2015 Holiday Southeast Asia Cruise

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Saturday, December 19, 2015



This is our first day at sea. In usual fashion, Todd is up early, 5:50 am, everyone else was up at 7:30 am.



Today is a day of celebration. First, Todd and Cindy’s 28^th wedding anniversary and then we are celebrating the life of Marcy’s life by spreading her ashes at sea. This blog will be short since we are at sea and most of the first part of the day was prepping for spreading Marcy’s ashes.



Cindy, the kids, Erv and I went to the international dining room this morning for breakfast. We always love the cook to order meals. We love our muffins and other breakfast selections.



Today, the seas were rough. Jenny, Michael and I ended up wearing patches because it was too much. One of the staff members we meet said this part is normally rough waters.



After breakfast, Todd went to the Pursers Desk to arrange our cabin door be decorated for our anniversary. Todd signed up our family for the Ginger Bread house contest that will take place on Christmas Eve day. This should be a ton of fun and memory maker. Our team name is The Breton and Schroeder Family. Not very original, oh well.



At 11:40 am, our family headed to deck 7, outside the Club Fusion lounge. Here were to meet the ships officers. Today we are spreading Marcy’s ashes, a wish she had. She wanted our entire family to take a cruise somewhere and spread her ashes at sea. She did not request a particular location; however she just wanted us to take a family cruise. The ships officers roped off the rear of the ship. They escorted us to the rear of the ship where the wind was lighter, even though the seas were rough; this was the best location to be. They allowed us to have some private time. We respected Marcy’s wishes to spread her ashes at sea. We conducted a short service that Father Todd (our pastor) had recommended for sea burials. We used the Rite II of the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. Rest in peace Marcy Schroeder.



For the rest of the day, we just relaxed and reflected on the day so far. We did not participate in any of the cruise activities, rather waited until dinner to celebrate our first formal night and Cindy and Todd’s anniversary. Prior to dinner, as we normally do on most cruises, we went for happy hour. This is always a good time to relax and get ready for a great dinner. We also made time to take family photos. Since we are in our formal wear, this was a great time to start taking memory maker photos. Our dress this evening was black, we wanted to all match if at all possible. On Christmas Day we will wear red. This is our second and last formal night.



Dinner in the International Dining Room was enjoyable our wait staff is super nice and very helpful in selecting the right dish for us to eat. This evening I actually documented what the menu selections were. Our dishes included tilapia, shrimp, pork, beef stroganoff, and veggie dishes. So much to choose from. Couple of us had shrimp cocktail, in memory of Marcy. This was a favorite for Marcy when we all cruised together.



Following dinner, we visited the formal photo area again and finished taking photos. We ended up purchasing a photo package that included all the photos taken of us for one price. This is something that Royal Caribbean does and took full advantage of this. We did not, at least right now, spend an additional $50 to purchase the digital portion of the package.



Cindy, Jenny and I participated in the champagne waterfall. The ships photo department took photos of us pouring champagne with the Maître D. Hotel.



Prior to this evenings show, we all meet in the Crooners Bar, listened to the piano music and had a cocktail. The piano player was good; however we have heard others that were much better while on other cruises.



Cindy and I went to the evening show in the Princess Theater. Tonight was a Freddie Mercury Tribute. The signer/performer is Steve Larkins. It was so much listening to the great songs of Freddie Mercury. A true entertainer and his songs that are still played frequently at sporting events and TV commercials.



We all ended up retiring at 11:00 pm. We have a very busy day tomorrow. We visit our first port on this cruise, Brunei. Until this trip, I knew very little about Brunei.



Stay tuned for our blog about Brunei.

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