Wow! We're back to reality already? I can't believe that the next wave of passengers have already boarded the ship, and are getting ready to set sail on yet another cruise. First of all, the embarkation process was the easiest yet. Within five hours of leaving our house in Connecticut, we were on the cruise ship. I talked to Michelle, the mother and Girl Scout leader who was in front of us with her daughter. The girls and their chaperones were all traveling together. It's a shame that one of the cruise critic members was not to fond of the girls on the cruise, and then had the audacity to make their comments and objections known, when they weren't even traveling on our ship! First, we went up to our room, and then we went up to the Lido Deck to the South Beach club for lunch. We checked out the food, then went into the buffet line. After lunch, we walked around to explore the ship, and find out where the Cruise Critic Meet and Greet was going to be. We went to the Venezia Jazz Bar and it looked like a pretty cool place to hang out. George and I were both looking forward to it. Afterwards, I called Amanda to check in with her, and to see if she and her family made it on the ship okay. She's the one who arranged the meet and greet. We had the muster station / life boat drill at 4:40 P.M., and then went back to our room to get ready for dinner.We met this really nice couple, Justin and Michelle, from Upstate, New York. They were seated at our table. Michelle and I had talked a few times on the cruise critic board, and she seemed really nice. We enjoyed talking with them, and hanging out with them. We even hung out with them at St. John's, New Brunswick, Canada. We just walked the red path down about two miles near the water. We enjoyed taking pictures and watching the harbor seals.The dining room was ornately decorated. The wait staff met our expectations. They did what we had expected, but weren't funny, or had those outgoing personalities. We had fun as we celebrated our anniversaries on Friday, the 12th of June. George and I celebrated our 8 year anniversary of dating, and Justin and Michelle celebrated their year and a half anniversary of dating. I had ordered a heart shaped cake for George to celebrate our anniversary at the formalities shop. They are located on board, near the gift shops, and take care of any detail you want. When they brought the cake to our table, George was surprised!The prices or the booze had gone up, and the gift shop manager couldn't match our prices from the previous cruises. However, we still bought out the store. They had a lot of things for sale in the gift shops. George ended up buying a special edition Johnny Walker Blue Anniversary edition bottle of whiskey and he brought it home to display it on the coffee table. It was the only bottle on the ship This one couple thought we were lying when we said we were buying the bottle of Johnny Walker Blue. It was sitting in a glass case, with the price tag above it. They were wrong about that.The food was wonderful! We couldn't find any fault with the cuisine. George and I enjoyed the lobster tail on Captain's Night, and the shrimp as well.The meet and greet was fantastic! Amanda and her mom put together an awesome party. We had a blast meeting the  other members on the cruise critic boards. It was great to meet them!All in all, we had a fabulous time!