Day 176 -- Preparing to Muster

We said goodbye to our children around 8:45 AM. It was so anti-climatic. They couldn't have cared less when we left. I'm not even sure they really cared while we were gone either. Glad I worried so much about it before we left. I will say that once we were on the boat, I didn't worry about them at all -- they had the best care-givers one could ask for!

Jared and I had our teeth cleaned in the morning by the most wonderful dental office in the world, and then we headed off to sea! During the two hour drive down to the port we kept checking to make sure we really had left the children behind -- we had -- they weren't asleep in the back seat.

Our cruise departed from Port Canaveral, right near the Kennedy Space Center. We parked the car at noon and were on the boat by 1:00. I was surprised how much it is like flying-- a terminal, security, ticket counter, etc. I don't know what I expected, but it all felt so familiar and yet new at the same time. It was fun to walk onto the boat, knowing we were setting sail for adventure.

The view from our window --
room 4052 on the Monarch of the Seas by Royal Caribbean.

We relaxed, sat up on deck and just enjoyed the view. We could see the Vehicle Assembly Building through the humid haze in the distance. About 3:30 they asked everyone to put on their life jackets and we 'mustered' on deck. It was a safety thing. Not too painful.
Around 4:30 we finally went off to sea with a big toot of the horn and some party music on the swim deck. It was fun to set sail and wave at the people on land -- all two of them. We stayed up on deck until we were out of the port and off to sea.


We had the 6:00 PM seating for dinner, so we got ready and headed off for dinner a little while after sailing. Our waiter Nephtali and assistant Onery were so sweet. They really took care of us. The meal was fantastic -- I had shrimp cocktail, Caesar salad, steak and mashed potatoes and chocolate cake for dessert. After dinner, the head waiter came and brought us yet another dessert and sang for us because it was our 10th anniversary. It was the song that goes, "I can't help falling in love with you." BUT, the waiter sang, "I can't stand falling in love with you." We thought it was pretty funny that he got the words wrong.

We walked around the ship, exploring our new home for a while. Then we went to the comedian show with Carl Banks at 9:00 -- he was OK. It was so packed we had to sit on the stairs to watch.

We found a great place to watch a lightening storm across the ocean -- a little hidden deck on the back of the boat at deck six. We had the space all to ourselves and it was just beautiful! On one side we had the coast of Florida and the other a light show. It was calm and peaceful with the white noise of the ocean gurgling below us. PURE HEAVEN!

We had a late night pizza snack and headed off to bed around 1 AM