Wedding Blog

The ship’s stay was only until 2:00 PM, so we decided to hit up the breakfast buffet in the Windjammer Cafe before disembarking and checking out the area.

Before I get into our Key West adventure, let me just say that breakfast on board was THE BEST!

Mr. Deviled Egg and I share some major similarities in our favorite breakfast foods. Pancakes (my absolute favorite food), hash browns or home fries and corned beef hash—rarely can you get a combination like this while eating out without having to customize your order with side dishes. The cruise’s buffet allowed us to enjoy these favorites every morning! And we also took advantage of the made-to-order omelet station and the plethora of fresh fruits. Yummy! Yummy!

Now I’m hungry… but back to Key West.

Royal Caribbean’s Enchantment of the Seas in port in Key West.

I really didn’t know what to expect with Key West. Everything I read online before our trip emphasized the active night life, but we were only going to be there until the early afternoon. We decided not to take a cruise-affiliated excursion there because of the time constraints and also because we figured we could see everything we wanted to on our own.

As soon as we hit the dock, we walked right into a tourist trap of souvenir shops, and bike, scooter, and car rentals.

We browsed in the shops, but neither of us were really into souvenir-type stuff. We walked around the island and saw quite a bit of the major attractions.

Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville was pretty dead, but it was only about 10:00 AM.

We stopped by Ernest Hemingway’s home, but were too cheap to pay for admission! I like Hemingway’s works, especially his short stories, but I guess I’m not much of the fan type that’s impressed by touring one of his homes.

This view from a distance was enough for us.

We also took in the lighthouse from a afar.

But we were able to get pretty close to this little guy who was wandering in the streets.

Speaking of getting pretty close, Mr. DE met this lovely young lady… er, statue.

And got pretty up-close and personal with her! Ha ha!

He didn’t waste any time on small talk! And he definitely didn’t move this fast when we first met over three years ago. He’s so silly and that’s one of the many reasons I love him!

After about three hours of wandering the streets of Key West, we decided it was time to go back on the boat. With the heat and sun being a little too intense and hard to adjust to for us Western PA peeps, we were happy to go back to the air conditioned ship. Also, we weren’t all that impressed with Key West. I’m sure if we would have been there at night it would have been a different story. Regardless, it was still nice to explore a new place, relax, and spend time with each other.

Once back on the cruise, we went to the pool deck for a little swimming and lounging (in the shade!).

Soon it was time for dinner. (Yes, you do eat A LOT on a cruise! Sometimes, it seems your whole day revolves around eating.) This particular night’s dinner was special because it was formal night. Depending on your cruise’s length, you have at least one night where the dress code suggests tuxes or suits for the guys and cocktail dresses or gowns for women.

I didn’t take a full-body picture of us, but we did snap one of our signature arm’s reach self-portraits.

I’d say most of the ship participated in formal night. Some went all out, but we dressed in clothes we’d normally wear to a wedding, so we fit in. And dinner didn’t disappoint. It was delicious!

After dinner, we checked out that evening’s entertainment, which was a Broadway-style medley of singing and dancing.

All in all, it was a great day and an even better evening! I really like it when we have an ccasion to get dressed up for.

As we laid our heads down for the night, the ship was already well on its way to our next port of call—Cozumel!

Check out what happened on Day 1 of our honeymoon here.