Category: Family

The Yea & Nay of Our Caribbean Cruise

As I previously mentioned, my husband and I went away for a last minute vacation cruise right after Thanksgiving.

After a super stressful Fall, we were looking forward to the chance to get away before the beginning of the crazy holiday season. The fact that we were limited on when we could travel due to my pregnancy (they will not allow you to cruise after 24 weeks), meant we had to jump on the cruise train – um, boat – as quickly as we could.

So, although we were self proclaimed Royal Caribbean snobs, we decided to take a chance on a 7 day Carnival cruise to the Western Caribbean. The price was right, the timing was right, so we went for it.

All in all, our vacation was awesome! We had plenty of time to relax, hang out with each other and eat a ton of food. The food was especially great because I could totally blame any weight gain on the baby having a growth spurt!

The Yea

The customer service was excellent! Everyone from the room stewards to the servers at dinner really made you feel welcome and as if they really did love their jobs. As a customer, it is so nice to have positive people around you who are actually disappointed when you don’t order more than one dessert.

Two of our stops were absolutely gorgeous – Belize and Isla Roatan in the Honduras islands. We went on a jungle hike in Belize and then floated down the river for our cave tubing excursion.

In Honduras, we took a chair lift (just like the kind you use to go skiing) to the beach and enjoyed the clear water and warm sand. There was nothing I would have changed about either of those days, they were perfect!

The view from my lounge chair in Honduras

 

My husband is awesome. Not to brag (okay, just a little), but I really chose wisely when I married Travis. By the end of each day my mouth hurt from smiling and laughing so much. The chance to spend 7 uninterrupted days with him was priceless.

Travis & Me before our cave tubing adventure in Belize

 

Did I mention the food? The last time I cruised on Carnival I remember thinking that Royal Caribbean’s food was so much better. Not this time, there were tons of buffet options, delicious FREE room service and amazing dinners each night. The fact that it was all included in our original price was even better, because you could order what you want and not what you felt like you could afford.

The Nay

The weather. As much as you’d like the weather to be perfect and sunny for your entire vacation, sometimes that just doesn’t happen. On this trip, we had a couple rainy days. On our stop to Cozumel, Mexico it was so overcast that we abandoned our plan of going to the beach and just did some exploring and guacamole-eating in a fun bar. Of course, the positive side of this is I’m pretty sure that this is the first vacation in my entire life where I didn’t end up with random sunburn.

The rocking ship was not awesome. I don’t know if it was due to the time of year we cruised, our itinerary, or the weather, but our ship was rocking like a teenager’s car at Makeout Point.  I pride myself on my stomach of steel and have never, ever gotten seasick. Unfortunately that streak is now broken due to a ship that rocked so hard that the pool was sloshing onto the deck and our room was creaking. Travis was feeling a bit green too, but it was pretty much under control with some seasickness pills. I’m going to blame my seasickness on the baby, perhaps he’s seasick, not me…

The flight home was AWFUL! My husband is 6’4” and flying is typically pretty uncomfortable for him, so I usually take the middle seat to give him a little more room to stretch out in the window or aisle seat. The flight to Miami was so cramped that we decided to upgrade to first class on the way back, but it was full so we resigned ourselves to a slightly cramped ride back.

This would have been totally fine, if the person who sat down on the other side of me wasn’t a 350ish pound man. He literally overflowed from his seat, over my arm rest into my area. Once he sat down, my left arm was pinned and I couldn’t move it to lift a drink to my mouth or turn the page of my Sky Mall magazine.  He was so large that he couldn’t put down the little tray in front of him, so he balanced his family-sized boxes of Pizza Hut wings and cheese breadsticks on his stomach and then proceeded to eat every one of them within about 6 inches of my face.

Now I’ve been pretty lucky with my lack of morning sickness until this point, but I truly thought that I was going to hurl. I can not believe that the airline did not require him to purchase two seats. The moral of this story is that we are definitely splurging on business class tickets next time we fly!

So the trip was totally worthwhile and we would definitely do it again with the one change of upgrading our flight. Oh yeah, and a little extra for the “Yay” column:

While in my post-vacation haste to do laundry, I accidentally threw a few pairs of clean, coupled socks into the washer and then dryer. So when I was folding the load of laundry later that evening it was as if happy little laundry ninjas* had started folding for me. While appreciated, I’d really like them to finish what they started and do the whole load…

*These are apparently the opposite of those douchy sock stealers who live in the dryer.

All Packed Up & Ready to Relax

My bags are packed (mostly) and all that is left is for us to eat some Thanksgiving leftovers for dinner, have a good night of sleep and drive to the airport in the morning.

The last three weeks of unemployment have been much busier than anticipated. Every single day I’ve had a long ‘to do’ list of stuff – from freelance jobs to grocery shopping. However, starting tomorrow when I step onto that cruise ship I am doing absolutely NOTHING but relaxing.

For anyone who knows me, I’m sure you are not even a little bit surprised that we’re going on vacation. Vacations are my weakness and I love getting away to someplace new, or even better, someplace sunny with turquoise blue water and clean, white sand.

What may surprise you is the fact that we decided to spend the money on a vacation when I’m unemployed and pregnant.

Believe me; I really, really love to look at money just sitting in my savings account. Oooh, or even more, I love adding money to my savings account. It’s like my little safety net that allows me to sleep at night without waking up and hyperventilating that we’re going to be homeless and hungry.

So, why on earth would we decide to purchase a 7 day cruise to the Caribbean? Well, a bunch of reasons actually.

First off, if you’ve been reading this blog you know that we’ve had a really stressful few months. Finding out that I was going to lose my job of more than 6 years was a real bummer. Selling our house was pretty awesome, but packing up and moving within 60 days was pretty crazy. Add on top of that the fact that I’m preggo and you’ve got a ball of super-stress going on in my body.

My husband has been going through everything with me (even some of the pregnancy symptoms…hmmm…), on top of working 6 days a week. We haven’t even had a chance to see much of each other, and we’re those crazy kinds of people where we really LIKE each other and want to hang out.

So stress is definitely the top reason that we decided to go away for a week. However, this is also pretty much our last chance to get away before our baby is born. Most cruise lines won’t even allow a pregnant woman to cruise after her 24th week, and I’ll hit the 21 week marker while we’re on our trip.

Lastly, that freelance work I mentioned pays really well. On top of that, we even got a couple unexpected checks back after the sale of our house. So instead of adding that money to our savings account like a demented squirrel hiding away nuts, we decided to get a little crazy and actually spend it.

Oh yeah, there is one more reason I’m not freaking out about spending money on a vacation right now. I got a job that starts up the Monday after we get back. And not just a job like, “oh, it’s work and it pays money, so I’ll take it”. I mean a JOB that I’m super excited about and can not wait to start! I’ve been holding back on mentioning it until I get my written offer (which will be coming next week while I’m sunning myself on the beach), but since I have a start date I feel pretty secure in announcing the awesome news. I’ll share more info when I return.

The moral of the story is that sometimes you need to just give yourself a break.

If vacations are your crack, go for it. If buying a new transmission for your race car and ripping the thing apart is your thing, have at it*. We’re only on this earth once and sometimes the best choice is the one that will make you happy. The funny thing is, I planned this trip a few weeks before I knew I’d be coming back to a job. In fact, I was prepared to go with the worst-case scenario of not working until after the baby is born. So, this is proof that things really DO happen for a reason.

With the holiday season coming up, most of us get stressed out with the shear magnitude of tasks that need to get completed on top of everyday life. So, I’m giving you permission to go and do something for yourself with the sole reason of making yourself happy.

 

*Pretty much the only reason I feel comfortable using this example is because my husband does not read my blog. Otherwise, he would come straight to me from the computer and jump up and down with excitement that he’s getting a new transmission.

Is she Pregnant or Just Chubby?

Searching for a job in this economy is difficult – there are so many qualified people out there that it’s hard to even get through to the first stage of interviewing.

However, as difficult as a normal job search may be, it’s even worse when you’re pregnant.

According to the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, an employer cannot refuse to hire a pregnant woman because of her pregnancy. However, we all know that discrimination still happens.

But why?

Yes, I happen to be pregnant, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be committed to my job. I’m a really hard worker who is looking for a long-term career path at a new company. Due to my pregnancy, I will need to take maternity leave in the spring; however I WILL come back to work as soon as my leave is over.

Unfortunately, when an interviewer sees a pregnant woman they may feel that once she goes on maternity leave, she won’t want to come back to work. Not only that, but she may require too many accommodations even after her return.

Well, that’s just not fair!

Not all of us can survive on one income. Even if my family could survive on just my husband’s paycheck, I DON’T WANT TO! I enjoy working and it’s not fair to assume that once I have my baby I’ll want to stay home and stare at it all day long.

So, how do you interview while pregnant?

I’ve done some research on this, as well as spoke to a Human Resources professional and my headhunter, and I’ve found that during the interview process you are pretty much forbidden to disclose your pregnancy.

Not only are you not supposed to say anything, they can’t ask either. It’s just as forbidden as asking a potential employee their age, weight or marital status.

At 5 months of pregnancy, it really depends on what I wear to decide whether I look pregnant or just a little chubby. I’m not *hiding* my pregnancy from potential employers, but I’m also not sticking out my tummy and telling them to call me Mommy.

Once I receive a written job offer, I will disclose my pregnancy. However, I will also use that opportunity to tell them how committed I am to the position.

Will there be hard feelings that I’ve kept this from them? I hope not, because the only other option is to disclose the pregnancy in the interviewing stage and forever wonder if that was the reason I didn’t get a job offer.

I’ve heard the horror stories of women who couldn’t get a job while pregnant, but I’ve also heard about women who were hired while obviously showing. It pretty much comes down to the fact that if someone doesn’t want to hire you due to your pregnancy, would you really want to work at that company anyway?