 |
| Yep you heard, I'm sure most of you have been on a cruise before but have you ever cruised without ANY of your luggage!!? Well it happened to us and it was a crazy, crazy time. The picture above is all we had (courtesy of Carnival) along w/2 carnival t-shirts and our wallets. The story went like this. In SLC airport we find out SW airplane is damaged so our flight is delayed by at least two hours for repairs. We go to the check in desk and tell them our situation of trying to catch a cruise ship in San Diego. They put us on a different flight that isn't much better...getting there at 3:40-our ship departs at 4:00! It is our only option, we call Carnival explain what is going on and they tell us they will NOT wait. So do we chance it? Do we just call it quits? It was a free cruise anyway. We find 6 others in the terminal going on the same cruise. They are all chancing it, so...we do. We arrive in San Diego as promised by 3:45. Me and another wife jet over to the port as soon as we get off the plane. Our husbands stay to get our luggage. When we arrive to check in for the ship, it is deserted except for 3 or 4 security agents. They knew we were coming they tell us to RUN if we want to make it. We book it down the long corridor and the Carnival personnel barely glance at our forms and PUSH us thru onto the ship. I'm like, WAIT...I can't go without my husband! "Where is he!?" they ask. I call him -he's in a cab on his way AND our luggage never showed. Crap. do we even go without luggage , without ANYTHING>;.? Then the Carnival lady tells me- never mind there's no time we've already pulled the ropes, we're gone. So I call Marty again. They've left . It's over- I tell him. Then another superior from Carnival comes over and says we can wait 2 minutes, TWO minutes, no longer....where is your husband!? Is he here yet?! I call him again. The other guy he's with is set on making it in time AND set on going without luggage. It's back and forth for a good stressful 4 min. "We left...we can wait...we can't wait...I'm going to lose my job!...where is your husband?!" Finally- it seems -Marty comes wheeling around the corner of the corridor and sprints to us. They don't even check his identification and THROW us down ramp into the ship. Marty said they took a cab and the driver was stressed for them-running 2 red lights and screeching to a stop at their destination. They both jumped out and he yells 'hey you didn't pay me!" then the security guys stop my husband and the other guy and say "hey, you need to pay the cab driver!"... "We did! " they both yell together before they're tackled to the ground. "Tell him to check the front seat there's a twenty ! "(to cover the 7 dollar fair) Once on the ship we tried to calm down. It took us a day or two. Carnival was great -well first of all they waited for us- then they gave us each a t-shirt and toiletries kits and complimentary laundry to wash our ONE pair of underwear. I don't think it was as big of a deal for Marty as it was for me...I mean NO make-up, deodorant, shampoo, straightener, CLOTHES, socks, running gear, sandals, hats, toothbrush, etc. etc. I mean can a GIRL survive.... you bet I did.  |
 |
| Well, one other thing I did have in my carry-on was all of my swimsuits and 2 cover-ups. So I was actually okay in that department. |
 |
| Marty and I; finally able to relax! |
 |
| If it wasn't for these 'phenominal' (ya like that Tony?) folks . We'd of been SOL. The Chambers, whom we'd met the first night, made our cruise a vacation and not a bummer. They lent us clothes to wear, to work out in; a little makeup and shampoo. Not only were they great to hang out with during our 5 day trip but they made it possible to hang. They were very generous to us and hardly knew us. THANK YOU- you guys are are wonderful. So yes, Marty is in Tony's shirt. And I am in Ricki's whole get-up! |
 |
| Here we are meeting the "captain" of ship! I hugged him and told him 'THANK YOU for waiting!" Apparently it was his call to keep waiting -stretching it for him-and I'm sure it stressed him out. Lots of people we met on ship after we told them our story-said- "Oh, THAT'S why we didn't depart after the horn blew, we were all waiting for the ship to move and nothing happened." So... muchas gracias Captain Vito! |
 |
| Our lovely room...SO much better to have a balcony room this time and not the dark hole that we stayed in last time. |
 |
| BEAUTIFUL CABO....definitely worth the trip. |
 |
| Marty workin' it with his fluent-ish Spanish. I was so proud of him, he fit right in and the natives loved talking to him. |
 |
| ...Again workin' it. |
 |
| Jelly fish galore...we had to keep an eye on them while in the water... |
 |
| a strip of the tourist-ty part of Cabo. |
 |
| The food on the ship wasn't (this time or last time) that great to me. What was really good was this restaurant called 'the office' that sits right on the beach and you can dig your feet in that beautiful sand while you eat....it was to die for, these bass tacos...hmmm |
 |
| A cold swim after a big lunch on the beach...not a good combo. HA! |
 |
| This cute little boy was so proud of his 'catch', he was just walking around w/it all over town. Good size fish. |
 |
| 2nd day in Cabo, Ricki and I on our way to our snorkeling excursion-we had a short boat tour of the peninsula first...it was so neat! |
 |
| One side of the tunnel is the Pacific Ocean the other is the Sea of ...(i forgot) Anyway-two different bodies of water on either side of this natural rock tunnel. |
 |
| Look at this beach! And the water...talk about paradise...sheesh! |
 |
| Snorkeling was AWESOME. The water was COLD. But I am so glad we did it! |
 |
| It IS called Lover's Beach ya know! |
 |
| Marty's speaking Spanish to the iguanas...they really liked it. |
 |
| I had to zoom way-in from our boat to catch this crab just before he slipped in that cold water. |
 |
| On our way back to the 'Mother Ship'...BOO - we should stay in Cabo indefinitely.! |
 |
| The crew we sat with each night for dinner. Tony, Ricki, Marty, Me, Britney and her Mom (stand-in-husband-who wouldn't lean for the picture). Notice my beach shirt from Mexico while everyone else is all dressed up...at least I was able to wash my undies that day! I should of taken a pic of the waiter behind us- he is from Indonesia and works on the cruise line for six months at a time before he goes home for 2-3 months (to make another baby, he says) to his wife and two kids, then leaves again for another 6 month stretch! wow. He says it's worth it for the pay-that is dedication. |
 |
| We thought we had it hard w/out our luggage...look at this poor seagull with one foot! Someones always got it more difficult than you... |
 |
| San Diego... going home...getting to see our kids again...and hopefully picking up our luggage at the airport!? Two things to mention. On Wednesday night at about 3:00 am, it's pitch black and all is quiet and then suddenly over the speakers in ALL the rooms the words "Operation Bright Star, 4425" this is said 2 or 3 times in a row (loudly). Of course I'm all shook up- as is everyone that woke up - not able to fall back asleep for an hour and not having ANY idea what that was all about. Come to find out later...operation bright star is code for medical emergency or death. 4425 was the room number. Someone said, once we ported in San Diego, they spotted a gurney being rolled out with a body bag?! Pretty crazy. Lastly- SW airlines refunded us w/a $500 dollar check to make up for expenses to cover our lost luggage. So I don't actually hate them, we made out pretty well in the end I guess. All in all-we had a blast. I miss the sand. |
 |
| And THIS is what we come home for!! brrrrr. |
