Cruisin through the Mediterranean

The second leg of our trip was a Royal Carribean Cruise through the mediterranean. The picture is of our cruise ship in the harbor of Dubrovnik, Croatia. We also visited Kusadasi Turkey, and two Greek Islands: Santorini and Corfu. The ship was really fun. It was amazing how huge it was. It accomodated two thousand people, and there was plenty for everyone to do, and of course plenty to eat. We were so relieved to hit this part of the trip as everything was already paid for, we didn't have to worry about $100 dinners anymore. It was nice to have a buffet also, I'm personally not a buffet fan but with my dietary issues it was great to be able to pick and chose as many fruits and veggies as I wanted. The only ice cream they had was soft serve which I don't like all that well, so the gelato temptation was gone. The ship also had a gym so that was nice to get some workouts in. We played ping pong, swam, soaked in some sun, watched movies, and of course ate and ate. The ship has two formal nights so it was fun to play dress up a little. The first formal was Horace Mann's awards night and Chris was awarded the Leading Edge Award. He worked his butt-off last year and I was so proud of him. All his hard work really paid off. It was fun to mingle with his coworkers I had heard their names many times but never met most of them. Chris was the only agent from Utah to qualify for the trip. So I really didn't know any of them, but they were a great group. There were only about two other couples who were LDS so the booze was free flowing throughout the cruise. Can I say that not drinking can make life so much simpler and cheaper! Some people spent hundreds of dollars on alcohol. It's also a relief that we don't have to wonder what a fool we may have been the night before, or deal with the hangovers the next day. The cruise was also nice because we didn't feel guilty for relaxing. On land in Italy we toured the sites all day and half the night to fit in as much as possible which was great, but exhausting. The cruise forced us to chill out a little. It was nice to have the cruise part right in the middle of our other destinations, so we could recuperate before hitting Venice hard too.