Adventure of the Seas: At Sea

After a very long break from exotic traveling, the Watsons finally had the time and opportunity to go on a CRUISE!!! This was our first cruise on this part of the world and second overall. I worked very hard to find a fabulous ship and price and time it right with our kids' spring break. Our final choice was the Royal Caribbean Adventure of the Seas 8 night Easter Caribbean cruise that went out of Ft. Lauderdale to Labadee (Haiti), Puerto Rico, St. Maartin and St. Kitts with three days at sea. 

At the time of writing...it's been almost half a year since our trip so some details could be hazy. 

We drove on Friday afternoon all the way to Jacksonville, FL, where we stayed the night at James' and Michelle's guest house and then left early in the morning on Saturday to get to the ship. The check-in was ultra easy as we arrived just after the crowds were gone. 

We had two rooms next to each other. This is the parents' room and the one where the kids slept had three twin beds. It was nice to have two bathrooms too. 

This is one of the main attractions on board--the water slide:)

We really enjoyed having dinner at the dining room at 5:30. The first night we ate alone....in our travel clothes still as our suitcases were late arriving. Our table neighbors weren't there yet, but later it turned out they were a mother and a daughter from Utah! What are the chances!? And one guy who was supposed to sit with us never showed up, so we had a lot of jokes circling around about him by the end of the cruise:) 

While exploring the ship the first night we found one of the kids' favorite places to hang out--the ping pong tennis area! Needless to say, Mark dominates the game in our family...

And Mark tried his hand in miniature golf with Robert. 

The following day was our chillax day when the kids were starting to get to know other kids at the kids' club and the teen club. Although at first they were hesitant, by the end of the cruise, that's all they wanted to do was hang out with their new friends. 

Another relaxing dinner. We had an awesome seat, by the way, with a beautiful view. 

And this is one of the nights when Alex experimented with ordering all the desserts on the menu. 

Oh yes, this was our first formal night! It's hard to convince Mark to dress up, so even the fact that he asked me to bring his suit for these nights is an amazing achievement! 

Mark's pose 😆! Love them all!

Youngest to oldest now... NOT the same pose--different hand on top. 

Mr. Alex (who is still thirteen here).

And sweet Katya (who is fifteen here).

I know everyone is dying to see what the whole family looked like:) 

And then we went to dinner and Mark probably ordered at least five portions of cocktail shrimp with no sauce (a picture will follow shortly).

Let's see...in no particular order...one evening the teen club hosted a dance. Katya and Alex had a blast! Robert and I were out on the top deck before Katya went dancing and we snapped a few pictures of her. Then we spied on her through the teen club window (as you could look in but couldn't look out) and pretty much died laughing:)) Teenagers....

That's us...before spying...:)

Another day at sea was one of my favorites as all I did for a few hours was READ outside on a deck in a very quiet spot. Mark and Robert would come visit me as Robert couldn't just sit and read, feeling like he needed to play games or explore the ship or play bingo or whatever:)) I was perfectly content with my book. 

A few dining room pictures. I think after Mark realized he could order unlimited shrimp, his order was around 10 portions on average. I don't know how he never got sick. 

And our ultra picky eater Katya always was able to find something on the menu as well, which was a blessing. 

Here is a picture of our dining group:) Minus the guy who never showed up.

And another selfie from the big kids. 

On our last formal night, we went outside to take a few photos. A bit of Watson overload, but how often do we get to dress up like that?

It's a bit too sunny and hard not to squint...

While I am trying to get a poetic picture...

And then we went to dinner--Lobster Night! 

Mark still ordered his shrimp. 

And it turned out Mark does NOT love Lobster, although he loves pretty much every other kind of seafood. 

And now I need to segway into the next chapter of our cruise--actually cruising and stopping to see beautiful places:)

To be continued...