Boarding Her Majesty

The trouble with cameras and busy other people? Some is always left out of the picture (in this case my mom).

On Monday, June 30th I boarded Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Seas with my parents, brother, and new family members. I believe I mentioned in my previous post that I managed to take very few photos of my own so almost photos of the cruise and the wedding are harvested from other people. (I need to work on harvesting more. I only have what I found on Facebook so far).
Shortly after boarding we had to do a Muster Drill which my parents were very flustered with since all they did was spend a minute showing us how to use the flotation devices. Afterwards we all met on the deck over-looking the pool and just talked and took pictures. Then we got ready for dinner (which my mother was not happy that I wore my black sweater for). It was the only actual casual whatever night so I just wore what I had on. The ship was really rocking because of the developing storm in the water so we were all feeling a bit nauseous. After some bread I was able to endure (Funny side story: a couple days into the cruise my father found out from someone else on the cruise that his motion sickness patch wasn't even on right-- he was able to psychologically make himself not get sick. Of course, being my father, he still wanted to wear the patch. I did just fine without a patch as long as I was busy, sleepy, or eating. I was surprisingly able to keep to these key three throughout my time on the actual ship.).
After discovering first-hand that Jenny's family is notorious for being late (like actually late not just five minutes), we were able to over our meals (and my goodness did I need to order a lot!). Being on a cruise definitely promotes being a fatty because each night there would be a new main menu as well as dessert menu. They had their staples every night but I was more interested in what wouldn't be available the next day. This first night I recall getting escargot (it wasn't prepared very well so I didn't enjoy it at all-- it was like they just put cheese on the snail and called it a night) and another appetizer (unfortunately this one slips my mind). For a main course I ordered the vegetarian chili tortilla dish (this kitchen actually made tortillas look attractive on a plate without adding ridiculous garnishes). For dessert I ordered a rather dry chocolate cake and a special strawberry mousse tart (there were a lot of strawberry dishes made available throughout the cruise).
After dinner we all went to the comedy show which wasn't very funny aside from the "NASA" joke (I had made a comment regarding the identical names of NASA and Nassau earlier that day). Then I decided to turn in. I couldn't relax because i just felt so much energy built up so I made a trip to the ship's gym. Apparently I missed out that night at karaoke because my brother sang an ol' blue eyes song (Frank Sinatra, for you non-big band fans). I was content with the gym then passing out on my wonderfully set up pull-out sofa bed (I tell no lie-- this bed was extremely comfortable for a pull out. I was amazed and slept better than I had for the past three nights).
Aside from what I just shared and the stress of trying to coordinate and work with my parents, I spent a lot of moments wishing Alex could have come. It wasn't because I didn't want to get to know my family better, it's because Alex is my other half and being on such a new adventure without him didn't feel quite right. I did my best to make the best of everything but in the end it wasn't what it could've been if I had Alex. He keeps me on my feet, on the ground (yes, it's possible to be on your feet not on the ground- it happens when you're a person who leans a little between weird and crazy).
To keep it simple: I really missed him. And the fur babies, of course.