Sunday (5/1)---Day at Sea

I chose this image because this is pretty much exactly what our Sunday was-----they don't call it the day of rest for nothing!*smile*

Our Sunday was a day at sea---which means a day of relaxing and just enjoying the ship and each other and our friends on the ship.    There aren't a lot of pictures in today's post since we didn't do much.....but here goes....

We woke up kind of early for a day with nothing to do really....but there was an important reason.  You'll recall that  earlier on in this trip, we had the chance to meet up with a woman named Deb Wills, the founder of www.allears.net when she was at DisneyLand....well she is on both these cruises with us, as well----and she had a special event planned for this Sunday morning.

May 1st marked the day that Deb's team would be participating in the National Avon Breast Cancer Walk (39 miles!!) to raise money for breast cancer research and treatment.  Deb herself could not be with her team because she is here on vacation with us----even though the event and the cause are very important to her.  We met up with Deb and a group of others who'd turned out to do an honorary breast cancer walk right here on the ship.  Before we began doing laps on Deck 4 (the "track" on the ship), Deb shared with us some information about her team and how much they've raised (tens-of-thousands of dollars over the past several years).  She was wearing a pink sash around her neck that she told us Avon passes out to someone every 3 minutes at their walk because this how often someone gets a breast cancer diagnosis.  She also shared with us that just recently she celebrated her own 25th anniversary as a survivor of breast cancer.   Our entire group walked...some just a lap or two and others a mile or two (Jason and I walked just over a mile).  It was a very inspirational way to start our morning.  Here are some pictures:

Deb opening up the morning walk for us.

The group who walked on the ship this morning.

While we were waiting to start the walk, a couple of friends walked by!

Deb wrote a pretty extensive blog about the day, as well adn there are more images there (including some pics of me and Jason).  You can read her blog here:  http://land.allears.net/blogs/debwills/ 

After the walk was over, we had breakfast and then we spent most of the morning just strolling the ship and playing games in the Quiet Cofe cafe with Deb and Janette.  Then it was time for lunch and we were off to our spa appointment.

Every cruise we go on we try to scheduled at least one afternoon in the spa doing a "couple's villa."  We didn't bring a camera, but here are some stock pictures of the spa and villas:

Lobby of the Vista Spa on board.

The villa verandah with private lounger/bed and hot tub.

Bed/Lounger on the villa verandah.

Private hot tub.

Massage beds in the villa treatment room.

These spa experiences are so nice and a way to pamper ourselves.  It starts with the therapists doing a foot washing for you and then they fill the hot tub with hot water and some tension relieving herbs and oils.  They give you about 20 minutes of alone time in the hot tub which is lovely and relaxing with great views of the ocean (in warmer weather you can have the doors open and feel the sea air----they were shut during our visit because it was cold but the view was still nice).  After that you rinse off and you get a nice long massage----mine with hot stones, Jason's just "regular." When the massages are over (which ALWAYS feels too soon!) you are given some alone time to relax on the bed/lounger, they serve you some fruit and herbal tea and you just slowly come back to reality before you get dressed and head out to finish your day.  It's lovely.

By the time our spa day was over, it was time to get dressed for the show and our dinner at Palo, the special adults only restaurant on-board.  The show tonight was one of our favorites onboard:  Disney Dreams.  This is just an adorable show full of classic Disney characters and songs....and it always tugs at your heartstrings.  It's actually won a number of awards in the cruise line industry and so we never miss it!

After the show was over, we went to take pictures in the lobby in our semi-formal wear.  We opted to wear our blazers, dress slacks and one of our custom tuxedo vest sets (hand-made by ME!) with matching neck-ties.  Tonight's theme was Ariel, the Little Mermaid:

I adore these vests because they're so colorful and unique----I can assure you we are the only two men (or people in general) who have dress vests like these!! They were a big hit.  Here are some pictures of us in our evening attire:

Goofy poses for a portrait with us.

We pose in front of the ship's character statue in the main lobby atrium----a statue, appropriately enough, of Ariel!

One of the main dining rooms on the Wonder is called "Triton's" and has a Little Mermaid theme and this beautiful mosaic tile mural----we thought it fitting to take a picture with that, as well.

Dinner in Palo, an italian restuarant, was amazing...YUM YUM!!  (And, yes, we're gaining back most of that weight we lost for this trip so we'll be back to dieting the minute we get back to Rochester!! LOL)  After  a very nice meal we headed back to our room to get ready for bed.  Before turning in, we said good night to our daily towel animal:

Tomorrow we go ashore in Victoria, Canada!!