Who's The Daddy: Daughter #2 returns to life on the ocean waves
And just like that, she was gone. The only thing even resembling a backwards glance Daughter #2 gave as she marched towards Departures at Manchester Airport was to turn on her heel after a few seconds to collect her phone off me after I’d shot a video of her striding off into the distance for one of her social media reels.
Daughter #2 was more than ready for her third tour of duty, entertaining American kids all day and night on the world’s biggest cruise ship as it sails from Miami, around the Caribbean and back - 21 times between now and next March.
Eight weeks of kicking her heels because all her uni friends are at work with proper jobs these days meant that she was stuck with us for the majority of her two-month shore leave.
It was fantastic to have her around and we miss her terribly now. But when the weather’s shocking - Autumn in North West England is a bit different to the Bahamas - there’s only so much Married At First Sight we could watch in one go.
One of the only good things for us as parents with a daughter 4,500 miles away is what feels like our own bespoke podcast that she sends us on WhatsApp every week or so, voice notes from an expert at the coalface of cruising.
Things that are part of the humdrum, everyday life when you’re pootling around paradise sound ever so exotic when you’re listening in Lancaster as the rain smashes against your windows like snowballs.
Now that Daughter #2 has been with the same company for more than a year, she knew that as soon as she boarded there’d be a lot of friendly faces on her team that she’d worked with before.
In fact, she’s such an old hand now that the eight-hour flight from Manchester to Orlando was such an everyday journey that it felt like getting the bus to work. Three-hour delay? Stuck on the runway in Orlando for ages? Immigration a nightmare? These are mere occupational hazards of someone who has done this for a living for a while now.
The new ship (it only launched in August) is pretty much a carbon copy of the last one Daughter #2 was on from March to August this year. Twenty decks high, a quarter of a mile long with around 3,000 kids on it during peak season while their mums and dads wet their whistles at the countless bars on board all day, and all of the night.
Before she left, Daughter #2 bought something that’ll make her life on board a whole lot easier - the most expensive pair of running shoes I’ve ever seen up close, with soles the thickness of a princess’s mattress.
Like I say to our kids, never skimp on anything that comes between you and the ground. If you’re on your feet all day, why not invest in a pair of prison white Hokas that look like they’re fitted with a suspension system more sophisticated than a top-of-the-range SUV?
Daughter #2 is due back mid-March 2026. We’re counting the hours.
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