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Shipps on a Ship Part 1

        It truly feels like just yesterday my grandparents gathered our family in the living room of our rented beach house and told us that they were taking us on a Disney Cruise. In reality, it was a year and a half ago and at the time it seemed like November 2014 would never come. It still almost felt like a dream even as we boarded our plane to Orlando last Saturday after MUCH airport turmoil, i.e. Michael forgetting his carry on at security, Jonathan getting a bloody nose, and me almost losing my debit card. Against all odds, the Shipp cousins made it to Orlando in one piece. I always get teary-eyed when I see my family after a few months away, and this time was no exception! Just as we were getting settled into our hotel room, we found out that our toilet was broken, so we had to move rooms! Once we were finally settled, Uncle Dave was kind enough to take as many cousins as could pile into his van for a McDonald's run. We spent Sunday in Downtown Disney, visiting the hotel we stayed in when we visited Disney World seven years ago, enjoying the beautiful Christmas decorations, and recreating classic old pictures.



I mean really, could we be any cuter?
          On Monday it was finally time to drive the 45 minutes from Orlando to Port Canaveral to board the cruise ship. After waiting in many long lines, we finally got to board the ship. There was a crew at the door welcoming each family on by last name on board. My jaw dropped when I saw the main lobby of the boat. It was all decorated for Christmas complete with a massive Christmas tree and garland lining all of the staircases. We hurried upstairs to drop our stuff off in our rooms and then headed to the Cabanas on Deck 11, which served buffet-style food for breakfast and lunch every day. The minute we were done we changed into our swimsuits and took our first ride on this bad boy, THE Aqua Duck:


We found our home for the week on Deck 11, which housed the Cabanas of course as well as 24 hour food and soft serve ice cream, and soda. I rarely did not have a Diet Coke in my hand! After a mandatory security briefing, we all hurried back up to Deck 11 to watch the boat set sail. They had music playing, and it was so neat to watch the boat leave the port for the open seas. Afterwards, Matthew, Becky, Amy, Jonathan, and I decided to explore the ship for a bit before dinner. We worked our way down from the top of our boat and visited the many commodities of the boat: the movie theater, the theater where shows would be performed every night, the art gallery, and ended up in one of the three restaurants on board. No one was there yet, and so we took a seat by the window overlooking the ocean and watched one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen. Watching the sun set over the open sea was breathtaking. We had to drag ourselves away to get ready for dinner! We spent the evening eating our second dinner and then going for an evening swim. We still weren't tired, so my sisters, Matthew, Jonathan, and I decided to check out one of the dance clubs. We made up about 90% of the population there and the dance floor was home to one lone man. So, we hightailed it back to our room after about five minutes. It was the beginning of a nearly perfect week.

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