At noon on Saturday we picked up our bags from our hotel and walked over to the boat. The walk was a bit longer than we'd anticipated, and the check-in process was pretty lengthy. But we got on the boat just before 1, right when the staterooms opened up. So we were able to drop our stuff in the room before going up to the buffet to get lunch. Then we explored a bit before falling asleep. We napped almost until the safety drill they do before the boat leaves, the first of many naps to come.
Cruising involves a lot of sleeping and drinking. At least it does the way Kevin and I do it. We got fancy cocktails on the first day and drank a bottle of champagne we'd bought in Venice. Then we paid for the beer-and-wine package. $42/day for unlimited wine and beer. It's pricey but ultimately worth it.
We had two whole days on the boat, plus all of our evenings. We spent most of that time either sitting by the pool, drinks and books in hand, or down in the bar playing trivia. We one won round of trivia, and had varying degrees of success with the others. The worst was a name that Abba song game, that I was sure my Mamma Mia pandora station would have prepared me for admirably. But we only got 3 answers right. Oh well.
We also played min golf, and Kevin attempted to teach me both ping pong and shuffleboard. We played in two Texas-Hold 'Em tournaments. I got knocked out first in the first tournament, but it was free so I didn't feel too bad. I did a little better the second time around, and Kevin got pretty far, too. But there was one guy who won every single tournament as far as I know. He was just too skilled for us to beat.
The boat screened movies every night, but the only one we watched all the way through was Batkid Begins, which was perfectly heartwarming and made me cry a lot. We also saw bits and pieces of Ant Man (again), Inside Out, and The Sixth Sense which we were wandering around the boat in the evenings. I was hoping for some good star-gazing opportunities, too, since we were in the middle of the ocean. But the boat itself was so bright we could barely see more stars than we see from our house.
We also spent a lot of time eating. There's nearly always food available on a cruise ship. And on the last night we sprung for the fancy steakhouse, which cost an extra $30 each. It was very much worth it, though. Especially since I usually expect to pay closer to $50 for a good steak. (Though Kevin points out that we were already, theoretically paying $20/day for dinner, wrapped up in the overall cost.)
Overall, the cruise was an excellent mix of relaxation and sight-seeing (more about that in future posts). It was nice to see stuff, but it was also nice to have hours at a time with nothing planned. We slept a lot, and I came home from vacation thoroughly rested, which never seems to happen. One night I even slept for twelve hours, which I haven't done in years. It helped that we had a perfectly dark interior state-room. Although the lack of a clock was disorienting. All we had was my Fitbit, and I could never remember whether we were 6 or 7 hours ahead (we switched time zones on the ship), especially in the middle of the night. It all worked out for the best, though.
We're already talking about going on more cruises in the future. I loved this vacation so much. The boat was maybe a bit crowded at times (especially on the rainy days) and I had a hard time staying hydrated (which happens every time I go on vacation), but I had such a perfectly relaxing time that I'm eager to repeat it soon. Though next time we'll probably look for a cruise that departs from Baltimore or NYC, to save on travel time and hassle.
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