Every morning, we would head out to breakfast at the Windjammer and on our first sea day, the girls were anxious to go to Adventure Ocean.  So after breakfast we headed to Deck 12 and dropped them off for a morning of kid-filled fun and activities.

Hubby and I headed down to the pool deck, sat at a table, and got something to drink.  We sat there talking and enjoying the ocean view.  Our conversation centered on future travel plans and hubby asked me when we were going to go schedule our next cruise.  I don’t know for sure if it was the look on my face as I sat there in pure enjoyment as I sipped my drink while gazing out over the ocean or if in that moment he was caught up in the enjoyment of being on a cruise once again.  However, his question was unexpected as I thought we had made the decision to take a trip to Europe and that he was not interested in a European cruise.  None-the-less, I was very excited at the thought of having another cruise on our agenda for the future and quickly finished my drink so we could head down to the Next Cruise office.

Upon arrival, we discovered that many others were anxious to schedule their next cruise.  All the cruise agents were with customers and there were others waiting, so grabbed several cruise flyers and headed next door to Café Promenade to look them over while we waited.

A short time later a couple came in and sat across from us.  They saw the stack of flyers and asked which cruise we were scheduling.  I told them I was interested in a cruise to the Southern Caribbean out of Puerto Rico, but was also interested in taking a European cruise and then spending another week in Europe after the cruise.  With confidence, they told me we should go on the European cruise.

As the conversation continued, we found out that this couple was celebrating their 66th Wedding anniversary.  They started cruising in 1999 and have gone on over 100 cruises, all but a handful had been on Royal Caribbean and they were part of the Royal Crown and Anchor Society’s Pinnacle club.  They knew a thing or two about cruising and we were more than willing to listen to their expert advice.

They also told us about their two sons and grandchildren.  They talked about their pre-retirement life and about some of the cruises they’ve taken.  The conversation was maybe 15 or 20 minutes, but it was a precious few minutes that we will always remember.

We headed back to the Next Cruise office, waited a few more minutes and sat down to book our next cruise.  We discussed option and when we left the office, we had booked our cruise to . . . . . . . .

Europe!!

It is scheduled for this fall, but once Royal Caribbean releases their 2018 European cruise dates, we’ll be pushing it out into 2018.