The Honeymoon!

After four days alone (sorry Murph....you don't count as "company")  in my apartment, everything is finally situated.  Today is the day that I catch up on smaller tasks, like uploading pictures on my computer! I figured this was a good time to post on here about our honeymoon.

Basically, we had a straight 7 days of pampering and relaxation aboard the Royal Carribbean, Freedom of the Seas.  When we were planning our honeymoon, we weren't sure if "cruising" was right for us.  After only 1 day on the boat, we were already talking about future cruises we would like to take.  There is really nothing for us to not like about being on a cruise....we got to see several islands on our stops, and we had nonstop entertainment in between - not to mention a beautiful ocean view from everywhere on the ship, including our balcony!

Here are some of our highlights:
*The dining room: despite Eric's initial resistance, we chose to eat dinners in the formal dining room.  You have assigned seating with the same people here.  We got to know 2 couples from Ohio and a woman from Ireland with a great accent.  The food here was amazing, and you could order as much as you wanted.  Someone, who is to remain nameless, may have ordered multiple main courses a couple of nights.....
*Love and Marriage Game Show: Every night there were multiple options for entertainment.  This game show was our favorite! They had three couples come to the front and asked questions about their spouses.  The couple who answered the most questions correct, won..... Sounds pretty typical, right?  Well the highlight of the show was the oldest couple, Edith and Hines, who were celebrating their 60th wedding anniversery.  Not only were their answers hilarious, but their love for each other was pretty admirable.
*Helmet Dive:  We chose this excursion on the island of St. Thomas.  Basically, you put a big astronaut-like helmet on that has a constant oxygen flow going into it, and you walk along the floor of the ocean.  I have never been snorkeling or scuba diving, so I thought this was pretty awesome!
*Jet Ski Tour:  This was Eric's favorite! At the bahamas we went on a "high speed" jet ski tour out into the ocean around various islands.  The jet skis went up to 70 miles an hour, and we got to go to some hidden areas that you wouldn't know to go to otherwise.  The highlight of this for me, was holding starfish at Starfish Bay.
*Towel Animals: We loved coming back to the room every night to see what animal our stateroom attendant had made for us!
*The Awesome Service:  There were 1500 workers on the boat, and we didn't meet one that was less than pleasant.  It was so great to be in such a positive environment!

Alright, I could go on and on, but I think I will wrap it up with that.  Hopefully the pictures will help paint the picture a little more!

Here we are at 3:30am, ready to leave for the airport!

 We went exploring in the nightclub called "The Crypt."  We went in the afternoon, so it was empty.  We too the opportunity for some photo ops. 

This is the beautiful view we had coming into port at St. Thomas.

We hung around the wildlife observatory after our helmet dive.  There were all kinds of animals to see!

We thought we looked especially cool in our sun hats.

 The island of St. Maarten was full of shops and cafes.  

The trip wouldn't be complete without at least 1 silly picture...

 And 1 formal picture.....

Eric tried his hand at surfing on the ship's "Flo Ryder."  He was pretty good at it!

So sad to leave!!!