Cruise of the Dammed!

This weekend is the weekend to end all weekends. This weekend will go down in history. This is the weekend that will try men's souls.

My mother and I are going on a cruise.

I had suggested it last January and to my great surprise my father decided to let (ahem) my mother do it. Yes, I know, the less said about that the better. Mom had expressed interest in a cruise, especially after Matt and I did the 11-day Caribean for our 5-year anniversary. She was concerned, however, that she wouldn't like and that she would get seasick.

When I saw this short, 3-day introductory cruise on Holland America's brand-spanking-new Eurodam (HATE the name), I thought it would be ideal. The price was right, the location was good, it would be a good taste for her to get an idea on what it is all about. So we booked it.

We leave Harrisburg on Amtrak at 9ish this coming Friday morning. We get to NYC around noon, just in time to wait at the pier for maybe 3-4 hours because they bumped back the embarkation time. *sigh* The timing on this trip has become almost a comedy of errors:

• Embarkation was supposed to be at 1, but it was bumped back to 3pm. Since this is the first time the Eurodam will be in a US port the Coast Guard has to do its inspection, followed by
• The muster drill (lifeboat drill) we'd heard was pushed back to 11pm! That turned out to be inaccurate, thank god, or else we'd be in nighties and slippers and a lifevest. The new muster drill is 4:45, which will just give us time to head to
• Dinner, which we have a set time in the main dinning room at 5:45. If we skip dessert the first night we may just be able to make it to
• Sailaway, which was supposed to be at 7:30 but was bumped up to 7:00. Mom really wants to see the Statue of Liberty.

Don't worry, we can get dessert somewhere else on the ship or from room service. :) As many as we want.

We have an outside stateroom with an obstructed view, so we will get natural light but not much real view (which is fine because we're not GOING anywhere). This picture is actually of the cabin next to ours. I'm a member of CruiseCritic online, and it just so happened that one of the people on the boards was on the innagural cruise and happened to be in the room next to the one Mom & I'll be in.

This is a picture of the glass...art...in the atrium on the ship. People on CruiseCritic started calling it the 'condom pile.' I can see it. It's funny, because now the staff on the ship also call it the condom pile. And it changes colors, too.

And this is the casino. I don't know how much time we'll spend here, but some at least.

This is a really big ship. It holds 2100 passengers (the other ship we were on carried 1200 passengers, and it wasn't dinky by any stretch of the imagination).

This is a picture of the chairs in the Crow's Nest. Matt and I spent a lot of time in the Crow's Nest. It is at the top of the ship at the front (don't ask me to say bow and starbord and all that, I can't keep it straight) and is a great panoramic view. It also has a bar, and on the Eurodam it apparently has Star Trek seating. :)

So, wish me luck. We'll be home on Monday, again by train.