Today is the DAY! Around lunch time we will be boarding the Carnival cruise ship Pride with our friends Rudy and Georganne for our seven day cruise south. We are hoping for warmer temperatures and no rain as we sail to Pt. Canaveral, Florida followed by two stops in the Bahamas: Freeport and Nassau. We have never done a Carnival cruise before, and the reviews are mixed. Mark and I are going on with an open mind, hoping to have a great week.
This cruise is very ironic. I'm sure the majority of you who read this blog have heard this story before, but here it is again anyway. This cruise ship has been in Baltimore for quite a number of years. We all thought it was very cool when Baltimore finally got a few of these big cruise ships in the harbor. It felt like our city had "arrived." So I talked to Mark for a long time about going on the ship. I also thought it would be very cool to sail under the Bay Bridge and all the way down the bay into the Atlantic Ocean.
When I was a kid, my sister Flyn and I spent a lot of time on our dad's sail boat, the Fog Dog, going around the Chesapeake Bay, but we never sailed all the way down to the ocean. We did go under the Bay Bridge a number of times. There was always something magical about looking up at the underside of that bridge as our little sailboat glided below. Also, at various times, Mark and I took the kids on vacations that involved being at both the source and the mouth of the Bay. Its source is the Susquehanna River, which begins in upstate New York in Lake Otswego, near the Baseball Hall of Fame. Evey was only three years old and Lowell was eleven when we went there. Many times we vacationed in Virginia Beach, near the mouth of the Bay. There's an old lighthouse right at the point that we visited one time.
Finally, a couple of years ago, we saw rock-bottom, dirt cheap, nonrefundable, early bird special prices for an inside cabin. We snagged them for October of 2010, about a year away at the time, thinking the fall foliage would look good as we cruised up and down the Chesapeake. We thought it would be so easy to cruise out of Baltimore when we lived in Laurel, just 30 minutes south of the dock. Well, as you know, "People make plans and God laughs at them." Instead of going on the cruise, I did chemotherapy instead.
Our good friend and travel agent, Dave, fought on our behalf with Carnival and convinced them to leave us a majority of the money on credit for one year. We could have used it on any Carnival cruise, but I still wanted that trip down the Bay and under the bridge. Today is the last possible chance to use that credit, so off we go! It's ironic because now we had to drive over 900 miles north to get on this ship that used to be just a half hour away. It's even more ironic that its first port of call, Port Canaveral, is just a bit over an hour from our new house. LOL!! Yes, God laughed at these plans, BUT He also saw to it that I came through my cancer treatments, bought a wonderful new house, had fantastic friends like Jeff and Sara who would put us up (or put up with us!) for these past four nights, and the health and strength to drive up here and take this cruise today. We are also grateful for our good friends Rudy and Georganne who will join us for the week and give us an overnight place to stay after the cruise. Things don't always work out as we plan; sometimes they work out even better!
Meanwhile, last night we attended a concert at Mishkan Torah of the New Klezmer Quintet. I posted some pictures of it here today. The sound was amazing and so was the opportunity to see so many of our MT friends. The group was started by Brian Choper, son of longtime MT congregants, so everyone has a fondness in their hearts for them. The guest violinist was Alan Oresky, brother of our good friend Saul, also a longtime member of MT. It was a packed house, full of our friends, fantastic music, and plenty of ruach (spirit!).
Once I post today's blog, there will not be another one until next Sunday night. I do not plan on buying too many internet minutes on the ship, so I can't upload anything. I will be putting our pictures on the laptop and captioning them before I forget what they are, but I won't be able to send any around or put any on the blog until we have free wi-fi again. I hope everyone has a fantastic week, and I'll write again when I get back.
Finally, a couple of years ago, we saw rock-bottom, dirt cheap, nonrefundable, early bird special prices for an inside cabin. We snagged them for October of 2010, about a year away at the time, thinking the fall foliage would look good as we cruised up and down the Chesapeake. We thought it would be so easy to cruise out of Baltimore when we lived in Laurel, just 30 minutes south of the dock. Well, as you know, "People make plans and God laughs at them." Instead of going on the cruise, I did chemotherapy instead.
Our good friend and travel agent, Dave, fought on our behalf with Carnival and convinced them to leave us a majority of the money on credit for one year. We could have used it on any Carnival cruise, but I still wanted that trip down the Bay and under the bridge. Today is the last possible chance to use that credit, so off we go! It's ironic because now we had to drive over 900 miles north to get on this ship that used to be just a half hour away. It's even more ironic that its first port of call, Port Canaveral, is just a bit over an hour from our new house. LOL!! Yes, God laughed at these plans, BUT He also saw to it that I came through my cancer treatments, bought a wonderful new house, had fantastic friends like Jeff and Sara who would put us up (or put up with us!) for these past four nights, and the health and strength to drive up here and take this cruise today. We are also grateful for our good friends Rudy and Georganne who will join us for the week and give us an overnight place to stay after the cruise. Things don't always work out as we plan; sometimes they work out even better!
Meanwhile, last night we attended a concert at Mishkan Torah of the New Klezmer Quintet. I posted some pictures of it here today. The sound was amazing and so was the opportunity to see so many of our MT friends. The group was started by Brian Choper, son of longtime MT congregants, so everyone has a fondness in their hearts for them. The guest violinist was Alan Oresky, brother of our good friend Saul, also a longtime member of MT. It was a packed house, full of our friends, fantastic music, and plenty of ruach (spirit!).
Once I post today's blog, there will not be another one until next Sunday night. I do not plan on buying too many internet minutes on the ship, so I can't upload anything. I will be putting our pictures on the laptop and captioning them before I forget what they are, but I won't be able to send any around or put any on the blog until we have free wi-fi again. I hope everyone has a fantastic week, and I'll write again when I get back.
I will be praying that you and your husband have a wonderful week. That is a beautiful story about this cruise. I can't wait to see pictures when you get back.
ReplyDeleteMy son and I had a wonderful time at Des Moines Race for the Cure yesterday. It was a beautiful day and I couldn't beat the company when my son decided to come with me. There were about 25,000 people there. I looked at the timer when we crossed the finish line and it said 74 minutes. I didn't pay too much attention to it though cause at the beginning we were forced to walk very slowly for quite a while til the people got spread out enough for us to walk normal pace.
Just have fun this week!
That is AWESOME, Rhonda!! I am so proud of you and your son. That's a LOT of people. So much support. I know you must have felt so wonderful.
ReplyDeleteI just got a message on Facebook that a former co-worker of mine walked the Baltimore Komen walk today in my honor. It literally brought tears to my eyes. I also felt bad because in our busy lives with the Jewish holidays and this cruise and visiting everyone up here in MD, I totally forgot about the walk today. I had meant to make a pledge to her, so I hope it's not too late to do so.
I think 74 minutes is fantastic. It would have taken me about 70 to 74 minutes back when I was 40 pounds less and doing the 5k every Sunday. I am sure it would have taken 90 today if I could even have finished! Once again, Mazel Tov to you and your son for taking that walk. I am very proud of you.