It was a wasted day. A gloriously wasted day. This was exactly the kind of day we hope to have during a cruise!

For Carol and I, the cruise is not about the ports of call and the excursions. For us, it’s all about the ship-board experience. It’s about being pampered . . . it’s all about the people we are cruising with. We enjoy cruising with friends or as part of a group. And we especially enjoy having the ship almost to ourselves when everyone else goes ashore in the ports. This was one of those very quiet days when everyone else was off enjoying some sort of shore adventure.

I awoke at 6:00 a.m. but Carol showed no inclination to get out of bed. I grabbed the camera and headed up to Decks 12 and 13 to take some pictures before other passengers began to stir.

Here’s what I saw:

The adult pool on Deck 11, in front of the Cove Café.

The small adult pool on Deck 12 above the Cove Café.

Satellite Falls on Deck 13 Forward. Notice the shaded area full of deck chairs on the right. There are more deck chairs in full sunlight on the left.

There were very dark clouds on the northern horizon at 6:25, and two visible storm cells where it was raining heavily.

This photo shows the area where the Aqua Duck water slide takes riders out beyond the ship’s rails and over the ocean!

Donald seems to have had a mishap beside the spot where the Aqua Duck passes through the forward stack.

The children’s slide beside the Mickey pool.

The family pools on Deck 11 with the Funnel Vision screen in the background.

The Aqua Lab splash zone on Deck 12.

I moved indoors for a few minutes. Here is a sample of the decor in the main atrium at Midship.

The chandelier highlights the peacock theme.

The peacock theme continues with the spray of tail feathers at the bottom of the grand staircase.

Even the metal grille-work features peacocks!

The photo studio, Shutters, is on Deck 4 Midship. There are a number of racks like the one pictured. The racks contain folders, one folder per cabin, and all photos taken by Disney photographers magically appear in the correct folder.

Deck 4 is the promenade deck, with a walking/running track. Two and a half laps equals one mile!

It was almost 7:00 a.m. and I knew my princess would be stirring and looking for her coffee. I picked up some java on Deck 11 and headed back home. We savored coffee on our veranda and soon decided to head to Cabanas for breakfast. None of our playmates were there. We thought that was odd! It wasn’t until later in the day that we were reminded – all of our friends from Tagrel.com had met for breakfast at The Royal Court. We were supposed to be there but we completely forgot! We’re both very sorry Karen, chalk it up to a “senior’s moment”.

Grand Cayman was a faint dark line on the horizon as we toured the upper decks, snapping photos on our way to Satellite Falls.

I settled in a shaded chair at 9:15 and spent over 5 hours alternately soaking in Satellite Falls and relaxing with my book. Carol stayed a few minutes then headed off to Senses for her spa treatment.

We were anchored at Grand Cayman by 10:00 a.m. and it wasn’t long before tenders arrived to shuttle passengers back and forth to the island. I continued to relax on Deck 13.

Carol enjoyed the Bliss Treatment which lasted 75 minutes and included a Hot Stone Back Massage, a Foot and Ankle Massage, a Scalp Massage and a Hydrating Facial. She said the name was appropriate, it really was bliss!

Carol rejoined me at about 11:00; it wasn’t long before Nancy, Pam and Susan arrived to remind us we missed breakfast. Dang!

We grazed around the food counters near the pools on Deck 11, chicken fingers and tuna wraps were the favorites!

It was close to 2:00 p.m. when we decided we had about all the heat we could stand. We stopped along the way for another plunge on the Aqua Duck. There was no line – absolutely no one in front of us.

We marched straight up the stairs, flopped into our tubes and slipped and slid to our splash-downs on deck 12.

I had a nice snooze while Carol did some laundry. Before we knew it, it was time for dinner so we headed out in search of characters. There weren’t many out and the lines were long so we settled for a picture of my princess on her throne.

Dinner was once again in the Enchanted Garden, in the same booth seat we shared Saturday evening.

After dinner we headed back to the stateroom for a half hour, then went searching for some playmates to have a drink before the 10:30 show in The Tube Lounge. We encountered Donald Duck along the way!

Dave and Brenda, from Maryland, were not too far behind us in the line for a picture with Donald!

On our way back to the Tube, Dave, Brenda, Carol and I bumped into Fran and Carol. We all headed to Skylines for a cocktail. When we arrived, there were Deb, Linda, James & Linda, so we joined them.

After a quick drink and a few laughs it was time to head to The Tube for the comedy and ventriloquism of Kevin Johnson. We have seen his show before . . . as we left I decided to be gracious and said to Carol, “He was OK but . . . ” She said, “No he was not OK- it was bad!” She was right, it was a poor show.

We were back to our cabin by 11:30 and soon nodded off to sleep!