Rewind to 19 months ago. I was sitting on the edge of my seat, ready to book on opening day. I had always wanted to go on one of these cruises. I love holidays at sea and I love Disney cruises. Oh yeah, and my 17 month old son would turn 3 during the cruise. This was the perfect combo! I snagged two rooms next to each other with a connecting door. My mom was going to join us on this trip. Yes! It was booked. Finally, I get to experience the magic during the holidays. I mean... My kids get to experience the magic during the holidays, haha. ;)
 Themed Quick Service Cups all over the ship! | Rewind to 18 days ago. The day we were set to board our Very Merrytime Cruise on the Disney Magic. I woke up with a very bad headache, feeling achey, ear pain, and more. I wasn't sneezing, I wasn't coughing, I wasn't congested or ANYTHING like that! Hubby insisted that I go to the doctor that morning. So I went and made them test me for everything they could. If I had the flu or something I was going to be heartbroken. By some miracle, everything was negative. Yes! I get to enjoy the cruise after all! But wait... |
It just wasn't a good day. What should have been an hour drive from our home to the Port of Miami, turned in to over 2 and a half hours in traffic. There was heavy rain and since it's snowbird season down here, lots of extras cars for a Thursday morning. As we drove, I was feeling worse and worse by the minute. But hey, I can stick this out for my family. I'll nap when we get in the room and feel refreshed for the excitement of the first night of the cruise. Right?
So we get in the terminal and, thank goodness, boarding had already begun. I can get on the ship and settle in. We got on and then had to wait in the introduction line. Normally I love this part, when they introduce your family. Not today. I couldn't stand any longer. I sat down in a random chair and told my family to come find me after. I wasn't sure how I was going to make it through the day. All I had to do was survive until we could get access to our room at 1pm. We decided to have a sit down lunch in Lumiere's rather than deal with the buffet. I was struggling at this point. I had zero energy. I was feeling very cold despite it being over 80 degrees outside. I put my head down and went to sleep on the table. Yep, that's me between my husband and my older son. Asleep at the table.
After Lunch
| I remember we had about 45 minutes to burn. I was a mess. We made it to our room just as they pulled back the ropes for entry in to the halls. I made the wise decision to sleep on the sofa, I didn't want anyone else to get sick if I was contagious in any sort of way. I got a 2 hour nap in and felt okay when waking up. I had enough energy to go to Muster Drill. It's a good thing because that's kinda mandatory! I actually look fine in this picture but I certainly didn't have the energy and I sat on the floor with my youngest during the drill. We went to the top deck and I grabbed some Coke to see if the sugar and caffeine would help zap some life in to me. Nope, nada, no help at all. I am pretty sure I went right back to the room and slept until dinner time. |  |
We were assigned Lumiere's for our first night in the dining rotation. As I got to the dining room, something just felt off. I was shivering nonstop. The noise from talking and dishes clanking was driving me crazy. My little one was tired because he DIDN'T nap. I left when my appetizer came. I realized that the only thing I ate all day was first thing in the morning. I had no appetite but figured I might later. We asked the waiter to bring a roasted chicken with vegetables at the end of dinner for my husband to bring back to the room. I left with my little one, miraculously put him to bed, and then I climbed back into the sofa bed. At this point things got a lot worse. I was sweating, shivering, and had bone pains shooting down my legs. You would have thought it was the flu based on symptoms, but nope! I was thinking deliriously too. Right before I dozed off I thought, "I am probably not going to wake up. If I die, I hope my family still enjoys the rest of the cruise." Um okay Nicole, yeah, they'll just stuff you under the bed until the last day of the cruise and carry on, lol.
 | I woke up a few hours later and fumbled around through the dark stateroom. I found the plate that my husband brought back to the room earlier. In hindsight, eating 3-hour old chicken probably isn't a good decision. But I was still a bit delirious and, thankfully, it had no adverse effects on me. I ate my dry chicken and veggies while sitting on the floor using the crack of light coming in the room from the bathroom. I needed food and protein if I planned to even function the next day! |
This was quite possibly my biggest disappointment of the entire trip. I missed Mickey's Tree Lighting Magic and Santa's Winter Wonderland Ball. Those are the biggest events that kick off every Merrytime Cruise on the first night. I think I need a do over already!
Interested to see if I survived the night? Tune in to my next installment, coming soon!
Interested to see if I survived the night? Tune in to my next installment, coming soon!
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