Vacation Day Four and Five –
What do you do while your boat is at
sea for two days straight? Lay in the sun? Check.
Drink? Check. The drink of the day
was the Captain’s Bahama Mama. It is a refreshing blend of orange and pineapple
juices, hand shaken to combine the subtle hints of vanilla and caramelized sugar
found in Captain Morgan’s Original Spiced Rum, topped with a sweet splash of
grenadine.
Explore the ship? Check. We found
the “activity” deck. This is where the rock wall is located, the miniature golf
course, the basketball court, the golf simulator, and the Flowrider. Several of our group sat and
watched the Flowrider. Dana went on the Flowrider, but several “tricks” he
could do on the Flowrider the last time he cruised, he was not allowed to do
any more, so his experience was not as much fun!
Learn about the upcoming shore
excursions? Check. Well some of the ladies in our group did that. They went to
learn about all of the great jewelry deals available in St Maarten. What they
learned was it was 90 minutes of their life that they could not get back! They
would not go to another seminar like that!
Take pictures? Check. We posed for serious and funny photos alike!
We did enjoy, and I will use that
term loosely for all the men in our party, the first formal dinner. Every one
of the men complained about the suit or tie or the getting dressed up in
general. All fourteen of us met up before dinner to get our first of several
group photos taken. The men in our group complained about that too! But we got
them to put semi smiles on their faces and had the ships photographer snap a
few. In order to get us all in, we had to split up couples, stand too close
together and suck in our few extra pounds. But in a few hours we could see the
results on the photo monitors.
We headed into dinner, Randy was
sweating up a storm from all of his formal attire, and he stepped out on the
deck for a little air. What we all did not know was, he was putting a special
plan in motion. When we arrived at our table our two tables were not side by
side, but another table of eight had been placed in between us. Randy finally
joined us in the dining room, looking a little less flushed, but was still
sweating up a storm. His first comment was “who are they?” referring to the odd
table of people next to us. Charlie talked to the waiter about our tables being
separated. Ash, advised us he would look into it. We ordered our drinks, appetizers
and meals and started sharing what we had done that day. We finished our meals
and ordered our desserts. The head waiter came by and said we have a special
dessert for you, and placed it in front of Shelia. It was a beautiful napkin
design and a small blue box. Shelia glanced down quickly and thought she saw
chocolate cake. It was not until Randy took her hand and asked her to marry him
did she realize that it was a ring box on her plate! She said yes, as she
opened the lighted box displaying an antique setting diamond ring. After all
the congratulations and hugs went around, she started peppering him with
questions. When did you do this? Did you pick it out? How did you get it on the
boat? Does my mother know? The boys? One by one, he answered all her questions.
The funniest answer being, how he got the ring on the boat. He hid the ring in
his CPAP machine, because it was the only piece of luggage that would be with
him all the time. Sheila admitted to us, that he seemed very protective of his
machine, the whole trip. Before they got to the airport in Rochester, he told
her “I will take care of my CPAP, because they will want to see it all apart.”
No, problem. Well, Randy goes on to tell us as he was putting on his belt,
Sheila hands him his CPAP machine and it is all closed. He worries that the surprise
is blown and he will have to propose in the Rochester airport. But nothing is
said, so his little surprise is still secure in its hiding place. Remember
earlier, I told you about the day we arrived on the ship and stopped at the
Barks and Bubbles, or whatever the name of that Irish Pub is? Well Shelia took
Randy’s CPAP machine up to the room and when she came back, he questioned her
about where she put the machine and what she did with it. At the time, it
seemed kind of odd, but now it makes perfect sense!
At the close of
the formal meal, we all went to change out of the fancy clothes and met on deck
14 at the Olive or Twist. It is a quiet bar with a panoramic view. We
celebrated Randy & Sheila’s engagement as a complete group with two bottles
of Champagne.
Day Two at Sea
involved more of the stuff we did on day one, plus a few different things.
We did enjoy the drink of the day, a Margarita Azul. It is a
refreshingly sweet blue Jose Cuervo Gold margarita, hand shaken with triple
sec, sweet & sour, and blue curacao. I did enjoy a few of them! Some of us
attended the welcome back reception in the theatre, where we enjoyed singers
from the “Showtime” production, colored champagne and information from the
Captain and his crew. We learned that you should talk to any crew member you meet, because there are over 60 nationalities onboard. After dinner, we all enjoyed the 70’s party on the Royal
Promenade deck. Too bad we all did not pack our 70’s attire … we would have fit
right in with all the crew!
We headed to
bed in anticipation of our big day tomorrow on St Maarten.
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