Day 1- My dad informed us that we would be traveling to India in two weeks. I was SUPER-OVERECSTATIC!!

Day 5- My dad informed us that we would not be traveling to India as the Omicron cases were rising drastically…I was SUPER-OVERSORROWED!!

Day 10- My dad informed us that we would be going on a cruise in two weeks-the “Royal Caribbean: Quantum Of The Seas.” I was kind of unsure about my emotionsssss…

So I waited! Waited with bated breath…praying in anticipation, but at the same time not getting my hopes up too high as these plans could go south any minute because of the rising number of cases. For the first time, I was eagerly browsing through the newspapers to check the current situation and learned that one cruise recently got canceled. My hopes plunged but I still kept my fingers crossed.

AND YES! FINALLY! The day arrived. And there, the experiences were beyond memorable.

Day 1

OKKKK! After WEEKS AND WEEKS AND A BAZILLION YEARS OF WAITING! Could we get on already?

Oh, wait. There was still ART testing. ART is Antigen Rapid Test but for me, it was an Anxiety Rendering Test. Completely forgot☹.

We reached the Testing Centre at 1 p.m. I was incredibly nervous as I thought that my ART test would hurt a lot and worse, it would generate a positive result. However, when the medical professionals performed the test, I was relieved as it didn’t hurt AT ALL(When my mum makes us take the test at home, it hurts terribly☹). In fact, I noticed that the cotton bud had quite a nice fragrance and didn’t sting!

Have I ever told you that I love anything lavender-scented?

After receiving our results, we made our way to the Cruise Center. Even from afar, I could see the gigantonormous ship stationed in elegance! Dreams of the pools, the theatres, the food, and the activities had already started flooding my mind, making me too impatient to get on. I had gathered prior information about the cruise from my friends and hence knew exactly how to assist my dad in planning out the activities. I was bouncing on my feet, silently wishing that the registration formalities were completed quickly! It was the most EXCRUCIATING 10 minutes of my life!!

When we finally boarded, my jaw dropped in sheer awe. The decks were huge, well lighted, and spacious. There were theaters, luxury stores, music halls, cafés, restaurants and so much more! We were warmly greeted by the friendly crew members who briefed us on the safety protocols and led us towards our room. Em was having the time of her life, enjoying the attention of being called ‘princess’(Really, if anyone knew how monstrous she really was!).

We hurriedly proceeded to our room to unpack our luggage. As I opened the door, I could experience the unparalleled accommodation with a breathtaking view of the sea, it was everything anyone could ever wish for! I stood in the balcony with Em, and we looked so tiny in front of the vast blue ocean. We nestled ourselves into the master bed and instantly booked all the shows and the activities that were available. At this point I would like to say that it is very important to secure the reservations as the slots fill up pretty fast. We could not get a reservation for ‘Flow Rider’ but managed to book the others. After arranging our belongings, we set off to tour the ship, from deck 3 to deck 16. I was terribly tired going around the ship and hence we decided to grab some food.

Welcome to Windjammer, the complimentary buffet restaurant! I had landed in food paradise as it had a huge buffet spread and a ginormous seating area. There were plenty of food stations, a mix of international cuisines. My eyes were simply glued to the ‘Dessert Station’. There were cakes, puddings, brownies, tarts, and pies! My evening snack was just DESSERTS! Luckily, my mum had decided to take a break from providing words of wisdom about my health and provided a leeway to pure indulgence, which meant that I was free to eat whatever I desired for all 4 days of the trip.

The next thing we saw was an instrumental show by a pianist which I did not enjoy that much as I could not relate to the songs being played, but I saw my parents lost in the melodies. I was more interested in the next show which was by an illusionist. As soon as the piano performance ended, we rushed towards the Royal Theatre to grab the front row seats as I was keen to unearth how the illusions were being created. There were card tricks, mysterious wine bottles appearing from nowhere and switching places, people magically disappearing and reappearing. I was baffled by many of the tricks and wanted to learn a few. The magician made us laugh and left us in awe.

After the show we went to have our dinner in another complimentary dining restaurant named the “Main Dining Room”. I will be divulging information on this dining experience in my next blog, but I can say that the food and the ambience was simply exquisite, especially the dessert😊. We retired to our room and found a towel nicely folded like a ninja turtle with my dad’s sunglasses perched on its…hmmm…do turtles have noses?

I think not.

We clicked numerous pictures throughout the day and from our balcony, I saw the ship moving. I continued staring at the darkness, eventually dozing off to sleep.

Good night!

Signing off…