Walker Family: Our 10 Year Anniversary Cruise. Part 1

In February we were lucky/blessed enough to be able to go on a cruise to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. We booked the cruise a whole year before and I kept waiting for something to happen that would make it so we couldn't go. I still can't believe we actually were able to go! I was so nervous to leave the kids for that long knowing that they would still have to get to school and stuff. They were in good hands though with both sets of grandparents sharing the load.

We woke up early Saturday, February 1 to finish getting everyone packed and to get us all in the car and up to my parents house. We gave my parents some final instructions and said good bye to the kids who were too excited about being with Grandpa to really care that we were leaving. My dad took us to the airport and dropped us off at the curb. We got to the airport pretty early because we wanted to have plenty of time to check in and go through security and find something to eat. It was my first time flying in over 15 years so I was a little nervous, but I was also excited because it was our first time flying together! Aaron has flown a few times for work, so it didn't really faze him. We were flying Jet Blue and we decided if we fly anywhere again we will fly Jet Blue. We got checked in quickly and went through security quickly. We were even in a line where we didn't have to take of our shoes. Then we wandered around looking at the shops and different food options.

Picture of the Delta planes.

We ended up just getting some drinks and a muffin and some donut holes. We were wanting breakfast food, but the fast food places had already switched to lunch. We found our terminal and waited to board the plane.

Here we are waiting. The terminal was packed when we got there so we had to stand for awhile. Then they called us up and asked if we would switch seats with someone so they could sit with family. It worked out nicely because we got to board in the first group and we had an exit seat with a ton of leg room.

On the plane ready to go!

One of MANY pictures I took out my window. I was so entertained by watching the clouds and everything below us.

Jet Blue was awesome. They give you a full can of soda with your cup of ice. Aaron said other airlines pour you a small cup and then take the can away. They also give you complementary snacks and had a really good selection! I seriously wish the flight had been longer! We flew into Long Beach and called our motel for our free shuttle. We only had to wait like 10 minutes for them to get us. We got to the motel and checked in and found out the our travel agent didn't do our reservation right and that we would have to pay for a taxi to take us to the cruise ship the next morning. She had said that the motel would give us a free ride to the cruise ship. Oh well. We got to our room, and wow. We could see why it was so inexpensive. It looked like the room hadn't been touched since the 70's. If we had been staying in California for more than one night, we would have been finding somewhere else to stay! We left our stuff in the room and walked up less than a block and had lunch at Jack in the Box. Then we walked to the nearest Walgreens to buy some soda to take on the cruise. It wasn't that far to walk and the weather was so nice!

Sadly, this is our only picture of our day in Long Beach.

After we got our soda, and a hairbrush since I realized I forgot to pack one, we walked back to our room and just relaxed until it was time for dinner. For dinner we walked to the pizza place that was in the same parking lot has our motel. It had good reviews online, and it didn't disappoint! After dinner we went back to our room for the night.

The next morning we got ready and went to the continental breakfast and got our stuff packed and had the front desk to call a taxi for us. The taxi came pretty quickly, and it was my first time in a taxi that I can remember and oh boy I thought we were going to die. He was speeding and driving really aggressively. We made it to the cruise terminal in one piece though and gave our luggage to the porter and went and got in line to check in and get our cruise cards and stuff. We were so glad we listened to the front desk guy and got there really early. There weren't very many people in line when we got there, but it got busy really soon after that. We got all of our cards and stuff and went right to get in line at our boarding assignment number. Also, another reason we were glad we got there early. We were only like 5 people away from the front of that line. Although, the group behind us had really foul language and were practically standing on us. One of the guys in the group even bumped into me a few times! We waited a little while and then they finally started letting us go through security to get on the ship!

On the bridge to get on the ship!

View from the bridge and you can actually see where our room was in this picture! It was a little left and like 1 row up from the furthest of the life boats.

We went right to our room and set down our carry on bags and then went to the dining room to find our where our table was. We were at a table for 4, which is the one option we absolutely didn't want. We requested a table for 2 and the Maitre'd said he would let us know before dinner the next day. We were a little bummed we would have to sit with 2 other people for at least 1 night, but were pretty hopeful we would get our table for 2. After that we found the buffet and had some lunch. The food was pretty good, but by the end of the week it was getting boring. After lunch we had a little while before the safety drill so we walked around and checked out the ship.

This was the Serenity deck which was the "adults only" deck, but there were still times that we saw kids or teenagers there. The lounge chairs were so nice though!

After the safety drill we went back to our room to hangout until dinner. We got to watch the crew load the rest of the supplies on the ship and kept thinking that the boys would have been in heaven watching all the forklifts!

This was our view from our balcony until the ship left port. The Queen Mary. We were SO glad we paid the extra for a balcony.

We went to dinner and it wasn't quite as awkward as we were expecting it to be. We ended up with a father/daughter who hadn't seen each other in like 6 years. He was old, like in his 80's and she was younger than me! It was so weird, but they were both really nice and he was a typical old person and was hilarious. Dinner was good, and I got a creme brulee for dessert and it was so good, I wish I would have known that was the only night they were serving it, or I would have eaten at least 2! After dinner, our bed had been turned down, and our steward had left a towel creature!

I'm guessing this is a seal?

The next day was a full day at sea. We woke up and had room service breakfast. It was fun, because we don't ever do that since at hotels it is so expensive.

This was our view off our balcony the first morning. It was so fun to feel the wind and hear the ocean and to only see ocean! We spent a lot of time out on the balcony just watching the ocean.

We decided to wander around and find somewhere to sit and read. We found Gastby's Garden that was pretty much deserted, but had a fun view out the window.

In Gatsby's garden.

Then we walked up to the Serenity deck. It was too chilly to actually be in our swimsuits, but it was nice to lounge outside with a view of the ocean.

Lounging on the Serenity deck.

Just out walking around enjoying the warmer air.

Dinner on this night was a formal night, so we went back to the room to get ready. We also got to watch the sunset from our balcony.

The sunset was amazing each night.

All ready for formal night!

We ended up getting our romantic table for 2! It was so nice to have it just be the 2 of us and to be able to just talk to each other. Dinner was great and we really liked the waitress we had.

We went back to our room to change into more comfortable clothes.