Anniversary Cruise: Sea Day 1

Well hello there! So here I am again. So let's get going why don't we?

After all the planning and preparation and excitement and honestly a little sadness, (saying goodbye to your little ones is really hard), we were finally on our way. We left at something like 4am and traveled down the east coast toward Florida. We made great time. Chris is an excellent driver and though we brought the manual and I couldn't help drive, he didn't complain at all. I love good traveling companions.

We stopped at gas stations and .... nothing else! It was the first time in a very long time we were able to just go like we did before kids. We ate quick and got back on the road. We did stop once in Florida. We realized we were making such good time that a stop over in a local Wal-mart wasn't going to be a bad idea. We'd also forgotten a few things. It was actually kind of fun. We wandered and found things we needed, bought some things that we didn't strictly NEED, but wanted and just strolled without a cart and without any timeouts. It was nice. Then we jumped back on the road and arrived at our park n' ride. A shuttle picked us up and dropped us at our ship. It was HUGE! Ok, not as big as the one next to it, but holy cow! Once you got on the view was amazing! We were so excited!

SEA DAY 1:

Once on board, we voted to eat instead of go right to our room. We probably could have dropped our stuff and been fine, but we didn't want to miss lunch! We ate right on the deck at a fun buffet style lunch place.

Then, of course, the ship's crew went over safety stuff and we found out what to do and where to go if the ship was sinking. Seriously, not the most inspiring thing to do the second you get on the ship! Anyway, after that we hit our room and guess what? It looked exactly like the picture on the website. It was sooooo beautiful. We immediately plopped on the bed. So nice just to relax by ourselves.

(we work very hard as a couple to have regular date nights and to do things we like to do as a couple, but time all alone for more than a few hours is simply blissful!)

Within no time we were moving out of port and we watched Florida float away into the distance. We had a nice balcony and we sure enjoyed it. The ocean was really beautiful. It smelled good, the weather was so nice, and the breeze made for a perfect beginning to our vacation. That's what we did for the first couple hours. We rested. Driving for 10hrs straight does that. Chris fell asleep for a little bit and I began my favorite book: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Eventually, hunger creeped in again and we had to leave our lovely room.

For those of you who don't know, like we didn't, a cruise is about just a few things, eating, playing, drinking, and a little bit of travel. Our cruise to the Caribbean was also about jewelry. We didn't know that until way later. Anyway, so on a cruise there are tons of places to eat. There are the snack bars for drinks and snacks that to me, looked like full size meals. Then there are the kid friendly outside next-to-the-pool buffets, the more adult friendly, but still for kids, indoor next-to-the-pool buffets, and then there are the restaurants and the fine dining. When we had first gotten on the ship we hit the first food place we found because we really didn't know any better. I think it was pretty close to the only time we ate there. Most of our food was in the restaurant in the dining room called "The Posh".

Something else we didn't know abt cruises is that the entire ship usually will follow a theme of some kind. Some of it is more overt like the Disney cruises and some less so, like ours with all the moments in time. We had a 70's locale, a mid century NY type restaurant, and a Cuban cigar lounge from the early 40's. It was kind of fun. Anyway so the Posh followed suit with the theme and though other people we met didn't seem to think the food as great as I did, I loved it. We had a fun table couple (someone else assigned to the same table) named Jason and Myra, very cute, and a great table staff that figured us out by the second night. They knew what kind of water we liked, breads, desserts and what we were most likely to order from the menu. It was so neat!

After dinner, we just kind of wandered around the ship trying so hard to get the layout. It was quite an ordeal, a fun one, but still a bit confusing. Eventually we ended up back at our lovely room. It had been a really long day and we were quite exhausted. And guess what? We fell asleep listening to the ocean and NOTHING ELSE! No there were no cries for more hugs and kisses, no whines because the light had to go out, and no whimpers for diaper changes. I love my children, but after five years straight of serious motherhood, a break to be just my husband's friend and spouse was so nice! It was a great day and an even better night.