But Wait, There's More: Cruising the Polar Vortex

After eight months of travel, Chris and I moved back into our place on December 31st. That night we had a fantastic New Years with friends in Boston and spent our first days home catching up with people and surviving our first blizzard of the year. Winter was already taking its toll on me, and five days after moving back to Boston I was flying to sunny Florida.  My sister-in-law, Jen, and I booked a last minute four-night Caribbean cruise with Royal Caribbean leaving from Miami.  I was thrilled to be back on the road and in the warm weather again!  

We boarded the ship early on Monday and sat on the deck soaking up the sun, which lasted about an hour.  Then, a few intimidating clouds rolled in, but we ordered another round of piña coladas and willed the sun to come back out.  Apparently our willing didn't work.  In fact, it had the opposite effect, because the sun didn't come back out until we stepped off the ship five days later.  We spent four full days stuck on a boat packed with people bobbing through the tumultuous Caribbean Sea.  We later discovered there was a giant polar vortex over the country which caused the blustery, cold weather.

So what do you do on a boat amidst a squall?  You have a heck of a good time! 

Arrived on the boat in Miami! Cheers to the sun!

A few hours later, Mother Nature slapped us in the face.

So we went inside to find our room. Our room attendant asked us if we need anything else, to which I promptly responded, "Yes. Space".

Luckily, Mom and Dad Barbier surprised us with a bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries!

First stop was Nassau where we picked up these sweet ponchos.

We didn't last long outside in Nassau. We hit up the bar for a few Margaritas along with the rest of the ship...at 11:30 am. Notice Jen's sweater. When we first arrived, I made fun of her for bringing a sweater to the Caribbean. At this point in the trip, I was eating my words and chasing them with that massive 'rita.

On Day 2 we were supposed to be basking in the sun on Royal Caribbean's private island. Instead we were stuck at sea because the waves were too big for the boat to anchor.

The giant yellow ponchos proved to be very entertaining....

...until they split apart. They were no match for the vortex.

Our last day was in Key West where we found a tiny patch of blue sky in the distance.

The rain stopped and we could finally toss our yellow ponchos (which were destroyed at this point).

We strolled through Key West

and checked out the local art scene

I found a life sized Barbie car. I really wanted to drive this around the island, but only if Jen sat in the back seat clad in her yellow poncho greeting the locals in a formal Brindian manner. Sadly, this did not happen.

We spent a lot of time in the Schooner bar. Much of it was spent playing trivia and sharing drinks with our new friends - a group of 70-something retirees who looked like Whitey Bulger, Bernie Madoff and Judge Judy. Later on our motley crew tore up the dance floor.

We ordered most of the desserts on the menu. No surprises here.

We gambled, won, then lost.

But smiled:)

One night this little guy was waiting for us in our room. We have no idea what animal it is supposed to be. Any guesses?

Royal Caribbean, not quite as regal as it once was...
As you can see, the weather was a BIG bust, and Royal Caribbean wasn't quite equipped to handle all the people stuck inside the boat. Their service was definitely underwhelming. We have been on two other cruises together as an entire family - most recently several years back - and remember their service being wonderful.  Perhaps that was because we had nice weather and weren't stuck on the boat the entire time.  The company is also way behind the times in terms of technology - you have to pay for internet per minute and when I asked them about changing my rewards number to my married name they told me I'd need to send a FAX to their Crown & Anchor club.  Not an email with a scanned attachment but a freaking 1990's style paper fax.  I told the guy that I haven't seen a fax machine in about 10 years and asked why I couldn't settle this there in person since I had my passport and he apparently had access to a fax machine. Nope, that wasn't his job and I'd have to call later and find a fax machine. First I need to find a time machine to take me back to 1998.  

It's not where but who...
Despite the polar vortex, mild seasickness, miniature room, and lack of technology we still had fun.  Sometimes it really isn't about where you are but who you are with.  And there are very few people I'd prefer to be stuck with on a boat in the middle of a storm. Luckily for me, Jen is one of those people!  We laughed A LOT and I think we'll continue to laugh about this trip for many years to come. 

Miami Surprise!
Go figure, when we got off the ship in Miami the sun came out.  We were psyched because, thanks to Chris and his Dad, our vacation was extended through the weekend. Chris came down to meet us in Miami and the sunshine followed him. More about Miami in the next post...