All Aboard!
Jeff and I, along with his parents, Mike and Lisa, boarded Royal Caribbean’s Monarch of the Seas cruise ship this afternoon. Tomorrow at noon we will arrive in Nassau, Bahamas. This our first time on a cruise, however Jeff’s parents have been on one before several years ago.
Our stateroom was small, with no windows, but still quite cozy. We were all a little hungry so we headed up to the Windjammer for a lunch buffet. From what we saw, there was only hamburgers and hot dogs, along with a soup/salad bar. The food was OK. As we were finishing our lunch, the intercom alerted us that we had to get ready for our Muster Drill, which is to prepare us for safe evacuation in the event an emergency. That process informed us of just how many people were aboard the ship! We had to go from deck 12 where the cafe was, down to deck 2 where our room was with our life vests, then go back up to deck 7 where our Muster station was. The stairs where jam packed with people, all outfitted in life vests. If you are at all claustrophobic, this process will frighten you a great deal. Haha.
When the drill was over, we headed back down to our room to take off our life vests, then back up to deck 7 to watch our ship depart Port Canaveral. We hung out by the pool for a while with Jeff’s parents, then went to the casino until it was time for dinner. We had a 4-seat table to ourselves. The staff aboard the ship was very friendly and helpful. Dinner was better than expected considering lunch was not that great. I liked how we had more than a handful of entrees to select from, including appetizers and desserts!
After dinner we headed back to the casino. I was already up $40 from playing roulette earlier. Jeff hit double 7’s and wild on the quarter slot machine. I think he ended up winning about $40 from that. We both played craps until 1am and we walked away winning $185! Great way to start the trip!