Today, we boarded the ship! Last night, there was a moment where I wasn't even sure if I would have the chance to do that. At 1 am, I woke up suddenly. I was on the 10th floor of my hotel and I felt like I was swaying. I didn't react completely to that at first-I just thought it was the buildings reaction to the heavy wind outside. Then my bed started shaking. I didn't really know what to think at that point. Honestly, my first thought was maybe it's something paranormal. (I'm really into ghosts...) Then it REALLY started shaking-to the point where I was shaking with the vibration of the bed and I could hear the elevator outside creek, almost bouncing on its cables.I kinda forgot that I flew to a place with earthquakes.
I spent the next hour afterwards praying in the dark, hoping the building wouldn't collapse. I tend to be over dramatic, but really, I felt so helpless. There's literally nothing I could do. The building was either going to collapse or it wasn't, and all I could do was lay there. It was even more terrifying because I wasn't with my family. I felt so far away from them in that moment. So many things ran through my head, but the same things kept repeating: life, family, life, home, love, I wanna live. It was a horrible 60 minutes but a very clarifying one. I want that to be my first and last earthquake, thank you very much! We found out this morning that it was a 5.7 on the Richter Scale. According to the front desk, other guests packed their things and came downstairs, planning to leave. Um. Excuse me, but where the hell are you gonna go? A good percentage of fatalities during earthquakes are from DEBRIS. Not a good idea to walk outside between multiple tall buildings on a skinny ass-Puerto Rican road. Regardless, just the fact that I have experienced something like that is a check off my list. No more.
Other than that, THE SHIP IS GREAT! I've never been on a cruise, so even though every one else isn't so impressed, the 11 bars, 13 floors, theatre, casino, gym-it's all amazing to me. PLUS, I have a balcony. Ridiculous. We set sail at 8pm tonight and will sail all day tomorrow until we arrive at our first port of call. Curacao! Right now, as I lay down writing this, I'm concentrating on not throwing up. I'm hoping that puking in my stateroom is not some rite of passage for rookie cruisers like me. I guess I'll find out...
