Vacation Days

You know it was a good vacation when...

... your daughter draws pictures of cruise ships, fish, and palm trees on every spare scrap of paper
... your son remembers, in detail, every dish he tried
... after doing loads of vacation laundry you find seashells in the lint trap
... your kids yell "It's bingo time" every time they hear a bell
... you miss being together when everyone falls back into their daily routines

It is an understatement to say we had a great trip. Here are some pictures from the day we left and our first day at sea.

VIP passengers (us!) got to board the ship first. They had champagne and orange juice waiting for us.















Our room was very nice. It was on a private floor that was only accessible by a special key card. We had 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a sitting area.






















We had a "pillow menu" with 6 different types of pillows to chose from. How spoiled is that?? They didn't have any "flat and lumpy" choices like I'm accustomed to, but I survived.














All the people with our level room or higher shared a private courtyard with a pool and hot tub and a retractable roof, and a private sun deck. The courtyard was very appealing to the kids - it had an almost constant supply of gummy bears and M&Ms. (It was misting in the foggy looking picture.)








































Another perk for people with our level room was being able to eat in a specific restaurant for breakfast & lunch. This restaurant was not open to the rest of the ship at these times, so we never had to wait in line or carry our own tray of food while fighting for a table. Danielle is trying the chilled banana soup. Her favorite chilled soup of the week was the strawberry soup. Mmmm. Ron talked to the food & beverage director at lunch one day & told him how much he enjoyed chocolate soup on our last cruise. The next day we were served 4 bowls of chilled chocolate soup at lunch time, although it was never on the menu. Yep, we were spoiled.





















For dinner the first evening we went to the Japanese restaurant Teppanyaki. The kids had so much fun! It was a great way to kick off our vacation.

















Here are some other random pictures from those 2 days.(The towel animals are a cobra & a mouse, as requested by the kids.)