Left Laurie's at 10:30 for the drive to Miami to pick up Tom at his motel and to go to the cruise ship. (Jana is flying in later and Royal Caribbean will pick her up at the airport.)
Boarding Explorer of the Seas was relatively painless - there were no long lines, and everything went smoothly.
Our stateroom is fantastic - large, nicely furnished, and lots of closet space! It has a huge balcony!
The bathroom is especially luxurious - it's almost as big as a regular stateroom! We're in the Gran Suite 1556. Laurie, Chip and Dylan are right across the hall, and Jana's next door to them. Tom is down the hall just a bit.Our room is decorated with a Happy Anniversary motif - very much fun! Dylan thinks that the decoration hanging from our ceiling looks like an alien mother ship! We even have a big Happy Anniversary sign on our door. The kids provided a champagne bucket and gift basket in honor of the occasion.
The obligatory cruise life boat drill was fun and it went fast - it turns out that our lifeboat station is just around the corner from our elevator, so it was very handy! Jana and I are windblown but happy! Jana already has her free refill Coke cup.
We had lunch in the Windjammer Cafe - as much of everything that anyone could ever want.
Dinner tonight in the dining room was casual. Our waiter's name is Wilfredo, and the assistant is Alen. The seven of us almost filled up one big table, but we do have 2 dinner companions from Peru - Mr. Wong and his daughter Maria-Ximena (Hee-may-nah), who is about 30.
We went to the Welcome Aboard Show in the Palace Theater. It featured our cruise director, Allen, a gentleman juggler (juggled top hats) and a comedian who was actually funny! I loved the whole thing. What a day!
