Around 8:00, the boys went to work out at the gym. I do not work out on vacation. I work out religiously every other week of the year, so I figure on vacation I can just relax.
The boys were going to hit the Windjammer buffet for breakfast but I was still full from dinner last night. I knew I needed water so I went down to Café Promenade for some pastries and bottled water and ate those out on the balcony.
At 11:00, we went up to our Meet & Mingle at Olive or Twist. This was a gathering of members on an internet forum I belong to for cruisers. The ship sponsors it and raffles away prizes and provides snacks.
At the end, our organizer Karen got up and announced that anyone who wanted to could view most expensive suite on the ship, the Royal Suite. The couple who was staying in it was opening it up to anyone who wanted to see it. I was like, heck yeah, I want to see that because this will be my only chance to see it ever in my life.
So we went with the couple to their suite and they were just the nicest couple ever and they let us gawk and walk everywhere and take all the pictures we wanted and it was super cool! They shared with us that the cost was $10,500--that is more than our entire trip to Hawaii last year!
Here are the pictures I took--they don't even begin to capture how amazing it was! I would still rather go to Hawaii than stay here though.
The balcony even had it's own private hot tub!
Afterwards, we decided to make our way over to the gym/spa area because I wanted to go to the Ladies Pamper Party at 12:30 and the boys wanted to play mini golf.
I went over to the spa for the pamper party. This was advertised as a mini-facial and 5-minute makeover. Sounds good to me! I figured there would be a hard sell at the end but I came prepared with my best "No, thank you, I prefer my own products" ready.
Unfortunately, during the party, a lady on the front row fainted. It turned out to be a medical emergency so it ended the party.
So with the party over, I headed to the Solarium where I had told Ben to meet me after he and Nick had lunch. I found a swing and made myself comfortable looking out at the ocean.
Ben met me and I was hungry so we went to the pizza place Sorrentos for free pizza. It was pretty good for free!
We decided it was pina colada time so we went over to a bar called Boleros where the boys had gotten one earlier and said it was really good. And they were right.
We then got the idea to go up and drink them on our balcony. Just in case you're wondering, sitting out on your balcony at 3:00 in the afternoon isn't the best idea. It was really hot. I had to get Ben my extra pair of sunglasses.
We all decided then to start getting ready for sunset and our first formal night. We had made reservations for 7:00 so that we could see sunset beforehand. We had specifically chosen a room on the starboard side so that we could see sunset from our balcony.
I never get tired of watching sunset.
Ben and I dressed up for formal night. We enjoy dressing up and I love to see everyone else dressed up too.
For dinner, we started with the scallops drenched in garlic butter, then we had the filet, and the cheesecake and chocolate soufflé for dessert. One of our servers, Gina, also brought us a cheese plate since Nick had brought a bottle of wine.
For dinner, we started with the scallops drenched in garlic butter, then we had the filet, and the cheesecake and chocolate soufflé for dessert. One of our servers, Gina, also brought us a cheese plate since Nick had brought a bottle of wine.
After dinner, we went to see the 8:15 show, Sonic Eve, which was a trio of women singers. Unfortunately, it wasn't great so we left after about 15 minutes. The boys don't like seeing the shows as much as I do so it has to be pretty good to get them to stay.
So then it was over to Boleros to hear Voytek. It was crowded but we found a seat on the other side of the bar where we could still hear him fine.
We took our own formal night picture.
On the way up to the room, we stopped and lost $20 on a Top Dollar machine in the casino. I had a towel animal waiting for me when I got there.
We were instructed to set our clocks one hour ahead when we went to bed that night. We slept with the balcony door open that night so we could hear the waves.
