So we finally made it on ship, and it was a dream. We had a stateroom with a verandah which made it amazing to see as we came into each port. The rooms on either side of us were empty and the spa was below us; so it was very quiet! We had the best cabin steward, Petrus.

Ryan and I used our days at sea to catch up on sleep after the crazy start to our trip. We also had late night pizzas and watched Clueless in our room. We met a guy from Michigan and his parents at a bingo match as well as two lovely ladies from Australia that had us in stiches the entire time. Plus there was a couple from Denver on our floor that for some reason I kept cutting off or blocking at the most inopportune times. We also spent a lot of time at the center stage listening to the Lincoln Center string quartet and N'dygo Jones and the BB King Blues band.

For my birthday, Ryan surprised me with champagne in our room. Then it was off to an amazing seafood dinner at Rudy's Sel de Mer. The meal ended with my favorite dessert, berries and crème anglaise. Ryan had them make it special. It was so amazing! We were too full to eat the birthday cake they had made me, so we went back another night.

The next to last day we woke up to a carnival of towel animals on the lido deck. They were everywhere. It was a fun way to start our last day at sea.