That equated to Michael Kernohan and his three sons (Ryan, Tyler, Conner), and his new wife Karri with her three children Joseph, Tess, Brett), and her daughter Michelle and husband, and their two children (Devin, Hunter). For a total of 14 in the group. Additionally our party included long term good friend Lu Thompson with parts of her family so the number in our party totaled 24 people. In this group were something like five people who had never been on a cruise, and five people who had been only on one previous cruise. So there was lots of excitement and many pre-cruise notes exchanged concerning hints and tips so that we could all have the best time possible.

Day One went smoothly, including our trip to the port, parking, embarking, enjoying a shipboard lunch and exploring the many activities and amenities of the Mariner, getting in our family pictures, eating in the main dining room, and pleasurably watching the Welcome Aboard Show in the main theater.

Day Two was at sea, and there was more to do than there was time for, including the Flow Rider, miniature golf, the Sky Pad trampoline adventure, the hot tubs, the pools with the obligatory Belly Flop Contest, the Ice Skating Show, gaming in the Casino, and the evening’s Theater Show with a great magician.

Day Three was Atlantis for about 18 of us. (Joyce also treated her whole family to this adventure.) Atlantis has a huge and interesting aquarium, a great water park with a not-so-lazy river, body slides and inner tube slides, and a number of pools to choose from. Our ticket also included admission to a shallow water dolphin encounter and lunch. A very good day and we returned for dinner at the Windjammer buffet and with some time for gaming and the chance to catch another show. Don’t tell the IRS but Joyce made over $160 in under five minutes on a penny slot machine, and she promptly cashed in her winnings and refrained from further games of chance for the balance of the cruise. The night continued at Karaoke that included two songs by Joyce’s entire family that were the talk of the ship.

Day Four was the “Perfect Day at Coco Cay,” Royal Caribbean’s private island that has just been upgraded with a large water park and a freshwater pool. The pool, with its swim-up bar soon became the hang out place and the day passed very enjoyably. Many said that Coco Cay was the best part of the trip. We returned in time for dinner in the main dining room and then a few of us played Lazer Tag.