NCL Escape August 6-14, 2016: Fabulous Faces at Sea The 2016 Craniofacial Cruise

[andymattmom]

What a wonderful review! The pictures were great and it looked like you and your group has a fantastic time. You and your mom looked so cute on your date. Glad she made it home safely. My husband and I grew up in FW and we still have family there.

[MandyMommyof2]

What a wonderful review! Thank you for sharing your time aboard the Escape. So glad your Mother was able to cruise with you. :)

[dogboy]

Very nice review. Great pictures. You are an Ambassador and I will look for FFSCC here on CC. Good Luck.

[MrsK]

Thank you for your report and pictures.

 

Your mother looks wonderful. I can only hope to still be cruising at her age.

[js]

Thanks so much OP for your review. We are sailing the Escape for my 50th birthday next July. We just booked last week. Thank you also for the brief information regarding Treacher Collins Syndrome. I wasnt aware what the condition was named and thank you for the details.

 

Your mom looks FANTASTIC! I hope, PRAY, that when I am 91, I can look as great as she does and still be cruising!! I loved in all the pictures, dinner or in the cabin, she had her white sunglasses on top of her head lol Her muscle tone looks great! Just wow!

 

KEEPONCRUISING, Ill be 50 in May and ALWAYS need a mid-day nap on a cruise so tell you mom that too! lol.

 

SmitjAlien, Id love to see any more pictures you have on the ship. Did you use the gym? What did you do during the day on sea days and did you see the Chocolate Cowboy at any of the bars (I heard he works at 5 O'Clock Somewhere). Thanks!

Edited August 18, 2016 by js

[volk904]

Tell me more about spice. I know there is no pool. Is there hot tubs or misters ? Any more pictures?

[dcn8tve]

What a fantastic review! However, I don't believe your mom is in her 90s! :-) I'll be on the Escape in May of next year, so really appreciated the great photos. I, too, am a *huge* fan of the Studios - and am loyal to NCL as a result. Cheers!

[chloemonkey]

DISEMBARKATION IN MIAMI, SUNDAY AUGUST 14

 

Our ship arrived early Sunday morning at PortMiami and began disembarkation upon clearance by US Customs. Mom and I got up around 7am, finished packing, and headed to our favourite breakfast spot--the Garden Cafe buffet (deck 16 aft). I took Mom down to the theatre on deck 7 forward, where those needing wheelchair assistance were instructed to gather for expedited, escorted disembarkation. After I left Mom and her walker there, I went back to our cabins (deck 10 forward) to retrieve all our luggage, and schlepped it all back down to the theatre. A ship's staff member pushed Mom in the wheelchair whilst I followed behind, as we debarked from deck 7 through the Jetway-style elevated gangway into the crowded, sprawling Terminals B and C complex, took a lift down to US Customs, and cleared through Customs with the appropriate declarations paperwork and passports and everything. Outside the Customs exit, we waited for the rest of our group to come out. Eventually they did, and Mom and I followed them to the center island in the car park to await our arranged private bus transfer. The bus came, we all loaded, and we headed from PortMiami up north to FLL airport.

 

Since my mother's flight was leaving before our group's flight, and she was flying AA (and we were flying UA), our travel agent instructed our bus to drop off me and Mom first, at FLL T3 (the AA terminal). I helped Mom get into T3, where we requested wheelchair assistance. Our escort helped Mom check in for her AA FLL-CLT-FWA flights, and we had to wait a bit longer to check in her suitcase (as it was over 4 hours prior to Mom's scheduled departure). Eventually Mom's bag got checked in (she was checking it as it contained her big bottle of Champagne). She was escorted to the TSA security checkpoint, as I gave her one final hug good-bye before she headed home. As soon as I saw her safely escorted through TSA, I left T3 and walked all the way over to T1 (for my UA flight with the rest of the group).

 

I joined up with the rest of my group at FLL T1 after having seen my mom off at T3. We checked in, and the group checked in their bags (I chose to carry mine aboard, since they were small enough to stow overhead or underseat). We went through TSA; since I have NEXUS/GE, I automatically have TSA Pre, so I breezed through. We had lunch at Chili's in the concourse, awaited our UA FLL-DEN nonstop, and had an uneventful flight back to DEN. We arrived at DEN at 5:37pm local.

 

 

Mom eventually made it home to Fort Wayne, meanwhile. Her AA FLL-CLT made it to CLT, but then her connecting AA Eagle CLT-FWA was delayed over an hour and a half, so she did not make it to FWA until 11pm local. A family friend of ours waited at FWA to pick Mom up and took her home.

 

CONCLUSION

 

This trip was a wonderful, and successful, "workation" for me (it was part of my work, as my work not only involves my research in craniofacial genetics, but also public engagement for craniofacial research and awareness of craniofacial anomalies). "Workation" is the term I have coined, meaning "working vacation". The point of this cruise was, besides fellowship and getting to meet each other, for me and my mother to share with others about our experiences (me living with TCS and Mom raising me with my challenges). I also was an ambassador of sorts aboard ship; by meeting so many other people on the ship over the duration of the cruise, I got to make friends while sharing my unique perspective and life experience and inspire them.

 

I plan to continue hosting Fabulous Faces at Sea Craniofacial Cruises for years to come, aiming them at the craniofacial community (adults with craniofacial conditions, families with children with these conditions, and others) as not only an opportunity for fellowship, but also as an educational workshop type of thing on a cruise.

 

I hope you all have enjoyed sailing the seas with me on this unique cruise.

 

 

We were on the SAME cruise as you guys! And were also on the previous week as this was a B2B for us. I did see beautiful Emma with her family in the spa...and was immediately reminded of our own "special" son back home who has autism. Our son LOVES to cruise...but every once in a while DH and I need to get away on our own and this was one of those times.

 

The idea of bringing awareness to the syndrome just really touches my heart as we have also done "Autism" cruises with our son.....but also just regular cruises as he does pretty well at this age. But the opportunity to share stories with families having similar situations is just TOO valuable for words! I applaud you and hope that more people use all manners of methods to share the word of various disabilities, syndromes, etc. By doing this and increasing awareness - we all benefit!

 

As a side note....your photos made me both happy and sad as I am SO happy to have had another wonderful cruise...but also sad that it is over! And your mom looks amazing! It does help so much to speak with other parents that are just now beginning to go through the "process" of raising a special child.

 

Thank you so much for not only the review of the ship and cruise but for your amazing spirit is educating and helping others with special needs and differences! If the world had more people like you.....everyone would benefit!

[tinkr2]

This was a beautiful pictorial review. My dad sill cruises at 93 and did the zip line last year! i applaud your efforts to get people together and fellowship about your illness. What a great trip. I look forward to seeing you on a future cruise.

[Kealy]

I enjoyed your review and also the info about hosting a group on board. I wish you much success in expanding your biannual cruises for Fabulous Faces at Sea.

Cheers,

Kealy,

[jimbri]

Great review and photos. Your mom looks great. We were in St. Thomas 3 years ago and your photos brought back some wonderful memories.

[Two Wheels Only]

Thank you for the excellent review.

 

The rear most ship in Port of Miami was probably MSC Divina.

[SmithAlien]

What a wonderful review! The pictures were great and it looked like you and your group has a fantastic time. You and your mom looked so cute on your date. Glad she made it home safely. My husband and I grew up in FW and we still have family there.

 

I grew up in Fort Wayne too. Before I was adopted into the family, they had lived in Champaign-Urbana, IL, during the 1960s and moved to Fort Wayne in the early 1970s. I came to the family in 1978, when they were in New Haven (FW suburb), then we moved to Garrett (a town north of FW). I lived in the Fort Wayne area until 2004, then moved to London (2004-2007) for university, then San Francisco (2007-2012) for my PhD studies, then to Calgary (2012-2015) for a postdoc, then to Denver where I currently live.

 

I still keep up with what's happening in Fort Wayne, and go home once or more a year for Christmas/NY and for family events.

[SmithAlien]

Thanks so much OP for your review. We are sailing the Escape for my 50th birthday next July. We just booked last week. Thank you also for the brief information regarding Treacher Collins Syndrome. I wasnt aware what the condition was named and thank you for the details.

 

Your mom looks FANTASTIC! I hope, PRAY, that when I am 91, I can look as great as she does and still be cruising!! I loved in all the pictures, dinner or in the cabin, she had her white sunglasses on top of her head lol Her muscle tone looks great! Just wow!

 

KEEPONCRUISING, Ill be 50 in May and ALWAYS need a mid-day nap on a cruise so tell you mom that too! lol.

 

SmitjAlien, Id love to see any more pictures you have on the ship. Did you use the gym? What did you do during the day on sea days and did you see the Chocolate Cowboy at any of the bars (I heard he works at 5 O'Clock Somewhere). Thanks!

 

Thanks for your encouragement! I am glad to be an ambassador for those of us with Treacher Collins syndrome, wherever I am on planet Earth. I am a research doctor (with a PhD) in craniofacial genetics and embryology at the University of Colorado in Denver, and got my start in this field of research at King's College London and Guy's Hospital in London.

 

So many people on the cruise commented that my mother does not look her age! In fact, one guy at Waves Bar, who was there with others smoking cigars, actually thought my mother was my wife! That was one of the highest compliments ever paid to her.

 

She does look so good, and her spirit radiates from her. She and (late) Dad raised us 12 kids, all with special needs. I'm not sure how she kept her good looks so long, but I suspect her good clean living helped, her Swedish ancestry may have given her longevity, and God has looked after her all her life. She continued to raise the youngest of us (including me) after Dad died at 72 in 1995. She still lives at home mostly independently (with the help of my younger sister who also lives at home). She may yet live quite a few more years. I hope we can squeeze maybe one more cruise in! Mom and I have been so close to each other our whole lives, since she first met me through the adoption process and learned to care for my complex medical needs (as a young child, I had a tracheotomy and needed constant tube feedings, not to mention all the major reconstructive surgeries I needed for most of my life, hearing aids, speech therapy, etc.).

 

I did not see a gym (or know where it was), but I did see the ropes course and walk-the-plank topside. I didn't yet take the time to go up there.

 

I never saw the Chocolate Cowboy (and never got in the 5 O'Clock Somewhere bar).

 

During the day, on sea days, my mother and I were relaxing together either in the forward atrium on deck 6 listening to the piano music or other performances and reading our books we got from the ship's library, or we were outside on Spice H2O sun deck on 17 aft sunning in deck chairs or soaking in the hot tub, while watching the water go by.

[SmithAlien]

Tell me more about spice. I know there is no pool. Is there hot tubs or misters ? Any more pictures?

 

Spice H2O is an open air sun deck on 17 aft, at the stern. It has no pool, but has two hot tubs (one port, one starboard). It has three ascending tiers of deck chair space, and on the starboard side, has a small bar called Spice Bar. On the port side, there is a water feature behind a wall of "rock" where people can walk under waterfalls. This is an adults-only space. During the day, people relax on deck chairs on the tiered platforms and soak in the hot tubs and water feature and drink at the bar. Mom and I relaxed out there during sea days and sometimes in port.

 

At night, Spice H2O becomes a nightclub of sorts, for dancing, nightlife, and sometimes even the showing of a movie on the big screen astern. I came out here at night and met new friends.

 

Some of the pictures I have posted show parts of Spice H2O.

 

Here are more:

 

 

 

 

 

[SmithAlien]

What a fantastic review! However, I don't believe your mom is in her 90s! :-) I'll be on the Escape in May of next year, so really appreciated the great photos. I, too, am a *huge* fan of the Studios - and am loyal to NCL as a result. Cheers!

 

She actually is 91 (almost 92), as her birthdate is 9/23/24! :)

 

You're right, she does not look anywhere near her age. Women do age more gracefully than us men (they are like fine wine, they improve with age).

 

One guy I met at Waves Bar, who was smoking cigars with a number of other guys, said he saw me with my mother earlier in the cruise. He told me he thought she was my wife! :) That was of the highest compliments I ever heard paid to my mom.

 

Mom and I both enjoyed our Studio cabins (ours were adjoining, with a connecting door between them). I am definitely a big fan of NCL's Studio concept for solo traveller accommodations. NCL were the first to come up with accommodations for solo cruisers. A few other lines are picking up on that--Cunard have just refitted Queen Mary 2 with 15 Britannia Oceanview Single cabins (and their two other Queens already have single cabins); Royal Caribbean have a few single insides with "virtual balconies" in their largest ships; Holland America Line have just launched their first ship with single cabins (Koningsdam); P&O have single cabins on their ships now; and there may be others I haven't heard of. When I book my next cruise, I will base my booking decision on the availability of solo cabins. NCL is on my radar for whenever I book my next cruise. If and when I move back to London, England, I want to take QM2, now that she has single cabins.

 

My next scheduled cruise is Star Trek: The Cruise, in January 2017, on Norwegian Pearl. Pearl, and the other smaller ships, do not have Studio cabins, but for this upcoming cruise, I was able to book an inside cabin as a single ("inside single" pricing).

Edited August 18, 2016 by SmithAlien

[Jojo27]

Thank you so much for sharing about Treacher Collins Syndrome and for the great review and pictures. Looking forward to your future reviews, well done!

PS - what is your moms secret? She looks amazing and would have never guessed she was in her 90's-

[andymattmom]

I grew up in Fort Wayne too. Before I was adopted into the family, they had lived in Champaign-Urbana, IL, during the 1960s and moved to Fort Wayne in the early 1970s. I came to the family in 1978, when they were in New Haven (FW suburb), then we moved to Garrett (a town north of FW). I lived in the Fort Wayne area until 2004, then moved to London (2004-2007) for university, then San Francisco (2007-2012) for my PhD studies, then to Calgary (2012-2015) for a postdoc, then to Denver where I currently live.

 

I still keep up with what's happening in Fort Wayne, and go home once or more a year for Christmas/NY and for family events.

 

Small world! I went to Snider, hubby Homestead. My BIL lives in New Haven. I know where Garrett is too. I'm still in Indiana, north of Indianapolis. We just flew out of FWA a couple weeks ago for the first time in years. Nice airport for your mom. I really enjoyed your review and pictures!

[SmithAlien]

We were on the SAME cruise as you guys! And were also on the previous week as this was a B2B for us. I did see beautiful Emma with her family in the spa...and was immediately reminded of our own "special" son back home who has autism. Our son LOVES to cruise...but every once in a while DH and I need to get away on our own and this was one of those times.

 

The idea of bringing awareness to the syndrome just really touches my heart as we have also done "Autism" cruises with our son.....but also just regular cruises as he does pretty well at this age. But the opportunity to share stories with families having similar situations is just TOO valuable for words! I applaud you and hope that more people use all manners of methods to share the word of various disabilities, syndromes, etc. By doing this and increasing awareness - we all benefit!

 

As a side note....your photos made me both happy and sad as I am SO happy to have had another wonderful cruise...but also sad that it is over! And your mom looks amazing! It does help so much to speak with other parents that are just now beginning to go through the "process" of raising a special child.

 

Thank you so much for not only the review of the ship and cruise but for your amazing spirit is educating and helping others with special needs and differences! If the world had more people like you.....everyone would benefit!

 

I wonder if we ran into each other on this cruise? There were so many people aboard, so it's hard to tell.

 

Emma does win hearts wherever she is, apparently. Other people on the cruise (for example, a group of men at Wave Bar who were cigar aficionados mentioned they saw Emma and her family earlier that day, and they got to know me once they found out I was the organizer of that group) mentioned they met Emma and her family on different occasions over the course of the cruise. We who have Treacher Collins syndrome have a kinship with each other, and children with TCS have a special place in my heart. They have a unique personality.

 

I have a form of autism myself--apparently high-functioning, probably Asperger, according to another TCS adult who knows me well and who works with people with autism. When I was a baby, one Sunday at Mass, another parishioner came up to my parents and told them she recognized autism in me (she was a teacher who worked with autistic and other special needs children in her school). The book Son Rise, by Barry Neil Kaufman back in that day (the 1970s) helped my parents work with me. My mom still has a copy of it.

 

My mom's good looks belie her age, truly! Her spirit shines through. She has aged as well as a fine wine. One guy on the ship even mistook her for my wife!

 

I am glad to educate others about my condition and inspire others.

Edited August 18, 2016 by SmithAlien

[SmithAlien]

Thank you so much for sharing about Treacher Collins Syndrome and for the great review and pictures. Looking forward to your future reviews, well done!

PS - what is your moms secret? She looks amazing and would have never guessed she was in her 90's-

 

If you want to know Mom's secrets, ask her! :) But anyway, what I can guess of her secrets is 1) she and Dad (who died in 1995) devoted their marriage to adopting and raising us 12 kids with special needs, and God gave them the strength and grace and with Mom, the longevity to fulfill this mission; 2) Mom's spirit and love of life and good, clean, healthy living; 3) Mom's faith in Christ has sustained her in challenging times; and 4) Mom is Swedish (her grandparents came over in the late 19th century from Sweden to the US), and Swedes apparently have longevity. There may be other, hidden, reasons, for her longevity and very good looks that belie her age. She has aged like a fine wine--in other words, well. In fact, on the cruise, she was once mistaken for my wife.

[SmithAlien]

Small world! I went to Snider, hubby Homestead. My BIL lives in New Haven. I know where Garrett is too. I'm still in Indiana, north of Indianapolis. We just flew out of FWA a couple weeks ago for the first time in years. Nice airport for your mom. I really enjoyed your review and pictures!

 

Small planet, indeed, for me too. I meet people from Fort Wayne wherever I have lived and travelled during my 41 years visiting Earth. Even more strangely, at an antique map store in Boulder, CO, the proprietor told me that people come in often asking for antique maps of...Fort Wayne! I miss Fort Wayne. I was a fan of the Wizards baseball team and attended a game or two every year, but since I've been gone, I have yet to see a TinCaps game at their new Parkview Field downtown. I would LOVE to own a downtown condo--either at Anthony Wayne Building or elsewhere downtown, as a second home or pied-a-terre, if I could afford it.

 

I was born in Bloomington, IN, in 1975, and given up by my native Irish parents for adoption, then spent my first 2 months in the NICU at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. Meanwhile the state put me in medical foster care with an elderly black woman in inner city Indianapolis, not too far from Riley Hospital, for my first 2-1/2 years. At age 2-1/2, the state placed me with my new, adoptive family in the Fort Wayne area. My new mom had to learn to care for my tracheotomy and tube feedings, my special hearing aids that looked like Walkman, get me into speech therapy, and get me to specialized craniofacial plastic surgeons to start the very long process of reconstructing my deformed face (no ears, cleft palate, no eyesockets or cheekbones, severe jaw deformities, etc), in both Indianapolis and St. Louis, where there were craniofacial interdisciplinary teams devoted to challenges like mine.

 

When I came to my new family in 1978, they already had 10 other children also adopted, and they were living in New Haven. In 1979, we moved north to Garrett, where we had bought a former funeral home. I lived there until 2004, when I moved on my own for the first time, to London, England.

 

During my life in Garrett, I went to preschools in Fort Wayne (the Montessori preschool at Wayne Street United Methodist Church) and Auburn (at their Methodist church). From K-3rd grades, I attended JE Ober Elementary School in Garrett. From 4th-6th grades, I attended Faith Christian Academy (now Lakewood Park Christian School) outside Auburn. For 7th and 8th grades, I attended what was then Garrett Jr.-Sr. High School (which has just been totally rebuilt very recently). For high school (grades 9-12), I went to Canterbury School in Fort Wayne, graduating in 1994. I attended IPFW for pre-med biology 1994-1998 (BS Biology 1998) and for my MS in Biology (2001).

 

I first moved away from home, on my own, in 2004. I went to university in London, England (2004-2007), where I got my start in the field of research in craniofacial embryology and genetics (studying craniofacial development and birth defects in embryos). I pursued my PhD in craniofacial sciences in San Francisco (2007-2012), then did a postdoctoral fellowship in Calgary (2012-2015) and am now doing my 2nd postdoc here in Denver.

 

When I first came to the family (in 1978), they attended the original St. Mary's Catholic Church in downtown Fort Wayne, where they had me baptized (that's when I got my current name); that church burned down in September 1993. In Garrett, we attended St. Joseph's Catholic Church, and later on, we attended Bible Baptist Church (now Lakewood Park Baptist) outside Auburn (that's where the aforementioned Christian school is). My mom still attends Lakewood Park.

 

In 2008, Mom sold the ex-mortuary house in Garrett and downsized to a ranch in the Stellhorn/Maplecrest area (near IPFW) in Fort Wayne.

 

I still consider FWA my hometown airport--I fly in once or more times a year to visit family. I have been flying out of FWA since 1995, and other members of my family used it much earlier. They still give out cookies (from the nearby Ellison Bakery) to arriving passengers.

Edited August 18, 2016 by SmithAlien

[SmithAlien]

This cruise was a "workation" (working vacation) with the purpose of both fellowship among families with craniofacial challenges and education of others about our challenges.

 

My current career trajectory, as a research doctor in craniofacial genetics, not only includes my laboratory research in genetics but also includes public engagement for awareness of craniofacial anomalies and the need for our continuing research into craniofacial malformations and how to treat them. Other initiatives I have begun include collecting in-person video interviews of my craniofacial research professors and mentors (past and present) at my various alma maters in England and America, for the purpose of providing a public resource for education about craniofacial anomalies and research. I also want to foster ecumenical efforts at interaction between us scientists and those medical professionals who work directly with children with craniofacial differences (ie, cross-talk), as well as enhanced global research collaboration. And this cruise is yet another of my initiatives for public outreach, so it's a part of my work anyway!

 

This cruise will hopefully be just the first of a continuing tradition of Fabulous Faces at Sea Craniofacial Cruises in coming years.

Edited August 18, 2016 by SmithAlien

[YankeeFan4Ever]

Excellent review and great pictures! Thank you so much for taking the time to post it.

 

Happy cruising! :)

[grodberg01]

Excellent review! Loved your photographs and the information you shared. So nice that you and your beautiful Mom are able to cruise together. I look forward to reading your reviews on your future adventures. Keep up the great work!

[Musigurl]

Loved reading your review (and your "life story", too) -- thanks for sharing. Loved the photos too :)