Life on a Boat

In my estimation, there are 4 main aspects of life on a cruise ship, ports aside: food, fun, views, and entertainment. Here's a taste of what they were like for us!

PART 1: THE FOOD

The food definitely has to come first in the list. We ate like there would be no food tomorrow -- everything from escargot to lamb, duck to curry, salads to ice cream. And the always-open soft serve machine became an all-too-tempting friend poolside.

This, my friends, was our table at dinner one night. Three couples and a multitude of plates. Shaun and I shared three appetizers, four entrees, and two desserts that night. Gluttonous? Yes. Delicious? All.

Our table's waiter and wait assistant, Agnelo and Alejandro, who graciously brought us absurd amounts of food each night.

There was a midnight buffet on the third night of our stay. The DJ played while people danced poolside and ate their 4th (5th? 6th?) meal of the day. This was just a shot of the fruit table.

Ice sculptures!

One afternoon we decided to tour the galley with the chef. It was crazy to see how hard those men and women work all day long.

Mmm, midnight pizza! Food is never far...

PART 2: THE FUN!

Listening to live music before we went out and danced together.

Who says towel animals aren't fun? We loved our little surprises, like this monkey!

With a friendly bulldog, maybe?

A cool swan

Rock climbing is definitely fun!

All geared up for our rock wall climbs!

PART 3: THE VIEWS

Watching the world float by with yummy frozen concoctions

We would watch the waves from thcould not believe how blue the water was in the Caribbean.

I promise, there was no photoshopping!

Sitting on the deck after dinner, watching the sunset.

Because it was so windy, part of the time was spent with me behind a glass wall to keep my skirt from going Marilyn on me. This was before we thought of sitting on a bench instead.

We woke up early one morning to watch the sunrise too.

And another sunset....

PART 4: ENTERTAINMENT
One of the things we did each night was gamble in the casino. We each had five dollars a night to try and win it big. I ended up the trip's winner on the last night by winning us $20 with my $5, bringing us almost back to where we would have been without gambling! :)

Shaun in action

SHUFFLEBOARD! :)

And yes, Shaun and I are some of the oldest newlyweds you could ever meet.

And the shows were equally entertaining. This was our comedian on ship, Carl Banks.

A musical show through the decades that we watched one night.

After the show, the crew all came out so we could thank them for all of their hard work in making life on a boat as much fun as it was!

Coco Cay, Bahamas

The first of our two ports on our Caribbean cruise was to Coco Cay, the Royal Caribbean-owned island in the Bahamas.

We brought our own snorkeling gear with us on the trip, which saved us about $25 each. Gotta love that! We weren't quite sure what to expect, but were pleasantly surprised with how many fish we saw. They had sunk a cannon, a boat, and even an airplane to create reefs out from their beach. The ship also provided a BBQ lunch for us, so it ended up being an all-day outing.

The Monarch of the Seas

The view of our ship from the boat's tender (the little boats that take you from ship to shore and back)

One of the tenders

There were little wooden fish attached to weights strewn about the snorkeling area. It was a scavenger hunt type activity, and if you found one, you traded it in for a prize. Shaun, ever ready to compete, found one and won an underwater camera, which he used to take pictures of the various undersea creatures.

Us with our ship

As the sun set, we eagerly awaited the next day in Nassau.

To be continued....

Our Caribbean Celebration

For our two-year anniversary, Shaun and I decided to scour the internet for a really great deal on a cruise, one of the items that was still on our "Florida Bucket List" to do before we move. Thanks in large part to his bargain-finding prowess, Shaun landed us a 4-night cruise for a steal. We decided to stretch the vacation just a little bit longer and drove down to Tampa for a weekend with one of my bridesmaids, Ashley. Unfortunately our camera must have declared strike because in all of our adventures with Ashley that weekend, I only have one picture of the two of us. But here's some of the highlights from our trip down:

We drove down to Tampa the long, scenic way on Highway 98, but with the Gulf constantly at our side, I'd say it was worth it.

With Ashley, we spent lots of quality time relaxing at her pool, going out to dinner, and helping her with her big move to Sarasota. (Only a true friend would let you stay at her apartment days before moving! Thank you again, Ashley!)

But Saturday we spent the day at Busch Gardens, riding roller coasters, feeding kangaroos, and watching those amazing tigers. We also saw a Cirque du Soleil show called Jungle Fantasy. Here's some photos I found online, since I didn't remember to bring my own camera. :(

The sole evidence we have of going to see Ashley.

On the way to Port Canaveral, we stopped in Lakeland to see Shaun's great aunt and uncle and their daughter (Shaun's 2nd cousin? I never know how cousins work.). They had a great brunch made and we really enjoyed visiting with them. Just more proof that I married into a great family!

Our home away from home for 4 nights!

I was expecting it to be small, but geez, it was small!

About to pull away from the port.

Dinner the first night, which just so happened to be May 30th, our anniversary!

We were serenaded with the "Happy Anniversary" song and presented with a celebratory tiramisu after dinner. It was the first song of the cruise in our dining room. We heard many "Happy Birthday"s and "Happy Anniversary"s as the vacation went on, but we were the first! :)

Hooray for 2 full years of wedded bliss!