The Grandeur of the Seas

Wow ... I got to sleep in today!  And did it feel nice!  And, I woke up to a sun-shiny day!  Thank goodness!

Since nothing happened yesterday, and not much is going on today, I thought I would do a first-installment of our trip highlights:

Rick and I spent Friday, June 6th in Kansas City with my sister.  She is a hairdresser in Overland Park, KS, and does a fabulous job!  We went to her salon and she colored and cut my hair and mowed down my eyebrows.  Then her, Rick and I went to and had manicures and pedicures.  I had about 3 full hours of pampering that day!  We went to Olive Garden for dinner and back to her house for bed.  We had a 6:30 flight on Saturday morning.

Up we arose on Saturday morning at 4:30 a.m., got ready and headed to the airport.  Our flight was flawless (which doesn't happen much anymore) and we landed in Baltimore right at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time.  We gathered our luggage and took a blue bus to the cruiseship terminal.  We met a couple of South Carolina on the bus.  Their names were Brad and Carrie.  They were really nice, and excited about their first cruise, but we only ran into them a couple of times the whole week.  Boarding the Grandeur of the Seas only took about 20-30 minutes, compared to the 2-3 hours it takes in Galveston.  It was so nice!

Once we boarded the ship we went straight to the buffet.  We were starved!!  And it was so good!  We checked out the ship, did the stupid muster drill, went down to our room to put on our suits and headed to the pool for the send-off.  Since we chose the regular dinner seating we had to get ready pretty early, so we were back in our room by about 4:30 p.m., got showered and dressed and went to dinner.  We were at a table with two other couples.  One didn't show, but the other couple was two colored ladies, they were sisters.  It's always a little uncomfortable sitting with someone you don't know.  But they were funny and we talked and carried on.  But they must not have liked us because they never came back any other night.  So much for meeting new people!

We had great thoughts of going to the 80's party and everything that night, but after the 9:00 welcome aboard show, we were just bushed!  So, we went to bed at 9:30 p.m.

The next day were were on the ship all day.  We got up fairly early and nabbed a couple of chairs at the pool.  Then we had an awesome breakfast.  Then we were back to the pool for the rest of the morning and early afternoon.  It was so foggy that clouds would literally envelop us!  It was weird!  Rick said we were going through the Bermuda Triangle.  But the temperature was so nice that we just hung out there.  We met a couple celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary and we saw them and talked to them several times over the week.  Their names were Billy and Brenda.  We loved them!

After being at the pool, WE TOOK A NAP!  There is nothing like sleeping in a dark cave of a room with the air turned way down, the fan on and the hum of the ship's motor.  zzzzzzzzzzz.......  This night was formal night so we got up and got dressed in our "formal" attire.  We slept through the Captain's cocktail party, our only chance at FREE cocktails, but went on to dinner.  The other couple at our table showed up. And I am TOTALLY drawing a blank as to his name.  I think it was Greg.  Her name was Melinda.  They were really nice.  They are from Pennsylvania, have been married for 15 years and don't have any children.  We ran into them several times during the week, too.  But, really we just enjoyed being together ... more than we ever have.

After dinner we changed clothes and went to show, then on to the 70's disco party.  We were giving it a try, to stay up and "party", but it really was pretty cheesy so we went on to bed around midnight or so.  The next morning we would be in Bermuda and we didn't want to be too tired.

Up to this point Rick and I were just enjoying the lack of planning, stress and responsibility that surrounds every married couple with kids.  We were "getting to know each other" again.  We haven't been on vacation together since Eli was a baby.  We were way overdue!

Bermuda tomorrow ...