We got to the airport about an hour before the flight left so we could check our bags in and get through security my mom and dad said. We still had time after getting though security and my dad disappeared, when I asked where he was my mom said your will be back in time to get on the plain. Come to find out later this was only my dad’s second time on an air plane and he was more nervous than I was. He went to the bar to get some liquid courage pulsing through his veins. My dad got back in time and we boarded the plane my sister and I were fighting over who would get the window seat and of course I won because I was the youngest child. I sat down in my seat and my mom gave me a piece of gum and told me to keep chewing when we took off and landed. I wasn’t sure why but when we started to move and lift off the ground my ears started popping and as I chewed the popping wasn’t so bad. Finally after an hour the plane landed in beautiful Florida and it felt like I stepped through a time warp going from Ohio where it was 25 degrees to Florida where I was in the mid 80’s. We got into a taxi that took us up to a building and right across from the building was the biggest boat I have ever seen in my life and on the side in big white letters was “The Mistress of the Sea”. There she is my parents said as both my sisters and I were in total all. We walked into the building and went up a couple flights of steps and got our tickets, room number and keys. Then we went through a long hall way that leads you directly into the belly of the boat.
We gave our tickets to the person collecting tickets and went to our room. As we were getting settled in we heard the captain come over the loud speaker asking everybody to meet him and the safety team on deck in thirty minutes. So we did and the entire guest where out there and they welcomed us to the boat and gave us the rules of the boat and let us know where the life boats where and where to meet up in case of an emergence. Afterwards my family went to explore the boat to see what was where on the top deck is where all the actives where. There was a kiddie pool, adult pool, a place to play basketball and shuffle board. On one of the lower decks there was a casino that you still had to be 18 to enter and 21 to drink. Before we knew it was dinner time, for dinner you had to get dressed up in a suit and tie because you were having dinner with the captain. We entered a huge dining room that seemed like it had its own deck on the ship. We got sat down at a big round table which sat about 10 or 15 people. Other families sat with us and we ate fish with acceptation of my sister and me who had chicken fingers. When dinner was over we had enough time to explore the boat a little more but my family was so tired we opted to go to bed. We woke up in the morning around 8 o clocks to the captain on the speaker telling us that the ship was ported in a port in the Bahamas and it was time for breakfast. Breakfast was nothing like dinner it was a buffet on the main deck and you could sit at a table overlooking the sea. The Bahamas was an interesting place indeed, very loud and busy.
We got off the boat and we immediately getting the natives coming up and trying to sell thing to up like jewelry, purses and clothing. A guy came up and put a necklace on my two sister’s necks and was asking twenty dollars apiece. My dad got the price all the way down the five dollars apiece. We went down many roads with shops on both sides selling everything from ice cream and candy to alcohol. My mom and sisters were in shopping paradise going to knickknack shops and other stores buying gifts for people at home and for themselves. We stopped at a park where I could play for a little bit I was having a blast sliding down slides and swinging on swings. After a while we had to get back to the ship before it would leave the port at eight. As we were walking back we stopped in a liquor store where bottles of exotic liquor that would be thirty dollars or more were only ten dollars. So my dad knowing that if he got caught bring it on to the boat they would be confiscated bought three bottles and hid it in my sisters back pack. Going through the check point where bags where checked for contraband from the island my whole family was nervous. But thankfully we got past the check point without being caught. That night we all had some more energy and my dad and I went off for some guy time. We went down to the casino and my dad had me spin the slots a couple times before someone caught me and kicked me out of it. I was just sitting on the couch outside the casino doors and the guy turned away from my dad and he waved me in. I got to spin the machine a couple more times and again I was kicked out. This happened probably 2 or 3 more time before we left and just walked on the top deck smelling the fresh sea air.
The next day was a day at sea and this is the day everyone went their own way to meet up at the room before dinner to regroup my mom went to the spa that was on the boat and got a massage. My dad went to the pool and my sisters and I went to play a game or two of horse at the basketball court. There were two other groups of kids at the court so we played a 3 on 3 on 3 game of horse where sadly we lost but had lots of fun playing. My sisters went over to the teen lounge afterwards and I want to the pool. At dinner that night my sister indulged a little too much on the bread before the main course came and had to run back to the room with stomach issues. The rest of us ate dinner and took a walk on the top deck after while my mom went to check on her. Luckily my mom brought matches and air freshener or the room would have stunk like rotten potatoes for the rest of the trip.
After the day at sea we got up and were at the port of the Royal Caribbean’s private island we there was a lot of activity’s to do on the water. My sister and her boyfriend who came with his family rented jet skis. You could also parasail and ride something called the banana boat. My parents arranged for all of us to ride this banana boat. When it came time to we seen a big yellow floating thing that looked like 2 banana’s put together in one peel floating behind a hide speed boat. There could be up to ten people riding it at a time and that time slot was all filled up. I was sitting in the middle between my dad and sister, there where little rope where you had to hold on two tight or you could fly off. The boat started off slow going way out off shore into the ocean. Then all of the sudden the lead boat speed up and we started going it seemed like fifty miles an hour. The banana started jumping out of there water the plastic was getting wet and slick. At one point I was about to lose my grip on the rope and I thought I was going to fly off to my death. A couple minutes past and the boat started to slow down and head to shore; everyone was getting off high fiving including me wanting another ride. We spent the day at the beach and got back on to the boat and fell right to sleep. The next day we were back in Miami it was time to pack up and get back to Ohio to our regular lives. When we got back home and went back to school and work that trip is all I could talk about for a month straight.