Last Day at Sea

We attempt to sleep in, but fail. It's a day at sea and we have practically zero commitments today. The three of us go down to breakfast where Kyle soon joins us. He sits with Zelda while Jeremiah and I grab food. I return to our table to find that Zelda is being serenaded by two cruise members playing music. How lovely!

We venture over to our favorite place to sit outside on the ship - the promenade near the shuffleboard area. There are only a few loungers here, and typically we are all left alone if we claim the seats. Bethany, Norman, and Zackary find us here. The men play shuffleboard with the kids more-or-less helping, and the women read their books while laying on the loungers. Kyle and I duck inside at 08:15 to go to EFFY, which is located right next to the shuffleboard area, to grab free amulets.

Bethany takes Zackary to the toy room to play, and the rest of us return to our staterooms to recharge a bit and to pack for our departure the next day. We can leave our checked luggage outside our staterooms and they will take the suitcases for us tonight for us to retrieve in the morning at the carousel in Tampa Bay.

Kyle comes and knocks on our door and we go eat lunch. We then head to the play room, but Zackary and Bethany are gone by this point. Zelda has the whole room to herself. The others soon show back up though to drop Zackary off at day care. Bethany, Norman, Kyle, and Jeremiah take off to go play board games, but Zelda and I head back to our room so that she can nap.

Two hours later, Jeremiah comes to our stateroom with coffees and Zellie wakes up from her nap. I really wanted to attend the art auction earlier in the day but had missed it, but we go look at the art gallery. There's a piece of art that brings me to tears. It's called "Message to the World" by Jim Warren. It's a painting of a little girl and a dog reaching up to heart shaped clouds with a very heavenly aura. I saw Autumn, our Golden Retriever who passed away several years ago, and our miscarried baby and wept. I bought it - our very first original piece of art. As I looked at it more, I started to the child as Zelda and the dog as any of our dogs that we have had and still have. It makes me feel so many emotions.

We return to our staterooms to get dressed up. Jeremiah, Zelda, and I get a family portrait taken. Kyle, Jeremiah, Zelda, and I go to dinner at a Hibachi grill on board, Kyle and I get two more free amulets, and we just kind of bum around until it's time for bed.

Travel Home

Jeremiah, Zelda, and I get off the ship with a huge line of people. We get to the escalators to head down to the luggage carousels, but the attendant won't let me descend with Zelda - I can't hold her, and she won't let Zelda go down while holding my hand. I'm frustrated, because Jeremiah is now at the bottom of the escalator and we have been split up. Due to security he can't just stand there and wait, he has to keep moving. I have to wait for the elevator with our baby girl. I let the escalator lady know that she just separated my daughter and I from our husband in an angry tone, and I get onto the elevator. I get to the checked luggage area and look for our suitcase. I'm somewhat assuming Jeremiah has already grabbed it, but look just in case. I look over when I hear him call my name, and sure enough, he has it. He had to argue with security to let him stay in the checked luggage area and also expressed frustration at being separated from his wife and child.

We get on a coach bus to the airport, make it to our gate, and wait. We have a flight from Tampa Bay to Austin to Denver. As we are waiting, our flight from Austin to Denver gets cancelled by Delta. I go to a help desk, and the lady wearing red asks me if I'd rather get stranded in Austin or in Atlanta, as those are my only options from here. I look at her shocked, she's really not willing to help me further than that. I am directed to their help line telephones and head over there. The guy says he's looking into alternative options for me, and hangs up! What the heck. I have honestly been polite to all of the Delta employees, but now I'm fed up. I will seriously try to avoid Delta in the future. How unhelpful!

Zelda's grandparents live two hours out of Austin, so we choose to get on the flight from Tampa Bay to Austin. At least if we get stranded there we have family close by. We know absolutely zero people in the state of Georgia. I call the Norwegian Air team and they say they can't help me until we land in Austin. Fine. I'll call them back.

We land in Austin, and I call the Norwegian Air team again. They tell me that we should go get our checked luggage and they will call me back in thirty minutes with new flight information. We go down to the carousel and our luggage doesn't come out. Thankfully the lost luggage attendant calls airline personnel and our luggage gets to our hands. Thirty minutes go by. An hour. I call Norwegian Air team again. They tell me they are working on it and to call back in thirty minutes if I don't hear back. I don't. I call again. They tell me the same thing. I don't hear back. I call again. This happens again. I finally call and snap at the lady on the phone, telling her that I have a baby with me and I don't know where she's sleeping tonight because the Air team won't tell me if I'm flying out today or tomorrow or when, and I need to know whether to call her grandparents and have them pick us up. She suddenly can miraculously book us a flight which leaves in 40 minutes with Southwest. The Southwest team is amazing and helps us with the weird check in situation the Norwegian Air team left us in - they didn't give us a boarding pass for Zelda or have one that says "Infant in Lap". Southwest just corrects my boarding pass to show Zelda on there. A huge thank you to Southwest for taking a stressful situation and bringing us comfort in our travels.

We will never book through Norwegian Air team ever again. What a frustrating end to vacation. It honestly left a bad taste in our mouths about Norwegian Cruise overall and Delta Airlines.