The first day on the ship found us doing some light exploration, but mostly we just hurried to the sun deck (where I whacked my head…)

The first full day at sea, Sunday, was almost exclusively committed to sun-deck time.  We found seats on Deck 16 and settled in for some reading.  I had brought my Bible and a few books to read.  I also had my iPhone with downloaded Adventures in Odyssey and sermons by Chuck Swindoll and John MacArthur. 

After an hour or so, we moved to a more mid-ship location near the Calypso Pool.  This turned out to be a very wise move as it steadily became obvious that the Neptune Pool was the more wild-and-silly pool (although not ever THAT wild nor silly). 

We not only moved aft, but also moved UP, as in up two flights of stairs to what I guess would be labeled Deck 18… or at least 17½.  It was a smallish area way-way-up with outstanding views of the ocean, and a great breeze.

This picture was around 4PM on Sunday.  While it had never been overfull, the other guests had started to bail when the clouds rolled in and the wind picked up.  Emily and I waited until a sprinkle started and then headed off our perch.

She found some popcorn and I grabbed a milkshake. 

And although the sun came back out, we headed to our cabin to get ready for formal night.

If you are keeping track you might notice I’m not mentioning much about evening activities.  That is because they stunk.  We missed even seeing any shows the first two nights because the productions were at 7:30PM and 10PM.  The 7:30 shows were too early as our dinner barely finished by then, and the 10 P.M. shows were after we were in bed.  Really.  The first night we were in bed at 8:46 P.M.  I’m not making that up.  We read for a while and called it a night.  The second night was much the same.  The third night we TRIED to watch the 8 P.M. show, but ended up walking out.  It was horrible beyond description.  Off-key, tawdry, LOUD.  This is us before the show started trying to take a good selfie…

If only the show had been as much fun…  We were in bed by 9 and read until about 10.

The fourth night we did see a comedian.  His act was probably about 75 minutes, and I’d fairly say 73 minutes were completely family friendly.  Some families may even have been okay with the two minutes I count out, too.  I wish I could remember his name.  We were laughing so hard we were crying.

The fifth night Emily went to bed early, after we had packed up most of our stuff, and I headed out to the deck to watch Maleficent.  I genuinely enjoyed the movie.  I wish it hadn’t been slated for 10 P.M. (I missed the 7:30 show with dinner.) 

The ship was really rocking and rolling that night.  As I waited for the movie to begin, many of the uninhabited lounge chairs lurched back and forth across the deck, and the water sloshed out of the Calypso Pool.  All the chairs were filled by the time the movie started.

That’s not to say the rest of the ship didn’t have stuff to offer, but we aren’t bar or casino people.  We are dessert people, though.  We did manage to head there once or twice before bed.