had some dirty clothes right off the bat. Luckily, there is a laundry facility on the ship. (Deck 7, aft, if you ever need to find it!)
We had the early seating for dinner: 6pm. After the lifeboat drill (Muster Station F) We went up to the top deck (Sports deck with Mini Golf) to watch us push off from the dock. It was very cold and windy but the rain had stopped. It was already dark - the sun set was 4:45pm. Pretty View of the shore.
The seas were VERY choppy. Many people at dinner were not feeling well and the dining room was 1/2 empty. Halfway through dinner the ship was really moving around. After dinner we went down to the excursion desk to book a trip in Ensenada and the big banners in the atrium were hitting the walls. My Uncle & Aunt had given us a great gift of drink coupons and a wine basket, but we couldn’t have a drop because the ship was moving so much. We went to bed early. Neither of us felt sick but the ship rocked around all night.
Patrick slept OK on the ship but not the magical “ship rocking sleep thru the night” that I’d hoped for!
