I’m on a Boat

June 21, 2010

…ok, so I’m not on a boat yet. But at the end of August, I’ll be on this boat:

Yep, I’m going on a cruise. I’m scared. And excited.

Hubs and I are going for a 5 night western Caribbean cruise on Royal Caribbean. Neither of us have cruised before. The timing is intentional- I will have finished up my 12 week program with Trainer Rob. This means I have a whole week off without workouts until the next program starts. I do plan on being as active as possible on the boat though. And I plan on eating as best as I can- the last thing I want to do is sabotage all my efforts.

I thought the cruise would be a great way to break out of my shell and do things I normally wouldn’t even try with this body of mine, ala Ruby and her Australian Adventure. I had grand plans!

Snorkeling- SURE!

Jet Skiing- WOOT!

ATV Jungle Rides through Cozumel- SCORE!

Hubs and I jumped online to book our excursions, and I swear that every one of them that I picked had weight limits WAY below what I weigh. I mean, I knew I couldn’t do a zipline or parasail, but ride a ATV? Jet Ski?

So my doubt monster starts creeping in my head. During snorkeling, what if I can’t pull myself back onto the boat? What if even during a lazy bus tour it’s crowded and I don’t fit in the seats crammed next to my 6’5, 280 pound husband? I read horror stories about how small the cabin bathrooms are and how I might not fit. Really?

I read the Fat Girl’s Guide to Cruising and it helped relieve my fears a little. But those fat girls aren’t as big as Fat Emmie. Don’t even get me started on how I’m going to have to find cute bathing suits and warm weather clothes. Panic!

So while I try to calm myself down about not fitting, I will give you the obligatory “I’m on a Boat.” It is profane. And hilarious. Just don’t play it on your speakers at work. Or if you have an aversion to profanity.

So let me hear it- have you been on a cruise before? What was it like? Any tips for me?

Tagged as: cruise, life without limits, vacation

  • Merrberruns

    I have never been on a cruise but I'm going this december with Handsome Boyfriend! I'm scared and excited. Scared beause i dont do planes well so I dont know how i”m going to do on a boat, but excited beacuse I've never done anything like it before.

    Emmie you're beautiful. Just work hard at the gym, and be as confident a you can be while you're on the cruise, even if you're not confident at all. :) I cant wait to hear about it!

  • debbidoesdinnerhealthy

    I was on a cruise when I was 18, right after high school. I went with a girl friend and truthfully, we didn't do much but wander around, shop and eat. I would LOVE to go on one now but I would be as scared as you are. I admire you going and hope that you have an AWESOME time! You'll have lost more weight and will start to see it and feel it by then so you'll do great! I so can't wait to hear about it!

    Sorry, not a fan of profanity at all so thanks for the warning, but I'll choose not to watch the video. I just gave my kids the bible lesson about “if you choose to watch something, would you watch it with Jesus or God around?” so I'd better listen to my own words and not watch it. :-)

  • Rae

    “….we didn't do much but wander around, shop and eat”… DDH, truer words were never spoken. ;) I've been on a couple cruises and would edit to say we “ate, drank, wandered around, and shopped”, in that order. A cruise is probably the EASIEST way to sabotage all your hard work. There's an abundance of “free” beautifully prepared food available 24-7, and you're captive on a ship with ample free time. You'll need to really focus on enjoying yourself in ways that don't involve the ice cream bar and all the surf n turf you can eat. That's not easy, but it's not impossible either.

  • Suzy

    Hi Emmie,
    My husband and I went on our first cruise last September. It was on Carnival Fascination for 5 days. I, too, was worried about my size (and his, me: 5'4″, 370lbs & him: 6'4″, ~330lbs). When booking, I asked the travel agent if I should be worried, she said if I can handle an airplane bathroom, then I can make it in one on the boat—well, I can, as long as I use the handicap bathroom with a real opening door and some extra room to move around.

    However, on this boat, we genuinely had enough room…not much *extra*, but enough. We were in an outer stateroom with window. I wasn't going to do any cat-swinging, but there was room to shimmy behind the bed to get in (about 8-9 inches between outer wall and bed, about a foot and a half between bottom of the bed and wall and then about 3 feet from the bed to the other wall and into the closet/desk area. The bathroom was roomy, I thought (especially after living with European toilet rooms/showers!), the toilet was a powerful flusher (like an airplane), so don't be startled by that, the sink had one small shelf for toiletries and a normal sized sink and we had a shower stall with curtain. The bathroom floor was elevated (you step up into the bathroom) and had a drain, so if water got beyond the lip of the shower floor, it would dry quickly.

    The husband had to duck going in/out of the bathroom, but that was it, I believe. The theater areas all had bench seat areas (like horseshoe table settings w/movable tables or pews) with individual seats in the balcony area. There were some love-seat benches too, which would be perfect for 2 small people or roomy/comfy for one of us.

    For dinner we had pre-assigned tables, but the staff was very flexible. All of the dining room chairs I saw were armless, though there were some booths. The tables outnumbered them 10 to 1, so we weren't too worried. Though, the first night we went in for dinner, we checked out the table and I told them I'd feel more comfortable somewhere that had more room to go around me/us…and we were immediately re-seated. I was traveling with family and we filled our table, so we only sat for dinner with strangers if we went to the dining room (vs. buffet, open seating) during lunch or breakfast.

    O and for formal night–the dress you're wearing in the photo on your 'body rebellion' entry would be just fine! Actually, I wore something similar with a red dress with tiny white polka dots and a white shrug. :)

    The excursions, yeah, they're limited for us big folks. We rented a villa on half moon cay (beeeeutiful water!!) and that was money well spent. Another we did was a van tour & semi-sub boat (NOT a submarine–no way I'd chance fitting down something like that). This was a regular boat with windows on the bottom, so, when you went below, you could sit and see into the water. Would've/could've been great, if the air-conditioning wasn't fried and we were baking in there.

    The pools on the boat were ladder in/ladder out (no stairs) so I didn't try those, worried I'd struggle to get out with pulling myself up, but there was a hot tub we could have used if we'd liked. The lounge chairs were sturdy, if you can rise from the lower seated position (or have the husband help, that's what I did). On deck, they did have lots of the white, plastic lawn furniture that would bite into me and become one with me if I'd tried, but there really were so many places to sit/go, we didn't have to bother about those.

    Have a look on flickr–put in the boat you're traveling on and see the photos others have taken to get an idea of the boat/people.

    I apologize for the length of this posting, just trying to give as much info as possible. I worried over and researched so much before we left on our trip. I wanted us to have a good time, as well, I didn't want to hinder anyone else from having a good time either (family with us, etc.).

    Good luck…and truly, maybe you can't go ATVing (yeah, I really wanted to do that too!!), but you can still have a good time. I can't speak for every cruise line or anything, but the staff on our voyage hugely helpful and genuinely seemed to give a damn about our needs. Hope you find the same.

    :)

  • Cheryl

    ok, I e-mailed you, but after reading the comments here just wanted to encourage you one more time. My husband and I have gone on three cruises together. (He had been on several before we were married with his sister who also is a larger gal.) His brother and his wife have also been on many cruises. NONE of us have ever had ANY problems. ok, except for one time where I had to get my bootie from the water into a dingy sort of boat In Yelapa (by Puerto Vallarta). Even then. Two very handsome men jumped to my aid to help me. I was laughing so hard at that point that there was NO way their help would have been helpful. The only reason I couldnt' do it was because the dingy was full and weighted down on one end by all the other passengers. Should I have been earlier, I'd have been fine. AND, it's all part of the memories. I'm also sure NO one remembers it but me.

    Other than that crazy moment.. NOTHING has stopped me from having a good time. The bathrooms on all ships have had PLENTY of room, the seats in the lounges are more than spacious, and the staff are MORE than accomodating. And everything they do for you is followed with “It's my pleasure.” You will have a great time! So go get that sexy new bathing suit and get ready for some fun girl!

    Food.. yep, there is a lot of it, but you don't have to eat it. There are MORE than enough healthy options. You are busy at home living your healthy life, it will continue on the ship. ohhhh formal clothes…flowy skirts are the best. Formal nights are amazing! Enjoy being beautiful! Bling is GOOD!

    If you are going to Grand Cayman…swim with the stingrays! Honduras… Go to Tabyana Beach.

    Should you have any worries or questions… please feel free to e-mail me. I LOVE cruising!!!!
    and I'm a bigger girl. You'll be more than fine! :)
    Cheryl

  • Brittany

    How fun!! I've never been on a cruise before, so I'm totally jealous ;) ! I know people who have though (lol), and they go on and on about how fun it was!

  • Lorraine

    Hi Emmie,

    Cruises are AMAZING!! The best vacation ever. When I went on a cruise (long time ago) I lost weight instead of gaining. I guess all the walking involved during the trip was the caused. So as I see you have planned a very active cruise so for that part you are save. As for the foods, YUMM they do serve different kinds of foods but they do have a LOT OF HEALTHY choices. Just make the right choices when eating and keep active and you'll be just fine!
    Enjoy the trip and I want to see pictures! :-D

  • Sarah7500

    I've never been on a cruise, but as far as warm weather duds for us big girls; I live in Florida, I'm an expert. Here's what I do when it's 104 with 98% humidity. 1) Tank tops 2) Floaty gypsy skirts 3) FlipFlops. Seriously, I live in that from May to October around here. Oh, and don't forget your sunblock. Even if you're one of those people who tan instead of burn, the heat is so intense, you will need it.

  • http://colormeuntypical.blogspot.com UntypicallyJia

    My husband and I went on a cruise last year on Carnival Ecstasy and it was the best week of my life. We went to Jamaica and Grand Cayman island and it was awesome, despite being big. I was 5'4 and 255. We ate all the time, so our metabolisms were changed up (because we normally only ate once or twice a day and gorged ourselves). But now we were eating small meals all day long. And you will walk non-stop. All the things to do on the boat are all over the boat so you might go see a show on one end, and then catch lunch at the opposite end. We walked and walked and walked.

    I don't know about Royal Carribean, but our boat had a gym and a running track on top. There were other active things to do as well. And in the hot weather, you'll sweat a lot too, especially when you're on land!

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  • http://www.diningfurniturewarehouse.com/ Dining Room Furniture

    I always dream that I would have a vacation with a cruise ship.

  • http://www.getskinnywithit.com/devi Devi

    I’ve never been on a cruise before but I’m going on my first one in August…a 5 day to bermuda on RCI. I’m excited but like you, I’m somewhat scared and am wondering if I’m going to have issues. BTW, you’re comment about being scared about not being able to pull yourself up the ladder makes me feel so normal!! :) I had that exact fear last year when I went to the Bahamas. I was terrified to do it but I forced myself to because I was sick of feeling scared and limited by my weight….It was the most amazing experience ever and it’s really what motivated me to get healthy so I can continue to explore and experience life! BTW, was there a walking track on board and if so, what distance? Hope you had a great time!

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