Another in a series of stories from my recent travels on my first cruise ship adventure (see the previous post to understand this link).

I had no expectations as I boarded the Grand Princess which was docked at Pier 27 in the San Francisco Bay. After the rough start before checking in, all I was looking forward to was a week of fun and relaxation. As a recovering technologist, I was glad to know that once we embarked on the open ocean, we would not have any cellular coverage!

In fact, I vowed that even though we would dock at a few ports where I could obtain cellular coverage, I was determined to simply delete junk email messages and read the rest of the messages when I returned home. For those of you who truly know me, this was a hard thing to commit to but I knew that this had to be the right decision if I was going to sincerely enjoy this family cruise!

Before the cruise, I exercised regularly to achieve my desired weight because I was warned about the voluminous amounts of food that would tempt even the most disciplined of souls.

On the morning of the departure, I weighed myself to establish the baseline weight.

Why?

The answer should be obvious – I wanted to see how much weight I would gain even though I was determined to eat well.

As the maître de stated, “We leave as a cruise ship – we return as a ”

“Cargo ship!“

I had to capture that quote as I thought it was ironic.

It is true – I did not use the gym to work out and I may have eaten an extra lobster tail, chocolate desserts, and had a few extra small soft ice cream treats (it was free after all!) but I can hear you judgmental people saying “Do not blame the food – it did not jump into your mouth!”

Needless to say, my pants became tighter as each day passed. I tried to exercise by using the ship’s built-in treadmills and StairMasters on every floor (OK, if you did not understand this poor attempt of a joke, the ship was rocking at times which made our walks through the hallways and up/down the stairs feel like we were contestants on an episode of Ninja Warrior).

I thought to myself – Oh well, why fight it! I could always exercise when I returned home (and that was exactly what I did …… a week later).

Come on now (you judgmental people)! The world was still swaying from side to side for a couple of days after we reached dry land.

However, in spite of the inner-ear issue, I decided to weigh myself the next morning after we returned home and yes…..

I gained just under 5 lbs of blubber in one week!!! UGH!!!!

Now I am back to working out again and yes, I am losing that extra weight as I have returned to my regular dining experience of home-cooked meals.

Next blog will be about the mints…

Stay tuned!