Embarkation was a breeze. We splurged this cruise and decided to get a veranda. Before I even unpacked, I was out there with a glass of wine and settled myself on the chaise lounge to look at the skyline. I called my daughter on the cell phone and in mid-conversation, water started to pour onto my veranda. I scrunched back on the chaise, but it kept on coming. I scrambled up and flattened myself against the wall and said, "What the heck is going on?" but I doubt she heard me because she was laughing too hard. It finally stopped and I have to admit, it was pretty funny. I didn't know I'd have my own private pool too.

The next morning, I was up early. Our dog has me very well trained to get up before dawn to let her out and I hadn't yet realized that I could actually sleep later. I went out on the veranda with coffee before 7am to look at the ocean and, yep, it happened again. A deluge of water came pouring in and chased me back into our room. Later that day, I went down to talk to the Customer Rep. She was very apologetic and, after some investigation, found that they had been washing the outside windows of the Lido, which were right over me. She offered to have my clothes cleaned, but that wasn't necessary. I managed to dodge most of the downpour. She said they usually did that in the middle of the night during port days and it wouldn't happen again, and it didn't. That night, a letter of apology came to my room along with some beautiful huge chocolate-covered strawberries, mmmm.

We had a great day in Key West and I found some nice things to put away for Christmas presents next year. That night we went to the Broadway Review and the entire cast was "on" - every one of them. We've been on 12 cruises and spent lots of time in Vegas, but this show was the best we've seen. We were so impressed, I wrote a letter to Eric, the Cruise Director, and he said he put it on the door for the cast. The next day, I heard that one of the key cast members was injured and they made a replacement. The next cast show was still terrific and we enjoyed it, but I was aware that it was a little different. Other nights there was a magician that must be part sorcerer, and a comedian that was truly funny. I'm not sure if he wrote his material as he went along, but it sure seemed like it. He saw humor in almost everything and it was fun to laugh along with him. Read more