DB Schwein
It was Thursday May 12 and I, my fiancé', and three of our best friends were on a cruise in the Caribbean readying to land in Aruba in the morning and culminate a couple of years worth of planning into a wedding ceremony on the Natural Bridge in Aruba. Well that didn't happen.
As is traditional, my SO and I split up the day before the ceremony so Chad was staying with R in R's cabin, and C and N were with me in mine.
DB Schwein
So, room chosen we all agree to meet for the ceremony at 2pm. Chad and R get there a little early to find that not only have they folded a bunch of towel elephants, they've also laid flowers, baked us a cake, brought champagne, and assigned us a flunky. They have gone way above and beyond. Turns out the fact that we were all being so mellow about it brought out the best in people :-)
DB Schwein
Suddenly a complete stranger points excitedly at me, and drowns her out saying "THIS lady was supposed to get MARRIED today. She's the only person on this boat who gets to be that upset!" Well, the passenger stammered quiet, and the rest of us just kind of looked at each other bewildered. We thanked our champion and she said some words of comfort as we got off the elevator.
DB Schwein
Once off the elevator, C admits that she made it her goal for the cruise to tell at least 10 people a day that we were getting married on Friday...so yeah, not so much with the subtle :-P We got a lot of kind words of congratulations/sympathy as the morning progressed.
DB Schwein
The purser found Chad and R, and offered to help in any way possible. The purser asked with a look of total horror on his face "Do you need the Captain to perform the ceremony?" R assured him no and said, "Honestly we just need a place." The crew jumps on that and takes R on a tour of the options. R comes back to Chad, and then me, with descriptions.
DB Schwein
The choices were a neon jazz club, a Grecian tiled room, and a third that I can't remember. We choose Grecian - because how can you disagree with ~almost~ homoerotic art blessing your wedding :-)
When asked about decoration, R wondered if it were possible to fold a towel horse, as I was supposed to arrive at the site via horseback. Nope, turns out horses aren't a possibility, but would elephants do? Absolutely says R - and now elephants are our celebratory animal 🙂
DB Schwein
Hair done, the three of us decide to head down to the central gathering area of the boat and check out shops and whatevs to waste time. We're in the elevator and a passenger is exclaiming loudly that her entire vacation is ruined if she doesn't get to Aruba (now, keep in mind we are on day 5 of a 7 day cruise. Aruba was literally the last stop)
DB Schwein
R says, "Let me see if they can get us a place to do this, since we have all the people we need." and I agreed happily. C, N, and I decide to finish getting our hair done, but not immediately go back to the cabin to dress since we didn't know exactly when anything was happening.
DB Schwein
The in-cabin searches meant the overhead announcements had finally stopped. We were able to get some sleep, which was good because we had hair appointments at, I think, 9am and Chad and R were supposed to do some helmet diving sea walking, which one should probably be awake for!
Morning arises and we're still at sea, which was expected. Then 9am rolls around and we're still at sea...which was not expected.
DB Schwein
This next part is hearsay, but I trust the source :-) R and Chad were at breakfast, both having noticed that they were still at sea, and both not saying anything cuz they don't want to freak each other out. Finally, they have to admit it's a problem and wander over to the courtesy desk. While waiting they hear another passenger exclaim that they've been on this cruise 3 times, and they've still never made it to Aruba!
In that tradition - in our household, Aruba is not actually a real place 😛
DB Schwein
Then R approaches the purser and asks about arrival time in Aruba. The purser kind of sighs and says "We're not going to Aruba." R being quick on the uptake says, "Oh. They were supposed to have a wedding on Aruba. Let me get back to you." The horror on the purser's face was a site to behold.
R then came up to the salon where he knew we'd all be, and let me know we weren't going to Aruba. We actually have a photo of that very moment :-P
DB Schwein
It was late in the evening post-midnight buffet and we were happily chatting when the entire boat rocked, and I said (sadly presciently) "Huh. If we were in a plane I'd say we just did a 180º turn." Nothing much happened for a bit and then we started hearing an announcement in the hallways of "Would Mr. and Mrs. X please pick up the nearest courtesy phone." Ok, somebody has gone missing - it's the night of the Midnight Feast so they're probably in a food coma somewhere.
DB Schwein
We continued with our lounging, and after about another half an hour the announcements were now in the cabins...huh. Ok, so much for trying to sleep but now they're going to wake the people up and it should be over soon...
DB Schwein
About a half hour after that there came a knocking on the door. The poor, very harried looking cruise employee apologized and said "We're looking for Mr. and Mrs. X, and I need to search your cabin." Ok, well that's a bit odd, but we let them have a look around, but no - no one was hiding in our cabin, or seemingly anyone else’s. Uh oh :-(
DB Schwein
Plus the Natural Bridge collapsed a mere 4 months after we were supposed to be there. I'm kinda glad our ceremony is not tied to someplace lost to the ages!
DB Schwein
Once reported, and the shoes found, it became a "man overboard" situation and the ship came under the command of the nearest country's navy (in this case Venezuela) until a full grid search could be completed. We remained under navy control until that evening when the search was called off. The next day the ship made dock in St. Maartin as it also turned out that Aruba had been experiencing a completely out of season tropical storm that had knocked out power to most of the island.
DB Schwein
So we think fondly of Mr. and Mrs. X, both because their planning has led us to multiple conversations about what we'll do if one/both of us is diagnosed with a terminal condition (not jumping over the side, but yes to packing it off to someplace beautiful to die happy rather than eking out a few more months to die in a hospital bed), and because their choice led us to a likely far better ceremony than if we'd docked in a rain soaked, electricity free Aruba.
DB Schwein
The next time the crew would have done a passenger check was at the end of the day on Friday as folks were returning from Aruba. Alas for best-laid plans, the family were so impressed by the midnight feast that they returned to the cabin to try and convince the couple to come down, and found them missing.
DB Schwein
Ceremony went off without a hitch (well, ok, I was late to it but in my defense I didn't have a watch and both C and N were of the opinion that a bride cannot be late to her own wedding.) The crewperson was lovely, and mostly bored since we're all pretty self sufficient.
DB Schwein
Back to Mr. and Mrs. X.
Throughout the day we'd be receiving bits and pieces of information about what was happening. Turns out this elderly couple had spent all of their savings to bring their entire family (like 20+ people) on this cruise, and then after telling said family that they were going back to their room and asking not to be disturbed, instead packed all their stuff, walked up to the top deck, removed their shoes, and jumped over the side.
GreenSkyOverMe (Monika)
@deirdrebeth Cool story! Especially the „she‘s the only one who gets to complain“ part :D
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