Vacation Day Two - Let Me Take You On A Sea Cruise

August 30th...........

We woke up on Monday, packed, and headed downstairs to the car.

Yes. This is our luggage. Sadly, only about 3 of these bags stayed in the car. Everything else went on the ship with us.

YAY!!!!!!!!!

I hate the smell of sunscreen, but this still excited me, lol.

Our boat........

We were so excited to get on that ship. The earliest you could get on the boat was 12:30pm....... at 12:35pm we were on board. You couldn't get into your room until 1:30pm, but they were serving lunch on the Lido deck. It took us a few minutes to grasp that there were about 50 different lines you could get in with about 2000 different food options.

Note: This is where Jess threw all dietary concerns out the window.

After our meal, it was time to find our room. Our home away from home for the next 4 days. I'll be honest.... the ship was a little confusing for the first day or so. I'm the type that likes to get the lay of the land, as soon as possible. So, I did a lot of walking around, trying to figure out the pathways, where everything was, and the best way to get there.

Note about Jess: My mom trusts this. She knows that I will figure out subway lines, directions, and everything else almost immediately. So, when I'm around, she rarely bothers. Don't get me wrong, she is absolutely MORE than able..... there are some people that are directionally challenged (I have several friends that are)..... my mom is not one of those people. She just knows that I am much more comfortable being the one that knows where we are and so she lets me. It makes it slightly interesting when I'm not around to walk 15 paces ahead of her, but that just adds to the funnies when we travel, lol.

We got into our room and almost squealed with glee that we had a window!

It's a good thing we didn't waste the breath on a squeal.................

We unpacked, took a little nap, and then woke up just in time to get to our Muster Station a full ten minutes before they told us to start going to them.

Public Service Announcement: When you go cruising, specifically on a boat with me, know where your Muster Station is ahead of time. Get there early and stay there. And if, for some unknown reason, you are unable to get there before the Safety Drill, get there AS SOON AS the booming voice tells you to. Don't go to your room to change, first. Don't stop by the bar to get a drink. Don't take your dear sweet time. Don't lollygag. And, for the love of all that is holy, don't sit on the verandah above a Muster Station looking down at all of us, thinking you are too cool. You are not above the Safety Drill. There's this little thing called 'The Titanic' that makes it necessary. So, be prepared. Know where you are going. And get there. Quickly. Because, really, you are just wasting precious minutes of everyone else's (re: MY) well-deserved vacation. And, we (re: I) might yell at you. Mkay? Thanks.

Once the morons on the boat found their Muster Stations, it was time to set sail!!!!

Heading out of the Port of Miami!

Once we were officially at sea, we did some more exploration. I hit the gym. We went to dinner (where I ate the best porkchop I'd ever had in my life). Our table was full of Floridians.... we got along like peanut butter and jelly.

We went to the show. It was a fairly good show. However, the dancer in me wanted to ask them who their dance captain was and offer to sit in on a rehearsal. They weren't very synchronized and it annoyed me everytime we watched a show. I know.... it's critical of me.

After the show, we decided to hit the hay. We had an early morning coming in Key West!! Upon entering our room, we found this...........

A Seal

It made my night and would continue to delight me throughout the week, lol.