It's cruise day!

The day has finally come - it's cruise day at last. I woke up, showered, had breakfast and threw a few last minute items into my suitcase. Having never been on a cruise before, it was difficult to know what to expect and what to pack, but I did my best with the packing side of things. I was lucky enough to be going with one of my closest and oldest friends, Tanya, who I have known since I was about 5, as well as one of my most liked and trusted carers, Tina. Tanya is a very experienced cruiser having been on 8 cruises before this one, so I knew I was in safe hands and felt grateful for that.

Tina arrived with her suitcase at about 11.30am, and the cab came to take us to White Bay Cruise Terminal, where just by coincidence Tanya arrived at exactly the same time, at 12.30pm, so that we could board the ship by 1.30pm. The terminal itself was down the bottom of a long and windy road, and I was stunned by the size of it. It was like an airport, and I had no idea it was going to be so huge either. The check in process was very similar to that of an airport too. We placed our luggage on a conveyor belt to be scanned, and proceeded to walk through a metal detector. I was even asked to take the bag from under my wheelchair out and place it on the conveyor belt. Then, because the metal detector had detected metal on me (my wheelchair, as well as the metal in my body), I was given a pat down. I then reluctantly lost control of my wheelchair as someone took me to board to ship. I began to protest this happening and demanded that I push myself, until I saw the incredibly steep hills and large bumps ahead of me. Even the motor in my wheelchair wouldn't have been able to tackle them. P&O: 1, Elana: 0. Grrr...


I almost slid out of my wheelchair as I was pushed down a short but very steep ramp, and felt glad when I finally got on board the ship. Humongous doesn't even begin to describe the size of the area I could see in front of me, and that was just a small part of the ship. My already racing heart sped up about triple the time - a combination of excitement and anxiety. There was no turning back now. I had wanted a holiday like this for a hell of a long time, and now it was happening...