Our pre-cruise experiences
May 25th, 2009Packing for two adults and a toddler is challenging! I organized my packing list on the iPod Touch. I love my new toy! The list was ridiculous. We just needed so many things “just in case” in addition to all the normal stuff. We ended up with one large suitcase, a suitbag, two carry-on sized bags, the camera bag, the new umbrella stroller, and an overnight bag that we left in the car after our hotel stay. Whew! It’s a bit tricky packing for a cruise when it involves formalwear and all the shoes and accessories that accompany that. The good news is that we packed very little that we didn’t use. We had so much packing to do on Thursday night that we were unable to watch the Grey’s Anatomy finale. I knew it was a big episode, and I didn’t want anyone to give away what happened!!! I downloaded the show for the iPod, hoping we could see it while in the hotel.
We left on Friday after work and headed to Norfolk. According to the GPS, we had very little dinner options after leaving the Raleigh area. For about 60 miles, there’s just NOTHING. We decided to have dinner before leaving town. We were hungry, and we didn’t want to wait too long to feed Maddie either! Overall, the drive was boring but thankfully uneventful.
We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn in Suffolk. Apparently, they have two of them in the area (or perhaps they relocated). We were somewhat concerned that we were headed to the wrong one as we saw a sign for a different one about 20 minutes before our exit. Fortunately, our directions were correct. Turns out that the hotel has been open for less than a month! We were the first people to stay in our room. Wow, I’ve never had that experience! Aside from a little fresh paint smell, it was great. We have had very good experiences with Hilton Garden Inns, and it has become our middle-of-the-road hotel of choice.
Maddie napped most of the way between dinner and Suffolk, and she was wide awake and excited when we got to the hotel room. She really loved jumping around on the bed. She giggled and giggled while flopping around on the big, comfy bed. We didn’t bother with a pack-n-play and eventually got her to sleep in the bed. Gabe and I watched the 2-hour Grey’s Anatomy finale. I’m glad that we did! It was a bit odd watching on a tiny little screen and the sound was a bit soft since we didn’t have speakers or headphones. It worked, though, and I actually discussed the finale with another passenger on the cruise.
We had the breakfast in the hotel, which was a little pricey but tasty enough. It was convenient. They didn’t have a high chair which we assumed because the hotel was brand new. Maddie did pretty well sitting in the booth with me, but she was too restless to sit through the entire meal. They took forever to bring our check and settle it afterwards. We went to pack the luggage and kid into the car. When we got Maddie into the car, I realized that we had left Valentino in the hotel room! I’m so glad that we realized this before we left the hotel. I went back up and rescued the cute little bear and a rogue pacifier. Whew, close call!
It didn’t take us long to get from the hotel to the port. I would recommend the hotel for those who don’t wish to do any sightseeing before a cruise. It was cheaper than other hotels in the area, though I have heard that some have parking and shuttle services for cruises. If we sail out of Norfolk again, I’ll probably check into that.
We drove to the Half Moone Cruise and Celebration Center to drop off our luggage and headed to the Cedar Grove parking lot. The parking went smoothly and was $10/day. I guess they only have one ship at a time, so they knew that everyone was here for the 5-day cruise. We took the free shuttle bus to the port. Now we’re getting really excited, but we’re still nervous as we have to make it through the check-in and security process.
Traveling with a toddler is certainly different than the pre-baby days. We found ourselves waiting for elevators instead of taking the stairs, for example. When we got into the terminal, we were handed a health form. Uh oh. I had been dreading this part of the process and very nervous that they were going to deny us boarding. The first question: have you had any diarrhea or vomiting in the past 3 days? Ok, we’re fine on this one. No for all three of us. The second question: have you had any of the following symptoms in the past 7 days: coughing, sore throat, fever, chills, runny nose. Uh oh. Miraculously, we could say “no” for Maddie. It might be the only one week period where she hasn’t had any of those symptoms since she started daycare, ha! Unfortunately, we could not say “no” for Gabe. Truthfully, he had ALL of those symptoms in the past 7 days. Gabe had been really quite sick with a sinus infection. He’s had an awful cough and all the other symptoms of the swine flu. Yikes. Since he still had a cough and a runny nose (and honestly, still looked a little rough), we had to say “yes.” We knew we could be dooming our vacation.
We went to get into the long, long check-in line and were pleasantly surprised to be expedited to the front of the line. This was due to having a small child, not due to his answer on the form. The lady who checked us in said we were the first people to say “yes” on the form, and she had to go find out what to do. We were escorted to the director who arranged for Gabe to visit with the medical staff. I was so nervous!!! I kept pacing back and forth with the stroller, so worried that they were going to cancel our long-awaited and much deserved vacation. It seemed to take forever! Finally, Gabe emerged from the health check and we were cleared to board. Whew! He said that they checked for fever and looked at his throat and such and pretty much everything looked fine. Thank goodness.
We were able to get through the rest of the process quickly, again due to having a little one. Our boarding photos looked pretty bad as we were ridiculously happy to actually be getting on the ship! We opted to put those into the bin. Stay tuned for the next long winded summary of our trip…Day 1 on the cruise ship coming soon.
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May 27th, 2009 at 8:26 am
You were the first people to say Yes on the form? She didn’t know what to do? Isn’t that weird? You have thousands of people and ONLY YOU had sniffles in the last week? That wouldn’t make me feel too good about all the other people who just checked No and might have brought swine flu on board!