SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2010
KLMNO
EZ EE
F5
FALLANDWINTERCRUISES
Happy berth days for 22
family cruise from F1
people traveling together seemed a little overwhelming. Try going anywhere with such a big crowd and keeping everybody together and everything straight and no- body from getting hurt or lost or otherwise misplaced. The logis- tics were daunting, right from the start. A travel agent booked us on a
seven-day Carnival cruise from Baltimore to Port Canaveral, Fla., and Nassau and Freeport in the Bahamas, and she needed docu- mentation and information for everything. She had to have ev- eryone’s birth date and name as it appears on their passport or birth certificate (and we had to make sure that everybody had a passport or birth certificate to present when we embarked). A lot of hunting for paperwork ensued. We also had to work out our
preferences for cabin assign- ments so that the agent could figure out how many cabins to book. Talk about complicated. You know how those family dy- namics are. We ended up with seven cabins, all on the same floor (whew!) and down the hall from one another. Three four- person cabins, two three-person cabins and two two-person cab- ins. Got that? Five were balcony cabins, and
two were inside cabins for some of the grandkids. One was sup- posed to be for the girls and the other for the boys, but of course it didn’t work out quite that equal- ly. There were more girls than boys, so my daughter Regina ended up being assigned to the boys’ cabin, where, of course, she didn’t want to sleep. So some nights, my husband and I had to take the cushions fromthe couch in our cabin and put themon the floor in the girls’ cabin so that she could sleep there instead. Other nights, one of our daugh- ters would sleep on the couch in our cabin. The week of the cruise, two of
my brothers and their families drove in from Ohio, and my oldest daughter, Monique, flew into town from Kentucky. To be sure that everyone got to the ship on time, we hired two stretch limos to take us to the port with our luggage. This was one of our better ideas, because some peo- ple in my family have a lot of trouble getting anywhere on time. (I’m sure you have a few like that in your family, too.) No way, though, were the kids going to miss out on the limo ride, so they’d make sure that their par- ents were operating on schedule that day. I can’t imagine what the other
folks on the cruise thought when the limos pulled up to the dock and disgorged 22 people and almost double that number of bags. We must have looked like those circus carswheremore and more clowns keep climbing out even though it looks as though there couldn’t possibly be room for anymore. But on the other hand, the
Carnival Pride holds 2,124 pas- sengers, so in that context we were just a drop in the bucket. Just 1 percent of the passenger list, in fact. And it wouldn’t be hard to get lost among so many people, especially when there were so many of us to keep track of.
We’d thought of that, though.
We made matching tie-dyed T- shirts so we could always find
each other easily. I designed an iron-on that read, “Talentino- Sanders 1st Annual Cruise 2010. NoWhining,No Crying.” That’s a family code phrase, what my mother says to the grandkids whenever they start begging for something or complaining be- cause they’re not getting their way. I thought itwould be a good motto for our trip.We also num- bered the shirts according to age: Mom was No. 1, and Genevieve, the youngest, was No. 22. I don’t know whether it was
the shirts or the sheer volume of us, but somewhere along the cruise, we overheard some kids remarking, “Those Talentino people are everywhere.”
Having never cruised before,
none of us quite knewhowthings worked. Would we have to do everything together? What if I wanted to go to the pool and others wanted to go to the gym? Well, no worries. The cruise was really liberating. Being on a big ship with activities everywhere, for all ages, we could all go off in our own direction without wor- rying too much about someone being left behind somewhere or being forced into something they didn’t want to do. We decided that the kids
could go anywhere on the ship as long as they were with one other family member. There were no rules, no bedtimes, no real meal- times. (The kids loved it!) The ship was loaded with
activities, which was a great thing when you’re traveling with a bunch of high-energy young people. There was basketball, dodge ball, table tennis, minia- ture golf, swimming and lots more. Early on, our kids wanted to play basketball, but all the balls had been checked out by other passengers. That was a bummer. So when we docked in Florida,my husband and I head- ed to Walgreens to buy a ball. After that, the kids — and the adults—could playwheneverwe wanted to, as long as we could find a free court. Our kids be- came the envy of all the other kids onboard, which they of course thought was really cool. I know I said there were no
rules, but there was one. My mother requested thatwe always meet in the dining room for dinner at 6 p.m. Our group had five tables, and we’d rotate among the tables each night so that the same people weren’t always sitting with each other. It was a great way to spend time with everyone and talk overwhat had happened during the day. To honor my mother while on
the cruise, we came up with 70-plus things thatwe love about her, and one evening after din- ner, we gathered to present the list to her. We told stories and laughed until we cried. Like the timemymother askedmy broth- er John to go to the store and pick up some Doo Dads snack mix, and her angry reaction when she saw the box he’d brought back. “What is this stuff called Spap
oop?” she yelled. “What are you talking about,
Mom?” John said, laughing, as he turned the box right side up. You can imagine the reaction in our family whenever anybody says “Spap oop” now. We also talked about how
generous Mom is with her time and money. She adores her grandchildren and will travel
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: CARNIVAL CRUISE LINES; ANDY NEWMAN/CARNIVAL CRUISE LINES; AIMEE SANDERS/THE WASHINGTON POST
The author’s family, above left, hadmatching T-shirts for their cruise honoring thematriarch of the clan. The author is at her mother’s right. The Carnival Pride, below, sailed to Florida and the Bahamas. Activities included a water slide, above, plus miniature golf and basketball.
We waited as long as we could, then grabbed their T-shirts and headed to the dining room, hop- ing they’d show up. They did, at the lastminute, out of breath and apologetic. They’d lost track of time while playing basketball, then stopped to get ice cream cones to cool down after the game. When they realized how late it was, they’d run all the way to the dining room, just in time to pop on their shirts for the portrait. Crisis averted.
In Port Canaveral, our first AIMEE SANDERS/THE WASHINGTON POST
One morning, a playful member of the group asked the breakfast staff for a face composed of eggs Benedict with bacon:Mission accomplished.
DETAILS
Carnival Cruise Line 888-227-6482
www.carnival.com The Carnival Pride has 1,062 cabins starting at $409 per person double occupancy, plus up to $146 in taxes and fees. The ship departs weekly from Baltimore, sailing to Port Canaveral, Fla., and Nassau and Freeport in the Bahamas. This itinerary is available through 2011.
smardzz@washpost.com
miles and miles to see them participate in sports, concerts or whatever theymight be involved in. So we allmade an effort to do what we could to make her happy. One night, she wanted to have
a group picture taken after din- ner. We were all to wear our T-shirts for the portrait. But as the dinner hour drew near, three ofmy nephews didn’t show up at their room. It was 6 o’clock and they were nowhere to be found. Not that we even knew where to begin looking for them on an 88,500-ton ship with 12 decks.
stop, Mom and three others stayed behind on the ship while the rest of us ventured ashore with most of the other passen- gers. My husband and I just wanted to get some items from the drugstore, while the others wanted to hit Cocoa Beach. For- tunately, there was a town shut- tle that took passengers around to various stops for $5 for the entire day. You could go to amall, the beach or Wal-Mart, or all three, then hop back on for the return trip to the ship. Thiswas a fairly inexpensive way to travel with 18 people. We were really grateful for that. Slathered in sunscreen, everybody enjoyed a day of sun and surf. Next stop was Nassau. Every-
one but Mom went ashore this time, and we all wanted to ex- plore the beaches, but once again we ran into our numbers prob- lem. The taxi drivers we found wanted $15 per person for a ride to a public beach. Dream on! Instead, we bartered with a transportation company that ap- proached us in the terminal and worked out a deal for $7 per person to the beach and back. (We didn’t have to pay till they brought us back to port.) That price was really worth it. The kids were amazed at how clear and blue thewaterwas:We could see the fish swimming at our feet. My daughter Monique negotiat- ed a 15-minute jet-ski ride for $20 and took her cousin Douglas along. They can scratch “jet ski in the Bahamas” off their bucket list. Freeport was more industrial,
but it gave us a taste of the island life. The shops were overflowing with handmade purses, straw baskets, woodcarvings, T-shirts, jewelry and gifts. A band was playing in the square, and my brother John enjoyed theirmusic somuch that he bought a CD. Aswe said farewell to Freeport
and headed back to Baltimore, a strange sense of sadness over- came us. One reason was Carlos, our cabin steward. After dinner most nights we’d
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all head back to our rooms to find the cute towel creatures that Carlos had createdwhilewewere dining. He’d turned down our beds and laid out the next day’s list of activities and chocolates. He did anything we asked with a smile. He’d been working for Carnival for 13 years, but this cruise, he told us, would be his last. So we decided to give him a little retirement party. On our last night, we made a card that everybody signed, and we or- dered a piece of cake. My mom put a $100 bill in the card as a thank-you for the wonderful ser- vice Carlos had provided. But the main reason for our
melancholy was that the cruise was drawing to an end. Soon my brothers and their families would head back to Ohio, my
daughter back to Kentucky, my other brother and his family and my family back to the daily grind. We’d had such a wonderful time being together, something we rarely get to enjoy, except for a weekend here and there. But during those visits it seems that someone always has something to do or somewhere to go. On the cruise, we were all laid-back, with nowhere to go, no schedule to follow, no carpooling, no video games. Just relaxing and playing with one another. A priceless opportunity. So thanks,Mom. It reallywas a
brilliant idea. Now, how about next year?
We’re all looking forward to the Second Annual Talentino-Sand- ers Cruise.
sandersa@washpost.com
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