what can I say about our honeymoon? Well, it wasn't exactly what I expected.
We started the four hour drive to Fort Lauterdale pretty early. Dustin's best man volunteered for the trip down and then watched the critters for us while we were away. We kept entertained with general banter, books, ABC games, and finally 20 questions; where I learned how UNeducated my husband is in animal knowledge.
The line to get onto the ship was attrocious to say the least. We arrived an hour or so ahead of our scheduled boarding time and didn't get on until almost an hour after. Thank goodness for our inner patience. Instead of getting frustrated we continued through the lines in a generally positive mood, making up stories of the people around us. I found it interesting that every official we came across kept saying 'No need to stress, this will be over soon'. Do I LOOK like I'm stressing people?? I'm smiling and bubbly and asking you how YOUR day is going, YOU chillax... Goodness. By the end of it I WAS starting to stress.
When we finally made it to our room, it wasn't exactly prepared for us. There were some left over pedals from the last tenants but the room itself was absolutely beautiful. We had a suite with a balcony. The closet was large enough to walk in. The bathroom was tiled with a tub big enough for two (long ways). There was a couch and a chair and a nice size bed. On the balcony facing the dock were two lounge chairs and two upright chairs. I deemed that if I were to tan at all, it would not be on a crowed deck on display with strangers. It would be here. Naked.
We took a few minutes to settle in and then started touring the ship. The promenade alone was spectacular. there were spiraling staircases, glass elevators, fixtures dangling from the ceiling and a 'Rainbow bridge'. It looked like a fancy pants mall on the inside.
One of the first tours we went on was the spa tour. We got to veiw all the different treatments, the salon, and the gym (Which we'd be getting around to at some point - I DID pack accordingly, so the thought was there). Afterwards we signed up for a couples massage on the 4th day and I was to go to a beauty appointment the next day.
After dinner, we put in a request to change to main seating at 6pm and at a table with others. This would most likely be the only chance we had at socializing throughout the cruise anyways.
The next day we leisurely awoke, (well, I did, since Dustin was off to the flowrider as soon as the sun rose) read a little, then began our day with BINGO. We bought our cards and ordered a couple drinks. Who says you can't have a drink before noon? Everyone else did! It was the fastest BINGO of my life. Hey, if you're meant to win it, you're meant to win it!
So that left our afternoon WIDE open. I still had a few hours before my beauty treatment so we went back to the room... and napped. It doesn't take much alcohol to put me out.
My haircut took longer than anticipated, but I did have some nice conversation with my stylist. She was from Australia and had only been working for the ship for a few months. I loved it when she lopped off my hair, no reservations, and left it on the ground in plain sight for the entire do. It was great. Everyone kept stopping by and gasping, loving the new look. They would ask 'If your husband ok with this?" and I'd just laugh and say, 'Well it doesn't matter now!' or 'Psht, it's just hair. It'll grow back!'.
It was formal night that evening so I felt very pretty when we got all fancy and took pictures together.
We were able to get early dinning and the couple we sat with was much older. We joked that they were us in the future. I adored that couple, they really had spirit, and they encouraged us to play the different adult games and see the shows the ship had to offer. If it weren't for them, we would have ended up shacked up in our room the entire cruise (or at least more so than we were).
After dinner we attended a newlyweds 'meet and greet' jam packed with cake, free mimosa's and chocolate covered strawberries. Not many couples got the memo, but our chances for winning a free bottle of wine were very good, and we WERE victorious in that endeavor.
By the third day, the seas were a rockin and so was my body. In not such a fun way. My 'week' had struck. Yay honeymoon... so the next couple days were spent in bed or on short jaunts about the boat. We did a lot of napping, reading, movie watching. And at some point, was able to make it to the Love and Marriage Game Show.
Our dinnermates told us we had to audition and do our best to get on. So we did! And man, did the crowd cheer for us. My stagefright kicked in the moment we sat down in the theatre but I muddled through and Dustin, well, he was himself and everyone loves him.
Though we did better than the old couple, the middle couple beat us out. It was a blast and we'll never have a moment like that again. The rest of the cruise we felt like celebrities. The cruise director remembered us and would walk us to venues, people would whisper to their friends and loved ones "they were on the love and marriage show!', we'd be in the elevator and get recognized and congratulated, 'hey we saw you on tv!' Oh, did I no mention they recorded it and put it on one of their stations? Yea, they did. We have the dvd...
Our first port was Belize. It was ridicoulously windy. To the point where they were only boarding one person at a time onto the boats that would take people to shore. After seeing the line that carried up two flights, we retreated back to our rooms. Then we changed our massage appointments to that afternoon to get the best out of our day.
The riding excusion was basically on the opposite side of the island. The horses were a bit thin, but then again, there weren't many resources on the island for them. The horse I rode was one of the lead horses. He wasn't happy unless he was upfront. At the end of the ruins ride, the lead let me travel at a collected canter. I can't express how much fun it was!
After the ride we headed back on the BUS OF TERROR and caught a taxi with another couple we paled around with. They were also newlyweds and we hit it off great! We ate at a neat little mexican cantina (I guess you would call it) then headed back to the ship.
The rest of the cruise went pretty smoothly (now that I was fully stocked and HIGH from riding). Our final day at sea was beautiful. Windy, yes. Rocky, yes again. But beautiful. Dustin got to take a lesson on the flowrider and I snagged a few shots.
By the end of the cruise, I was anxious to get back to our babies. The leaving line was just about at bad as the boarding process, and I was thoroughly annoyed with the couple in front of us. If you don't discipline your children young, how the heck are you going to handle them later in life?? The cool part about the departure was the next people to board the ship were 50plus famous rock bands!
Very cool.
I miss our friends, old and young, being rocked to sleep like a baby by the waves, having our meals and bed prepared for us on a daily basis, but I'm happy to be back on solid ground again in the comforts of home. Though, I still have a TON of work to do on this place before it starts to look and feel like a home.
MONKEY!
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