Majesty of the Seas by Royal Caribbean
Some undisclosed person or persons chose our associate pastor and his wife to be the messengers of some incredible news.
Our pastor's wife visited with us one Sunday morning after church and asked us what our plans were for Feb. 24-27. JR was telling her how he was planning to run someone's lawn business that week while the owner and his wife
(who also happen to be very good friends of ours)
were going on a Caribbean cruise to the Bahamas
with Sail & Sing Christian Cruise.
Our pastor's wife visited for awhile and said she had been sent by someone to see what our schedule was over those dates.
OK....?!
While we knew there was a cruise leaving from Miami in February, and our son, his girlfriend and her family, along with many other people we knew were going on a cruise. We had talked earlier of how we would enjoy going,
had prayed about it, but it appeared that financially,
it was not an option.
On the way home from church we discussed the possibility that those dates she quoted might possibly be the same dates of the cruise and briefly mentioned the possibility of someone sending us on a cruise but quickly dismissed it as not too apt to happen and also knowing JR had committed to running a lawn business!
When we got home we asked Derek about the dates of the cruise and interestingly enough, the dates matched!
A week passed in which time we left for Ministers' Enrichment Weekend in Lancaster, PA. where we had a very enjoyable time. We were barely home when again, the phone rang...
the same message bearer with more news.
I got goose bumps up and down my arms as I was informed that "someone" had purchased 2 tickets for JR and I and we were to be ready to leave on in three weeks!! I had to sit down and pinch myself to see if this was actually happening!
Sure enough, arrangements had been made, another worker had been lined up to run our friend's lawn business
and confirmations were sent of our reservations!
WE WERE EXCITED!!
JR had mentioned through the years how he would love to go on a cruise sometime! It never appealed to me that much because I don't like being on things I can't get off of and, while I love water, I wasn't too sure about not being able to see land.
Extra money was never in abundance, so a cruise seemed like a
"maybe someday we'll go" thing.
But this time... I WAS AS EXCITED AS JR!!!
Travel documents were gathered, bags were packed, arrangements were made, and one early Monday morning the LaRaviere family stopped in to pick us up so we could all travel together to Miami
in a 15-passenger van.
(more to follow on that!)
As we neared the Port of Miami we were all eyes...
looking for the first glimpse of our ship.
It didn't take long until we spotted it.
It was gargantuwa!!! HUGE!
It was like a city on the water!
Matthew unloaded us all at the dock while he went to park the van. Before we even left the dock and entered the ship, the porter recognized us as Christians and had asked for prayer.
With opportunities like that, we knew this was going to be a
God-trip and it was...over and over again!
We entered Customs having no idea what we were doing but tried to look like well-seasoned travelers.
Derek (our son) ran into problems at Customs because he was under 21. He pointed the attendant to us, his parents, so she sent him down to our line where they approved his travel abroad, and we all breathed a sigh of relief as we moved on through.
We walked through all the pass-ways and bridges with wide eyes...
we felt just a smidging like "Amish in the City"!
This is the middle of the ship showing all the different levels, stairways, elevators, and shops.
And then we were off to find our room.
We were on the fifth floor in an inside room.
It was small but had plenty of room for two people.
I thought not having a window might bother my problem
of being claustrophobic but it didn't at all
and it didn't take us long to realize how little time
is spent in your room on a trip like this!
Derek and his friends roomed right next to ours,
right across from us was the Pollard family
and scattered across the ship were many people we knew.
Smiling, friendly porters from all over the world were available at all times to see if we needed anything.
Our rooms were cleaned twice a day.
I think I could get used to this quite quickly!
This little character was waiting in our room one night when we got back to it. He was wearing JR's glasses and holding the remote control for us. Different of his friends greeted us when we came in.
Departure from Miami was announced so up on top deck we all went to bid farewell to the United States of America.
Last minute phone calls, texts, and facebook status' were done before we lost our cellphone service.
Ahead lay open seas and lots of water! Breath-takinglyBeautiful!
It felt surreal! We were on a cruise!
My first voyage out of the U.S!!
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