You wanna know a secret? I cry at least twice every time we go on a cruise. It’s something I just can’t control. I know you must be thinking that I’ve lost my mind, but my emotions just get the best of me. Let me explain…
Leaving the Port
This is one of the times when sunglasses come in handy to hide my tears. The excitement of knowing what lies ahead in the upcoming days fill me with emotions. All the planning and coordinating leads up to that moment of pulling out of port and I can finally relax.
We like to find a spot outside on one of the top decks to say farewell. The views are always incredible and the girls love waving goodbye – whether or not there are people on the shores. And then I take a step back and see this…
And that’s when the waterworks begin… I guess you could call them ‘excited’ tears as we begin a fun-filled trip. I’m overwhelmed with joy and I’m always incredibly thankful that I can experience this trip with my children. Exploring ports, eating great food and having fun on the ship – waving goodbye is just the beginning of the fun.
Our Farewell Dinner
Each night at the end of dinner service in the dining room, the servers and staff have “Showtime” – where they sing and dance to a selected song and it’s always a fun way to end dinner.
After such a fancy dinner, I love to see my server dancing around the room… and fellow cruisers are welcome to dance along and we do! One night, the song was Pharrell’s “Happy”, one night it was a Black Eyed Peas song and it is always a highlight of our day.
On the final night of the cruise, the servers always end the meal serenading everyone with a song that instantly makes me cry – thanking us for sailing with Carnival and wishing us safe travels back home. “You’re leaving on a Fun Ship. We hope to see you back again…” Ugh. It gets me every time. I’m crying just thinking about it. Here’s a video I found on YouTube —
So yep, there you have it… I cry on cruise ships. And I’m not ashamed… just emotional. I love the memories we make together as a family on Carnival cruises – they are trips that my girls will remember forever. I just hope they don’t remember Mom crying all the time too.
Tell me I’m not crazy… please!
** My family and I were invited guests of Carnival Cruise Lines. They did not ask me to write this post, I’m sharing my story with you because I want to, not because I was asked to do so. Thoughts (and tears) are my own. **
Comments
Clarence-Rockland
Yes! Finally something about isusa.
Donna
I always cry at that song too. Our last cruise on the splendor we had such a wonderful team in the MDR that they cryed too on the last night. Our head waiter said he has never had so much fun with a family as he has this week with us.
Stephen R
I don’t think it makes you crazy…it’s actually endearing in an odd sort of way. Perhaps it’s just that you’re the demographic they are targeting both with their marketing and on board shtick and they are hitting their mark.
Maybe I’m weird but despite being fairly open with my emotions when the situation allows for it (if I couldn’t vent my emotions, working around death and loss like I do would probably mentally destroy me pretty quickly), I’ve yet to have an experience on Carnival that makes me experience any extreme emotion. Same with my wife. Well…sort of. She’s much more stoic than I am; if she starts crying it’s pretty dire because she doesn’t readily show emotion. Five years together and I have seen her tear up maybe three times. She doesn’t even cry at funerals and such. Crying out of joy isn’t something I can ever see my wife doing. There’s a running joke when we’re walking and she grasps my hand: “Who are you and what have you done with my wife?” LOL
Carnival seems to miss the mark with us even though we’re probably in similar demographics to you other than our lack of children (unless you could the kind with fur and a tendency to purr). It’s probably just due to differences in what triggers displays of emotion between otherwise similar people.
The “showtime” thing actually makes my wife and I both flee the main dining room at the first hint of it. Actually, we usually ask our waiters to give us a heads up so we are well back towards our rooms before the campy little fiasco gets going. They also are nice enough to offer to compress the service so we don’t have to choose between enduring a song and dance number that a community theater would be ashamed of or having dessert. Every waiter we’ve asked their opinion of it has universally said that it’s not something they enjoy and most find rather embarrassing but it’s just a petty bother they have to do as part of their job. The final night version is bearable but it’s still tacky.
The whole low brow nature of it- plus how it interrupts dinner service if you don’t plan ahead- causes “showtime” to be one of the things that make us less fond of Carnival than we probably would be otherwise. We still go but we avoid the things that we don’t like the drunken mess that is Lido, “showtime”, etc. You’ll find us on our balcony enjoying the view and reading or watching a movie. To each and to their own… 🙂
Danny
you are not alone in feelings or enjoyment of “show time”. God gave us the emotion for a reason. Not all creatures have it.