Photo(s) of the Day February 22nd

Enjoying our private balcony in the sun

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Brandon, Chris and Sophie tee off at the mini golf course

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The kids, all dolled up for formal night

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Sophie and our Room Steward Sidney

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Our first full day at sea... Chris was up before dawn and had the pleasure of watching the sun come up as we sailed past a large storm system that threw large waves up against the side of the ship. I woke and drifted, enjoying the rocking – Sophie slept through it as though she were drugged. After hooking up with Mary and the kids we hit the Windjammer for breakfast, where I was thrilled to find my favourite culinary cruising treat – a large platter of smoked salmon with my name on it. After breakfast Sophie opted to hang out at the pool with Aunt Mary and her cousins instead of walking with Chris and I, so we slathered our girl in SPF 50, popped her into a bikini and hit the road. This ship (Royal Caribbean’s Adventure of the Seas) is massive, and there’s just no end to the activities you can partake in if you want to do something other than laze by the pool or cosy up to the bar. Within a ten minute period we came across card tournaments, a basketball game, rock climbing, mini golf, inline skating, Mardi-Gras mask-making, and the Cruise Critic’s Meet & Mingle activity (which was what brought us to Deck 13 & 14 in the first place). The daily activity planner that’s delivered to the cabin is pages long, and in addition to the activities we stumbled upon this morning offers everything you could imagine: crazy pool-side contests, yoga classes, ice skating, spa services, gambling, art workshops, wine tastings, dance lessons, parades, concerts, Vegas-style shows, and so much more. You could spend every waking hour doing something on this ship and might not do/see it all in a week – it’s really something else. We chose to enjoy a round of mini-golf with Brandon and Sophie after lunch, and then took Sophie for her first visit to the Adventure Ocean kids area, which was a phenomenal hit. The kids programme here is wonderful, and I was relieved that it lived up to Sophie’s anticipation – we had talked to her about it several times, and I was worried that it might not be as great as she thought it would be... no worries there. At this point I think she wants to spend the rest of the cruise at Adventure Ocean and have us pick her up on the way to the airport! And the bonus for mom & dad? We actually enjoyed an afternoon nap while she played astronaut with the kid’s club leaders... talk about luxury!

Other vacation notes for today:

On our way to the pool this morning, we were graced with one of the most amazing sights: we watched dolphins leaping and spinning through the ship’s wake. They were beautiful, graceful and just looked like they were having so much fun... I’ve always had a “thing” for dolphins and watching them do their dance so close, in the wild – it almost brought tears to my eyes.

This evening’s “Formal night” was lovely... we all got dolled up in our finery (Chris and Brandon both in Tuxedos, the girls in formal dresses), but we left our primping too late to get portraits done before dinner - next formal night we need to be at least a half hour ahead of schedule so we can get our photos done. We can’t look this good and not have a record of it!!

Sophie is completely enamoured with our room steward, Sidney... she played very shy with him when we first met, but has come around in a big way. This evening when we turned the corner from the elevator into the long hallway that leads to our cabin she saw him down the hall and took off to him like a rocket, throwing herself into his arms when she caught up to him. This is the man who makes cool animals out of towels and leaves them on her bed – this man is a God in Sophie’s world!