Vacation Re-lived

First of all my therapist, Pam, told me last night that I need to book another cruise since I'm doing so much better than when I left. Now, to figure out where to go and see if I can afford to do this. I can always find the vacation time - just need to work around other peoples vacations.

My first comment is, if you live close to the port of embarkation, take a Limo and save yourself the hassle of driving in the traffic and all the rest of it that comes along with self-park. It was great being picked up at my house, having someone put the luggage in the trunck and being driven to the port. No driving, no traffic worry, what a way to start the vacation! !

We were at the port early enough to do pre-boarding check-in. There was a wait after that until they were ready to let us board the ship but once that process started, it was a breeze to get on the ship. Since we had done the pre-boarding, it was a matter of getting our sail and sign card, our boarding picture and our picture for the sail and sign card. The off to find OUR cabin. Home for the 8 day cruise. When we got to our cabin - we unpacked a few things, checkout out our extended balcony and up to the Lido deck for Lunch.

Of course there was the mandatory Life Boat Drill. There we met one of the entertainers (but didn't know it then), Tony Ray, who was one of the crew in charge of our muster station.
Once that was over we were free to roam around and then get ready for dinner. We left port 2 hours late since re-fueling the ship took longer than planned. We missed the statue of Liberty on the way out for multiple reasons: we were in the dining room, from our balcony we would have been on the wrong side of the ship. But, that's okay - we are on our cruise and nothing will spoil that.

Our table mates showed up for dinner somewhat late since they wanted to watch the ship leave port. They were very nice and their names are: Cookie and Eileen. We had a great time at dinner when all 4 of us managed to get there.
Sunday was the first formal night and Bernie and I slept right through dinner. I guess that is what being relaxed does to a person. We woke up and left the cabin at different times and didn't catch up to each other the rest of the evening.
Bernie ended up at the Casino Bar and that is where she found Tony Ray entertaining the crowd. The Casino Bar became the "hang out" place of the week when Tony was playing. It was a lot of fun, even though Tony could hardly talk. The show became a sing-a-long, even though that is not what it starts out as. After that night I started to join Bernie at the bar. It was a lot of fun.

They had horseracing, yes I said horseracing, on the ship and Bernie and I manage to buy a horse. We had to decorate the hourse, write some hitory about the horse and provide some information on the hourse as to what races s/he has run.
The horses needed to be carried all around with you, it was one way to adertise your horse.
It is a lot of fun and if you have a chance to play on your next cruise, I would sugget that you buy one.
We didn't win the horse race or any of the other prizes but we had a great time none the less.

I enjoyed the 4 sea days that we had. They were very relaxing. We played some bingo. Can't resist trying to win some money or on the last day a free cruise. I didn't play the other games they did in the lounge but I did listen and they were fun. I'm just not good enough at trivia and such to play.

The visits to the Islands were fun, except San Juan. It poured while we were in San Juan and we stayed on the ship. There is just no fun in shopping in the pouring rain.
We went shopping in St. Thomas and did the Kon Tiki Party Tour and in Tortola, we went to Virgin Gorga. The only thing is, we just didn't have enough time there. I want to go back when there is more time.

Over all, the cruise was marvaleous and I would do it all over again.

Now to find a cruise for next year and figure out when I can book it.

Signing off for now....