Day 1 at Sea

We woke up at the crack of 8:30 am on our first day at sea. That is when we chose to have our room service breakfast delivered. You may not know that room service on a cruise is free! (unless you’re ordering late at night, then there’s a surcharge) Nothing I love more than breakfast in bed. Well, in this case, breakfast in our seating area. We had planned to have breakfast on the balcony but there was about an inch of water out there. Having never had a balcony before, we thought this was due to the rain we sailed through overnight. A day or so later, our room steward informed us that a pipe had burst and since ours was the last balcony in the line, all the water ran to our drain, which wasn’t doing its job. He people come and pump out the water but we lost probably a day and a half of balcony time. Again, if I had paid for it, I might have inquired sooner had I known this wasn’t normal.

Anyway, breakfast was small and the coffee was atrocious. We lazed around a bit until I announced I was taking part in the Jewelry Making Workshop. John, not wanting to come with me (surprise!) hung out in the room some more, I think. Maybe he went to the casino. I can’t remember. The Ancient Treasures jewelry making was actually quite fun. We were given ziplocs filled with beads (“silver” and “turquoise”) to make a bracelet and earrings. This was a free workshop. Even better! We got to work and then an 80+ year old woman sat down next to me after the workshop had already been going for about 15 minutes. She complimented my bracelet a number of times and really struggled with her own. I tried to help her but I was having my own problems. The guy running it ended up making her jewelry for her really. This was also the first of two times inside a week that I was told I have nice teeth. She looked up at me and said, “You’re a very nice girl. You have lovely teeth.” I always like hearing that because I suffered through braces as a teenager. Also, one time my orthodontist told me I had “chunky teeth like big Chiclets.” Not a compliment. Somehow I managed to screw up both my bracelet and one earring but eventually I got it together. John retrieved me after about an hour when the workshop was done. On our last cruise, I didn’t really take part in any of these enrichment programs but I enjoyed it and plan to do so more often in the future.

At this point I can’t remember if we had second breakfast in the Windjammer, the first having not been sufficient enough. Or, if we used a coupon to buy the most delicious Caribbean Coconut blended latte in the Centrum coffee shop Latte-tudes. Either way, we were eating again. John and I took to having double breakfast and sometimes double lunch on a few occasions. Okay, full disclosure. We had either double breakfast or double lunch every day. Sometimes both!

After we ate again, I think we just went to the pool. This was 2 weeks ago and on vacation, your days run together, folks. Especially on a cruise. It was overcast this whole day which was pretty disappointing. I had worked hard all summer on my tan. But, I was also determined not to burn on this cruise. We both burned pretty badly on the honeymoon cruise. Never fall asleep on the beach in Curacao, not even for 20 minutes. We reapplied our suntan lotion with strict vigilance and I even went so far as to use 30 SPF and 50 on my face. FIFTY! They were free samples from Drug Mart but they came in handy. We didn’t get much color this cruise but, at least we didn’t burn!

After pool time, complete with pool drinks, it was probably time for second lunch or napping. What a life we lead! I think we skipped the pre-dinner show that night. Oh, I know! That night was the Captain’s Welcome Aboard Party. We were advised by friends who recently cruised to attend this event because there would be free champagne. It did not disappoint! Unfortunately, John had a wicked headache throughout and didn’t really enjoy himself. We did find out that the ship engineer lives in Dayton though. Small world! And Captain Rob is American, something you don’t find very often. American captains, that is. Not Americans in general. Duh. In fact, I think I read somewhere he’s the only American captain in Royal Caribbean’s fleet. John felt a little better after we had dinner (with just our Chilean friends this night) but ended up turning in quite early hoping to feel right as rain in the morning. This was our one formal night on the cruise too. We looked pretty snazzy. As a whole though, the varying levels of dress in the dining room were all across the board. I don’t mind dressing up for dinner. It makes me feel fancy!

Here's me and our towel dog, just chillin'.

Next Stop: Grand Cayman!