Fun, Games, and Hurricanes

Sunday, October 2, 20022

We are on the Enchanted Princess Fall Colors New England and Canada cruise. I took this cruise with my mom and sister about 6 years ago and on the second night the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew hit us. We were at dinner and they suspended service and asked us to go to our cabins. Before we went to bed, the ship was rocking back and forth. The others went to sleep, but I was reading. And then the ship really started going back and forth. It was about the most scared I have ever been. I was sure the boat was going to tip over and we were all going to drown. For hours and hours, I waited for us to get around Cape Cod, because I was sure if we could get that little slice of land between us and the wind, the waves would calm down and we would be saved. I did not know that we had stopped moving forward (learned that the next day when we came into Boston 6 hours late).

When we booked the cruise this time, never in a million billion years did I think another hurricane would come up this far north.

Well.

I watched Hurricane Ian with great interest. I didn’t sleep a lot last week, worrying. I told the kids at school I was going on a boat to get hit by a hurricane. Several asked me why I would do that. Decent question. I thought when we landed in NY and all was okay that we were in the clear, but before the boat even left the dock the commodore (I am choosing to believe that commodore is even better than captain and that we are in the very, very best of hands and that I have nothing to worry about) (it has been working all day) announced we would not go to Newport RI because we were going to get hit by the storm.

Fine. All that worrying and it happened anyway (no, I am not learning a lesson).

Last night was calm. We toured Tom and Louise’s last minute upgrade to a balcony room. We unpacked in our little inside room. Tom was volunteered to help acrobats, which was awesome. We saw a comedian, who was both super awkward and pretty funny. We taught Tom and Louise to order lots of courses and two desserts at dinner. Oh! When we first stepped onto the ship, the crew member welcoming us was familiar to me. I stopped (confused) (because obviously I was unaware that I was ON THIS EXACT SHIP in January) and looked at him. Before I could say anything, he said, “We’ve cruised together before.” I was amazed. I said I’d been on in January and he welcomed me back. I TOTALLY believed him – it was perfectly done – for about 5 minutes, until I realized he just had a fabulous line for people who looked confused at him. Total win.

The seas were bouncy all day, but nothing much. The commodore said we were going with the storm, but when we turned the corner to go north, things would get really bouncy, I was not afraid. He was telling us all about it and I felt confident that since I wouldn’t be alone in my room, afraid to seek help or answers, I would be okay (Oh. I didn’t sink and drown last time). We played trivia and lost. We played trivia and won. We played trivia and tied (and lost the tie breaker). We played trivia and tied (perfect score!) (Broadway musicals was the topic. It is our best category.), then tied the tie breaker! A gentleman, Martin, joined us (YAY! for joiners. I asked two couples to join us today that turned me down. Boo for not joining). He is from NYC and knew lots about musicals. We were in solid shape. After the first couple that I wrote down before getting help, he said, “If you were any better, I’d think you were a savant.” Seemed high praise and very funny. He was good at Broadway, we were good at Broadway, but Louise tied the game for us by knowing instantly that I’m a Believer (hey, hey, we’re the Monkees) is from Shrek. WooooHoooooo! I had so, so, so much fun playing that game–especially because we were far in the back and Martin and I sang all the songs. Louise and I played Taboo and almost won. We were good, so not nearly as funny as the people were not so good. We watched the Yes/No game and laughed oh, so much! (People go up and a crew member chats with them for 3 minutes. If the person can not say yes or no for three minutes, they win. I have played before and both won and lost. It is just way more fun to watch.)

Dinner was tenderloin and a yummy little potato dealie. Great service tonight. Eight desserts between us, and we all shared. Louise and I opted to face the window for dinner and we watched the waves going crazy. We had no trouble not falling out of our chairs, but getting across the dining room after we ate took careful navigation. The rocking was really just fun – nothing even remotely like I had 6 years ago. We went to the production show, Rock Opera. We really enjoyed it, but it was reallllly loud. The dancers are so impressive, especially on a bouncy boat.

One last thing that has to go on record. We came up to change for dinner and Keith immediately fell asleep on the bed. I checked my phone (Keith bought the internet today, so we could Wordle) and answered emails from school. This is the first time I was working while we were on vacation and Keith was not. There’s a first time for everything.