Cruise vacation

Hurry, hurry, hurry! Rush, rush, rush! We really like to make our vacations hectic in the beginning. I had to work late the day before my vacation, so in an effort to make my life less stressed, I opted to pack my luggage that morning. Okay, packing done! You have to understand how impressive this is because normally I have a hard time deciding what to pack and if I should pack for 1 or 2 extra days. Then Jack left me a list of errands he needed me to run so he could be less stressed as he got ready to leave. Errands: done! Puppies fed, cats fed, food procured...time for work. I needed them to understand that as I was on vacation the following day, I was at work in body only. About an hour after arriving at work and hubby texts me that a job he'd considered applying for had just been posted. Uh oh...he had to start responding to the post that day. Aughhh!
Still, I was "on vacation" mode and was focusing on leaving the store as early as possible. Despite my best efforts, we still didn't get off until 10:00pm. Still had some additional errands to run based on phone calls to hubby. Make it home from grocery store at 11:30 to find hubby working on the job application. Podcasts downloaded, food, and last minute packing finally finished. I climb into bed at 3:00a. Wakeup for 7:30a flight: 5:30a.

Day 1
Energy drinks are a Godsend. I managed to get a nap, get showered and dressed, and we raced to the airport. Dallas was cold, Miami was about the same. Miami is beautiful, but for those of you who are suffering the Snowpocolypse, Miami folks are wimps. The comment from our ship's shuttle assistant was "It's freezing! It's too cold!" She said this to a couple in a light jacket from Boston who kinda sneered. It was maaaaayyyybe 60 degrees and sunny.
We made it to our ship pretty quickly and had express passes to the ship, so zero wait for our cabin. Woo hoo! The ship is beautifully designed. Updated in 2006, it is one of the most luxurious ships on the ocean. Apparently, our ship was host to a wedding party and a Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Reunion. 40-50 sorors in pink and green tracksuits with their husbands and boyfriends.
As we hopped aboard, we breathed a sigh of relief that the ship was in fact, loaded with 80% 50+ people in various states of fitness. 10% were kids and young people who gave up fitness long ago. The last 10% were the naturally gorgeous, the crew and dancers, and the military guys who are redamndickulously fit. Oh, we also even had some of the cast of the Jersey Shore inboard. Our version of Snooki and the Situation were aboard. Woo hoo.



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Our Day 1 brush with fame!



Dancers from SYTYCD last season apparently were either dancers on the cruise or guests. Kinda cool!

We toured the ship and had lunch. We changed for dinner and met our dinner companions, Chuck and Elaine from FL, and Drew and Kelvin from Salt Lake City. Dinner started out awkwardly because we were all seated at this table for 12, and we are apparently not being joined by any other couples. Jack moved us around for easier conversation and dinner improved. Both couples were lovely and Jack is a master of getting people to talk.
The after dinner show was a preview of the weekend's entertainment. The performances were really very good. I'll try to get some photos of the talent. The dancers are really very good, but some are more "committed" to the performance than others. First day complete! Total "beverages": 1 Lavatini and 1 Filthy Martini.