Reflections of My Travel

Our original cruise friends, Peach and Sylvis, invited us to go on this cruise with them a year ago. Being unwilling to commit to anything so far in advance, we put off the decision until things came up and we were going to be unable to join them. Happily, things straightened out and we found ourselves able to make it happen after all… but I didn’t tell them that. Instead, we booked the cruise, got scuba certified so we could dive with them, and got in touch with some of their friends who we knew would be cruising with them… gotta love facebook.

When we boarded the ship today, we came to our room, put up our luggage and texted their friend, tiger, to let him know we were here. He came up with some excuse to bring them to our room and we opened the door, hiding behind it. When I popped out from behind the door to hug Sylvis, she screamed and jumped up and down and generally gave me exactly the reaction I was looking for. Fun, fun times!

sylvis blurred with excitement while peach is still processing what's going on

smiling sylvis while tiger records events

After the shock wore off, we made our way to the first buffet for lunch where we met some of their other friends and explored the ship.

the mermaids were very welcoming

obligatory self portrait

We then went back to our cabin so that we could unpack and rest a little. Since their whole group was booked for the early dinner seating, we changed ours as well so that we would be able to hang out with them for the shows. The maitre d managed to get us at a table right next to theirs so it worked out very nicely. We’re sitting at a four-top with a lovely couple – Darleen and Stan – from Ontario. My dinner tonight consisted of the most tender braised beef brisket. So yummy. After dinner, the core group went to the Mad Hatter’s Ball lounge to watch some karaoke and the adults-only (AO) comedy of Mr Smiley Joe. 

quartz, bubbly, tiger

master, hubby, peach, sylvis - these three couples were the core group we hung out with but there were many more in their extended group

sylvis sammich

After a long day of stalking and excitement, I am all too ready for bed… which reminds me… we have got the greatest cabin on this cruise! When we booked, there were only two cabins left and one was right under the nightclub so I passed on it. The one we got was an accessible interior room all the way at the front of the ship. I figured that would be nice because it would be a little bigger if it’s an accessible room… HUGE, I tell ya! Twice as big as some of the other cruise cabins we’ve had in the past. And a shower that could fit six people. LOVE IT! Not to mention, it’s absolutely dark so I should sleep really well tonight. 

our extremely spacious room and towel animal du jour: seal

ginormous shower and bathroom

I woke up in the middle of the night with a killer headache and was still having trouble moving my head when hubby woke at 08:00. Like the good boy that he is, he massaged my neck and temples on and off through the morning until it was sufficiently eased for us to get up and get some breakfast at the buffet.

After eating, I was feeling well enough to do a little gymming so I spent thirty minutes on the treadmill and thirty minutes on the bike. At least I’ll have less guilt now about the amount of food I’m going to consume over the next several days.

We had just enough time to get back to the room to clean up before heading to the piano bar where our friends’ group had arranged a private meet and greet for an hour. Two words = Miami Vice. Mmmm. We had a great time getting to know the people who had so generously helped me to pull off such a successful stalking.

When that was over, they had arranged a treasure hunt around the ship but we chose to skip that and go for lunch and a nap instead. My goodness… we’re talking coma here. We laid down after eating thinking we’d get a short little rest but instead woke when the alarm sounded for dinner two and a half hours later. It was the kind of nap that you wake from feeling like you’ve been hit by a truck. I had a really tough time getting woken up enough to glam up for formal night. This early dinner thing is going to be really difficult to adjust to this week.

hubby and i all snazzied up

obligatory formal night pic

After dinner, we joined the group for some more karaoke spectating and then we went to another AO comedy show by Smiley Joe Wiley. I thought he was very entertaining and he told his jokes really well. The only complaint I had, which is more from my pickiness, is that he continuously segued with “I love all women. They’re really beautiful. I love them to death.” He seemed to use that phrase like others would use “um.” All in all, though, I would have to say I very much enjoyed him.

After his show, we wound up at the dance club, Frankenstein’s Lab, with some friends of the friends. Sadly, the club was totally dead so we bailed on it pretty quickly and headed back to the lounge for the other AO show of the evening. The comedian for the late show was Mr Eddie Capone and we just didn’t get him. His style seems to be audience heckling which I’ve already shared on this travel blog that we don’t much enjoy. However, I can at least appreciate good audience heckling… this man just wasn’t all that funny to me. Example: he approached hubby (we were in the front row) and said “look at this guy… a serial killer.” And that was it.  Seriously? That’s supposed to pass for humor?  That’s the worst heckle ever. His material was also not very original… like the whole “no jobs, no hope, no cash” joke that’s been flying around on Facebook for weeks. We left the show disappointed and I would have been happier coming to bed that hour earlier.

having fun at the shows

towel animal du jour: pachyderm