Day 2-We Board the Ship

Day 2-Friday: Today is the day we board the ship. We wake up early in the "executive suite". Steve and the kids are really excited about the FREE breakfast. (Nothing excites my family like food). So they go in search of the four course spread, while I get ready and pack up. Well, the boys return and the look on their faces is priceless....the "free" breakfast consisted of stale crescent rolls and bagels. I laughed my butt off. So we pack up, check out and head into town. Stop for sunglasses and sunscreen. Head to the boat. Get to boat, lug 3 huge pieces of luggage, the laptop, camera bag, my purse (OK, so I overpacked), go through security, show birth certificates, drivers license, fill out immigration forms, get paperwork and head on to the boat (which was really beautiful). Find our room, open the door and oh my!!--where's the rest of it? I know people said the rooms were small, but man--this room is literally the size of my closet. There are two small sofas that slide together to make a bed, two bunk beds that pull out from the wall above the tiny sofas. We all could not stand up at one time because there was no room. The bathroom...oh lordy. There was barely enough room to go in, shut the door and turn around to use the toilet. We go from "executive suite" to closet. Definitely not livin' large anymore!!!

So we go to explore the ship. Steve and I find ourselves on the deck with the spa and this little Chinese girl keeps wanting us to "tour spa". What the hey--so we "tour spa". Really nice, let us sample each room, (they almost got me with the aromatherapy massage). So they build you up....I'm thinking, hey I could go for this. We get all the way through and at the end they give you this paper. The little Chinese girl is like "you call for appointment" "we take good care you". On the paper is the spa prices (nope, not included in the cruise). $189 for couples massage, $125 aromatherapy......we got the heck out of there and did not go back.

About 5:00, the ship leaves port. We find a quiet little spot on Deck 7 away from the crowds and enjoy the ride. It was so nice. Breeze blowing, sound of the ocean, heaven....

We stayed out as long as we could and then headed for the closet....the kids were watching movies. I have now seen Fun with Dick and Jane and The Pink Panther about 27 times each. They were pretty good the first couple of times, though, if you want to see them. Oh, and, Walk the Line is good too. We saw it about 12 times, I think......

Off to bed, which we had slid the two sofas together and everytime one of us moved they slid apart and you almost fell through the crack......