Rock the boat.

Our first full day of cruising was spent "at sea," meaning we were on the open water with no land in sight (creepy) on our way from Fort Lauderdale to Georgetown, Grand Cayman. I don't know what "at sea" entails on other cruise lines, but on our ship it meant having a total BLAST! Our ship, Independence of the Seas, provided us with 90 billion things to do so we never ran out of ideas.

The swimming/sports/stuff-I-don't-really-do was all located on the top decks. I was a good sport and tried almost everything. Dill was a better sport and actually did do everything. FlowRider, rock climbing wall, yadda yadda. He's a rock star.

We also skated a little -- yes, our ship had an ice skating rink at the bottom! It was smaller than any I've skated at but it was still fun. They limit the number of people on the ice so that helped.



Sorry for the weird picture. It's what happens when you entrust others to use your camera. Psh, amateurs.

I really enjoyed the nightlife on the ship. They basically had a theatrical show every night. As I said before, it's not Broadway or Disney quality, but it's still entertaining, and better than wiping your kid's butt or doing mountains of laundry.

There was also an ice show called "Freeze Frame" that we thoroughly enjoyed.

And of course, you could always go shopping. Which we did, though we didn't buy anything except Tums and vanilla fudge. It was mostly booze, overpriced jewelry and kitzchy souvenirs.



This is called the Royal Promenade, basically the stretch from one end of the ship to the other. It felt like a mall, lined with shops, restaurants and kiosks.It was super-swanky at night with all the live jazz music and colored walkways and what not.

I was surprised to find my favorite activity was the karaoke lounge. I had promised Dill I'd sing one song but that was IT and I wasn't going to like it. Well, it was actually a really good time. They had a really nice sound system and a fairly good selection of songs. I sang "I Will Always Love You" and got not one but TWO standing ovations. I think it was because everyone was drunk, but I'm telling myself it's because I'm just that awesome of a singer.

I didn't want Dill to take any pictures or video, but he did anyway. So that's why it's a hot blurry mess. He was trying to be stealthy about it.

Other favorite activities, which really require no visual explanation, included hot-tubbing, taking naps, eating as much soft-serve ice cream as we could handle and people-watching. TONS of great people watching on cruise ships. Sometimes more than anyone can handle (too many dudes in Speedos). We also tried out the fancy fitness center and even took a salsa ballroom dance class from a few of the ship's dancers. It was jolly-good until Dill started feeling too sick and we had to stop. Yes, he didn't listen to my admonition to take Dramamine whether he felt sick or not, so on our last day at sea, he puked a dozen times and felt horrible. He EVEN MISSED LOBSTER NIGHT. Who does that?! I'm usually the one up-chucking over stuff but wasn't bothered by the motion of the ship. Though I will say it WAS extremely choppy on our way back up the Yucatan Strait. I could barely walk without stumbling around. I decided that's how all the heavy drinkers on the ship must have felt the rest of the time.

Speaking of lobster night, my favorite dinners were the two formal nights on the ship. I love dressing up. Most people were less dressy than we were, though we saw plenty of evening gowns and tuxes, too. We could have gotten away with just a tie for Dill and a skirt for me, but where's the fun in that? I'll take any excuse to get fancy.

P.S. -- I tried the best I could but my hair still faded quite a bit. I couldn't NOT wash it after swimming in the salty sea, so it was washed twice back-to-back. It's still a good color, though. Next time, I'll make sure not to have it done four days before a trip to the Caribbean. I promise I'm normally smarter than this ...

I really wish I had taken more pictures of the food we ate. It was all so yummy. My favorite was this crab cake eggs benedict I had for breakfast. I know you're thinking it sounds horrible, and so did I, but I figured I had nothing to lose and should try it. WOW. Heavenly.

The desserts never disappointed. This was the raspberry panna cotta I had on the last night. Soooooo goooood. Yes, that pink stuff was basically Jell-o, but not the normal Mormon Jell-o faire I'm accustomed to.

I also had this chocolate cake with a raspberry filling and it was honestly the yummiest dessert I've ever had IN MY LIFE. I am still dreaming of that cake. Wish I had gotten a good picture of it. The one I took doesn't do it justice.

Next post, I'll show you all the fun pictures we took on our excursions!!!!