last updated January 3, 2003
Thursday morning we all woke up sort of early. It was probably the excitement. IHOP was right across the street from the hotel so Jerry and I went with several of our friends to eat breakfast then killed some time checking out a few of the beach shops around.
Finally, it was time to go to the ship. We all went to the ship together. There were guys at the docks giving us instructions and checking our paperwork, we were able to check our luggage right there and just boarded the boat. I was awestruck. The ship was beautiful. I must admit I was very much a tourist going on board. I tried to act cool like I had done this a thousand times but it just didn't happen. We made it thru the lines pretty quick, I was impressed then we actually boarded the ship.
Once we got on board the first thing we did was eat lunch while we waited for our cabins to be ready. It was only a little after 11 when we got there and the cabins would not be ready until around 2. They had a huge buffet for us on the top deck. After we ate we decided to explore the ship for a while just to see what we could find. Of course, I am a huge Disney fan and the Disney Wonder was only a few feet away from us so I probably drove everyone crazy wishing that I was there. But, at the same time, I was happy to be with my friends and the Sovereign of the Seas was an amazing boat to me. I loved the ice sculptures and all of the fancy decorations. I couldn't believe how big everything was especially considering this is one of the smaller ships. I was like a little kid at Christmas. My favorite spot was on the top deck. I couldn't believe how high up we were.
We finally settled into our cabins. They were very very small - thank goodness we didn't plan to spend an excessive amount of time there. Then at 4 we had to do the life boat drill which was pretty interesting. I guess it went smoothly because it only took about 20 or 30 minutes for the whole thing. Then, we were setting sail at 5 and we went up to the top deck to wave bye to the shore although everyone we knew was on the ship with us. Jerry used our cell phone for the last time during the trip to call the kids and rub it in a little bit and we were off. I was a little worried that I would get seasick. I could feel the ship moving but as long as the sea was calm or as long as I was outside on the top deck it was ok.
We had early dinner so as soon as the ship was underway we had to get ready for dinner and go to the dining room. Our entire group was sitting near each other and that was really fun. Our server was Genovayva (I have no idea how to spell here name correctly) but she was awesome. She had an assistant named James and he was good too. Jerry is one of the pickiest people I know about the food that he eats but he didn't complain once after we got on the ship. As a matter of fact he enjoyed trying the new and different entrees. I had never been so pampered in my life. They poured our salad dressing for us and even cut our meat for us. We also met our head waiter and then the entire wait staff sang a song to welcome us. It was so cool.
After dinner, we decided to go to one of the shows. It was a Broadway style program and I really enjoyed it. Then, we wandered around the ship for a while exploring. We stumbled across the Karaoke but that was pretty horrible as Karaoke should be. Then, we watched a stand up comedian perform. By then, it was after midnight and the weather had really started to get bad. Jerry, David, Debbie and I walked to the top deck to check it out. It was raining, the wind was blowing so hard we could barely stand up and the ship was really rocking. It was pretty wild. So, we decided it was probably time for bed and retired to our cabin.
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