“Look, I’ll confess that maybe she went a bit overboard… though not literally, of course.”
Making her daughters chuckle with the quick joke, Hillary continued.
“But if we go and “get revenge”, it’s not going to do anything to chill her temper. It will more than likely just make her even more mad at us, and ruin the cruise for everyone. As for reporting her to the staff, we can certainly do that if things get too out of hand. But with the ship still needing to take off, they are more than likely way too busy with other matters. It probably won’t accomplish anything either.”
Tina and Brie sighed; though their mum had a bit of an air-head reputation at times, she also had a heart of gold, and a trusting, logical mind.
“Celia is right, of course, that while you’re here to have fun, you’ll have to make sure you don’t intrude on anyone else’s vacation. That being said, given that she’s probably 30 years older than you, I have a feeling that if you stick to the things you enjoy, then you probably won’t be seeing much of her anyways. See? No harm done. Now… just don’t leave me tied up and alone like that again, ok?”
Hillary extended her arms wide in a forgiving hug, which Brie and Tina were quick to reciprocate. Both were very worried that their vacation had already been ruined, but leave it to Hillary to get things back on track just like that. They just finished their family embrace when there was a knock on the door; it caught all three off guard, but they relaxed when it registered that this was a polite, friendly knock and not a loud aggressive one. Just to be safe, Hillary checked their door’s peephole, smiled, and stepped aside to let in Lani their cabin attendant. Lani smiled and issued the family a polite greeting, then gasped when she saw the state of the room, with the blankets and pillows lying strewn across the floor.
“Oh no! I’m so sorry, I thought this room had been prepared already! I just came by to see if you had received your luggage!”
“Oh no, it’s okay! This mess is our doing, we had… a bit of a tickle fight.” Hillary looked sheepishly around, but her daughters knew she was going to conceal the details of who was actually involved.
Lani laughed. “Oh wow, you weren’t kidding about the tickling! Though you don’t look quite pink just yet… maybe that’ll be at the end of the cruise?”
“Oh, haha! Well, hopefully not pink! If I’m lucky maybe I can get bronze, but tickling probably won’t help with that.”
Hillary lifted up the side of her shirt a bit to reveal her snow-white skin, and laughed with Lani; Brie and Tina joined in, before Lani continued.
“Well, still, let me help you clean this up! It’s what I’m here for!”
Lani knelt down on the floor and began to pick up and fold the blankets that formerly held the redheaded woman within them. Hillary got down to join her, so Brie and Tina busied themselves with bringing their suitcases to the appropriate beds, unpacking a few essentials, and then standing awkwardly to the side while Lani and Hillary continued to converse. Brie looked out into the cruise ship’s hallway and saw Lani’s cleaning cart, with an array of feather dusters and other cleaning tools lining the side.
“I’ll have to find something to clean later.” She smirked to herself.
Tina popped on the room’s TV while they waited, and it defaulted to the cruise’s information channel. They were immediately blasted by bright bubbly colours and happy music, as two twin women were in the middle of going over the ship’s restaurants and snack bars. The twins, obviously the cruise hosts, had platinum blonde wavy hair, pale skin, and bright red lipstick: one’s hair went down past her shoulders, but the other cut it off at her neck, giving her a Marilyn Monroe-esque appearance. The nametags on their crew uniforms read Daisy and Maisie, prompting an eye-roll from Tina.
“And don’t forget, every day has its special events, including today! The fun starts as soon as we kick off, and what better way to celebrate your Caribbean getaway with a splash!”
“That’s right, Daisy! Anyone ready to start this trip off with a bang, head up to our main pool deck at seven pm for our Bon Voyage pool party! Snacks, games, music, a great time to cut loose, meet new friends, and shake those blues away!”
“See ya soon, and here’s to a cool cruise!” said both twins at the same time, before giving a thumbs-up. The screen faded away to the ship’s logo, an intermission before the advertisement loop was bound to start again.
“We’re going to the party, right?” asked Tina.
“Of course!” Brie responded.
“If you need something to do in the meantime”, Lani piped in now that she and Hillary were finishing up, “the ship actually leaves the port at 5pm. That’s still a couple hours away, but it’s fun to watch the ship start sailing away and leaving the land behind! You should be on the decks for that!”
Hillary thanked Lani, and the attendant made her way to the next door before the mother turned to her daughters. They were FINALLY ready to start this vacation properly. Their first stop was, of all things, an ice cream bar, where they each grabbed a soft-serve cone to tide themselves over. They walked along the ship while eating their ice creams, both inside and out: the top floor contained the large wave pool and waterslides, plus some smaller isolated pools and hot tubs. There was a large sunning deck with plenty of chairs and a food bar, plus climbing further up had a playground and some outdoor activities such as minigolf and some telescopes. The lower floors were also filled with fun: the large lobby had multiple pathways to different areas. Hillary made sure to keep her daughters clear of the casino and lounge floors, but they didn’t notice as they took in the colourful arcade, small shopping stores, art galleries, and more. They saw signs leading off in the direction of the spa, movie theater, stage show, and underwater viewing area. There was so much to do!
Tons of places were already super busy and packed with families just as awe-struck as the trio was, but they didn’t mind. They had a whole week to explore the ship, and opted for something simple and out of the way, a quick round of bowling. Tina clobbered her mother and younger sister two games in a row, and soon, it was nearing departure time.
The family gathered on one of the upper floors, leaning against the rails as the sun was beginning to set in the sky. Sure enough, at five on the dot, the ship’s horn gave a big bellow, and the Queen of the Caribbean was off on her journey. Down on the docks below, there were lots of family members and friends waving goodbye, and Brie felt compelled to wave back even though there was nobody on shore for her specifically. Everything felt great; a minor hiccup aside, this was already turning out to be a fantastic occasion. Hillary took out her phone and leaned backwards, capturing a picture of her girls without them noticing. She smiled, and as she glanced around, she caught a glimpse of something she didn’t want to see. Far away, on one of the ship’s lower floors, was a tall blonde woman wearing the ugliest straw hat she had ever seen. It was Celia, and Hillary couldn’t help but stifle a laugh at how ridiculous her hat looked, especially after the woman had criticised Brie’s lei. Fortunately, Celia had not bothered to look up to see them, but when Hillary contemplated ushering her daughters to a different part of the boat, a large gust of wind caused by the boat’s next horn blast caused a gush of air that caught many people off guard. Celia lurched forward, and her hat cast off into the wind, floating on the breeze down to the water below.
As the older woman cursed up a storm at the loss of her hat, Hillary chuckled to herself before suggesting a new spot to Brie and Tina, who happily went along. They hadn’t seen Celia, Celia hadn’t seen them, and Celia had lost her hat to karma.
“See? It all works out.” Thought Hillary to herself.
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