Brian and I had been planning this vacation with his parents since June. Little did we know that about 1 week after it was booked, I got pregnant. So, this will probably be our last vacation for awhile.
We were to depart from DFW at 0900 on Labor Day. 3 hours later, we were finally taking off headed to New York which is a 3.5 hour flight. Mechanical problems and stupidity on the airport staff's part were the reason why they did not pull in another plane in sooner to get everyone to their destination. Once we figured that we were going to be cutting in close, we called the cruise line and told them of our situation. Carnival said that usually, the latest they could allow passengers on the ship was 4:15 pm. Mind you, that New York is 1 hour ahead of us so that put us getting to LaGuardia at around 4:30 pm. They said we could try to get on the cruise and they would email the ship but they could not promise they would allow us to board.
When we all finally get our luggage, we haul butt outside to find a cab which we find almost immediately. The guy asks where we need to be, I tell him the cruise terminal and that we need to be there before they leave in about 25 minutes. We proceed to go almost 90 mph in New York City in about 30 mph speed zone. I'm not going to lie, I almost messed my pants! I thought we were going to die! In between cutting other cars off and almost running over a few dozen people, he got us there...about 5 minutes too late! The ship was still there but the customs agents were leaving and the ship was beginning to pull up anchor. We asked if they would still let us on but they said if they dropped the anchor while it was already motion, it would be a $5000 fine. We were pissed! We had already spent $2000 per couple for this vacation and now we were possibly going to have to go back home because AA can't maintain their planes! Back to the airport we go.
So after 2 hours standing at the counter at LaGuardia, two very nice and patient ladies finally figured out how to get us to the next port the cruise would be stopping at. Problem was, it was two days from then so we were going to have to stay somewhere for two days before we could meet up with them. They arranged for us to stay at a hotel close to the airport that night (cost free) and gave us meal vouchers for the next 2 days. The next day, we flew from NYC to Montreal, Quebec (nowhere close to where we were supposed to be) and stay the night there. They had to do it this way because there was not a direct flight from NYC to St. John, New Brunswick (the next port) since it was a small airport. We spent Tuesday, Sept. 8 doing some sightseeing in Montreal and trying get over the fact that they speak English and French (kind of weird when you're used to hearing Spanish). Wednesday, we got up and were back to the Montreal airport to fly to St. John. Did I mention that the planes became smaller everytime we flew? The plane from Montreal to St. John was about a 20-seater and it shook a bit when they first started it up. Anna (Brian's mom) looked at us when this happened and said, "Just in case, I love y'all!" We all had to laugh just a little. To top it all off, there were chickens in the cargo hold that was on the other side of our seats (we were at the back) and they squawked for the entire 1.5 hour flight to St. John! Obviously, we made it there and took a cab out to the ship that was already ported by then. We decided that since we had been on a wild goose chase for the past two days, then we would forego sightseeing that day and stay on the ship, just in case. Good thing is from what other passengers told us, we didn't miss much as St. John was merely just a small, quaint town. Besides, we got the gist of it on the ride from the airport. And thus began our vacation. More to follow...
