Spring Break Begins!
Trip Start
Mar 06, 2010
1
12
Trip End
Mar 20, 2010
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Saturday, March 6, 2010
March 7, 2010
We arrive at our hotel “W” to discover our room isn’t ready (well it’s only 9:30 in the morning, you can’t really expect it to be ready J) We hang out on the terrace where they have these awesome big couches and take advantage of the free wifi. We decide to go find some breakfast. We find a little restaurant with tables out on the patio overlooking the main strip and the ocean. It doesn’t get much better. Steve gets some kind of healthy egg white omelet (yes he ate an omelet) and I had yummy waffles with bananas and strawberries (yes I ate the bananas!) … see it’s an adventure already J We watched the fancy cars drive past, the hung-over young people and everybody else… oh don’t let me forget the man in the bikini. I suspect he was perhaps not all there because he had on a bikini similar to one I may have owned in 1987… bright pink and blue… clearly too small for him… socks and some kind of hiking shoes… he may have also had a headband I can’t quite remember…. Anyway, he was what I would call “pleasantly plump” and hanging over and out of his bikini everywhere. This didn’t stop him from strutting up and down the strip saying hi and smiling at everyone.
We get a call that our room is ready, head back and check in. The room is very awesome. I can sit out on the balcony in the sun and look at the ocean (as a matter of fact I’m sitting out here while I type this!). We take a nap, get cleaned up and head back out.
We walk up the main drag again checking out all the restaurants (it seems like we just ate, but I guess it was a long nap J) and find a place that catches our attention right away… why?... well because they had GIGANTIC margarita glasses. We looked at the menu… looks good… we look at the giant glasses again and decide to go in. Again we get to sit on the patio overlooking the ocean and Steve and I decide to share a giant mudslide. We notice that about 1/3 of the way through the drink we are both getting tipsy (good thing we didn’t order one each). The music is great, the view is fabulous, the food is delicious and we are having a fine time J Our waiter, who seemed to REALLY like Steve, was a little slow, but who cares we are on vacation. Steve wants another mudslide, but when he realized he was talking a bit like Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean I was able to convince him we didn’t need another.
Oddly, the wind has come up and we’re both cold so we walk down to the generic beach stores and get a hoody (mine is ridiculously ugly, and Steve’s is a 2X… what are the big people wearing???)
We go back to the hotel to check out the pool which closes at “dusk”… it’s way past dusk now, but the hot tub and pool both look super-cool in the dark. Being the rule-follower that I am I convince Steve we can go in tomorrow J
March 8, 2010
We wake up to beautiful sunshine and an ocean view! Oh how I love vacation! We spend the morning walking the beach, going to my favourite place for breakfast and picking up some last minute items.
Oh! I almost forgot about our walk through the beach… as we were walking towards the exit on to the sidewalk I noticed we were walking through a section of only men… Steve was walking a little ahead of me… then I noticed that lots of the men were quite interested in Steve (well come on, who wouldn’t be?!?) so I started walking slower (and maybe giggling a little bit). Anyway, when we get to the sidewalk Steve is perplexed…. Not because he noticed all the guys checking him out because he was wondering where all the girls were J Poor Steve, so disappointed to not see girls in bikinis he didn’t even get to enjoy being the hottest guy on the beach.
Next we go back to our room, check out and take a cab to the Pier. The check-in was superfast and efficient (you know how I love when things are superfast and efficient!) and before you know it we are receiving our welcome aboard champagne! (Do I even need to mention that I LOVE welcome aboard champagne???)
Steve and I decide to go check out our room, which is fabulous! We ended up with a slightly bigger balcony just because of our position on the boat, a bed by our balcony window and a BIG (for a cruise ship) bathroom!
Next we decide to explore the ship. We start out down on the third floor and work our way up to the top (can’t remember what the number is… maybe 16?). General impressions… this is the most beautiful boat we have ever been on! The furniture is VERY nice… I would even call it splishy (that is my made up word for fancy/swanky… I was hoping it would catch on so I could be famous for making up a word, but alas I appear to be the only one that likes it…)! I also love the choices for outdoor places to sit… all the deck chairs have cushions (this is how we know we are on the “grown up” ship), but there are also interesting pieces of furniture to lounge on.. there is a double hammock surrounded with netting, some nesting chairs with a half roof (kind of like a stroller roof), and lots of interesting chairs, loveseats and lounges.
Suddenly it is time for the Muster Drill which was very civilized… we didn’t have to bring the smelly dirty life jackets and we got to sit at tables… oddly the people who randomly came and sat beside us were from Sooke, had no kids and this was her birthday trip (that was a little weird….).
We go back to our room and unpack (I realize how many shirts Steve was actually able to fit in our luggage…. Let’s just say A LOT!), and get ready for dinner. Judging from the average age we see on the boat, Steve predicts our tablemates will have an average age of 55. We arrive at our table to find a very nice couple from Nanaimo (I know, it’s weird!) Soon another couple from Delaware joins us, and the last two chairs remain empty… perhaps they saw us, got frightened and decided to eat in their room??? (Just so you know I think Steve’s prediction ended up being a bit low). Anyway, we had a delicious dinner with a little red wine and some kind of cream puffs covered in chocolate for dessert. Steve signs us up for the wine tasting at 2:30 tomorrow afternoon and we head off to the show. (Bleh, welcome aboard show was just bleh… but the mudslide I drank was FINE!). We check out some of the shops (is anyone surprised that we walked directly to the men’s watches?). Steve finds the watch that he NEEDS to buy. He only needs to win about $5500.00 in the casino if he wants to buy it (no problem right?). I think it was a Krieger (sp?) watch. Steve wants me to say (for the record) the watch is rosegold, sapphire crystal face inlaid with rubies and emeralds. (Steve wants me to reiterate that he NEEDS this watch) It even came in a wooden box with a silk cushion. We go back to the room so I can change my shoes (purple snakeskin heels starting to hurt baby toes J) and head back upstairs. I am starting to crash now, so we take a few pictures of the cool chairs… guess what happens when Lisa lays down in a soft chair in the dark…J So Steve wakes me up eventually and takes me back to the room. I go to sleep and he goes to check out whatever he checks out while I’m sleeping… (Note from Steve: I am not checking out the average age 55 year olds)
March 9, 2010
I’m sitting out on the balcony in my “Celebrity Waffle Bathrobe” which has been “designed for my utmost comfort and convenience”, watching the ocean and some land in the distance which I suspect is Cuba as I wait for Steve to wake up and entertain me for another fabulous day!
Comments
I'm imagining... :)