If anyone had asked me ten years ago what my favorite activity was, taking cruises wouldn't have made the list.
A few years ago, my mom passed away and as we were leaving the cemetary in our friend's car, they said, "You know what we need to do? We need to take a cruise together." I sort of agreed and then preceeded to talk to them over the next few months, until I was convinced that a cruise would maybe help ease over the stress and pain we had been enduring for the past year.
My apprehension was concerning sea sickness for me and having enough to do on a seven day cruise. Well, fears aside, we finished making plans and began to get excited. We didn't know what to expect, so questions were readily answered by our friends.
Packing everything but the kitchen sink, we drove with our friends to Galveston for our July cruise. You could literally feel the excitement in the truck as we traveled to the ship. My first glimpse of the ship overtook me. I never had imagined how large the big, white boat could be. And that was just seeing it from the dock.
We finally unloaded the luggage, checked in and walked up the gangplank. From the first smile and "welcome aboard" we were transportated into a place where anything we desired would be provided with a warm eye-included smile and "My pleasure".
Our cabin had a window (on later cruises we would experiment with different floors and category of cabins) and plenty of room for everything we brought with us. Stashing our things in the little cubbies and closets, we began our seven days of wonder.
Since we had our friends to rely on, our maiden cruise went on without a hitch. Muster stations were found, shore excursions were booked, dinner plans made and foreign lands were explored. We enjoyed everything that was offered and went to bed each night with a smile on our faces.
By the time we returned to Galveston, we realized that we had found how we enjoyed our hard-earned vacation time and money. Cruises brought us closer as a couple and opened up new lands for us to explore.
Cruises have become the salve to soothe our overstressed lives.
