Well here we are: Time for our second half of the back to back cruise on the Margaritaville at Sea. This is where we will be going this time around

I will start where I left off at after being escorted off the ship to restart the cruise...

We all followed her down the gangway, down the escalator and went up to have our faces scanned by the recognition computer right before the security gates, turned around and headed back to the ship.

So guess who was the official VERY FIRST PERSON TO GET ON THE SHIP!! That would be me!! I took pictures as the family stepped foot back onto the ship. I can finally say that I have been the absolute last person to get off the ship before and the first person to get on. I'm setting world records I tell ya! And it only took me years to accomplish this prize.

Sakari was really taking a big step to get back on (above) and the hubby was being a little dramatic stepping over onto the ship as well.

They told us to head to Guest Services to have our new pictures taken to attach to our account and everything was good to go.

So this is what the ship looks like with absolutely no one on it.

Oh lookie, there's the flip flop everyone takes pictures of. I must take one too! (lol)

Oh wait...I just realized...since we didn't actually go all the way out, we didn't even get to have our pictures taken! Darnit. I did all that for nothing.

Well, I guess since there isn't anyone on the ship, I would take this opportunity to go around and take pictures of everything without people in them (which is where I got most of my pictures in my previous review). We decided to start at the lowest deck and work our way up.

I won't bore you with all the pictures of the ship again. Those can be found by clicking the following link:

This cruise we would be located on the Last Mango Deck (deck 6)

The kids put on a private show for us. Karl told a story (he's a very good speaker trust me and has even done an internship with the Governor here) and Sakari entertained us by jumping, twirling around and dancing. BRAVO! Standing ovation. She has a bright future on the ships entertainment squad some day I'm sure.

I can tell you that by the time we made it up to the 9th floor, there were a lot of people already on the ship...and in my way of pictures. Ugh. I probably should have started at the top and worked my way down. Everyone knows that when people get on the ship, they immediately head to the atrium bar or up to the buffet and pool area. Oh well.

A few more pictures exploring the upper levels

I guess since there were so many people on the ship now, it was time to head to the food. We decided to go to Cheeseburger in Paradise because we enjoyed it so much last time.

We hung out for awhile and they started announcing what floors had the rooms ready. It was around 1pm and by 1:15pm, all the rooms were ready and we headed down to our new room. Yep, all the decorations were gone now...including the dry erase board. Boo!

When we arrived, our luggage was still sitting outside our door. The room steward did not put it in the room like they had said they would. Oh well. We were still not waiting around for our luggage this time.

So this is the same exact room that we had on the cruise before. However....

This time we would have 2 chairs and a lounge chair on our deck. HOW NICE! We would really put this to use on this leg of the cruise.

We put things away and just relaxed for awhile and watched tv. The kids took a nap and we knew that it would be a few hours before we hit the bridge after sail away. The room steward came by and introduced himself and I let him know right away I would need wash RAGS.

Of course after getting them, it would be the same story as the last cruise...they are dingy looking.

I would also notice that this shower would not have the line to put your wet clothes in either. The whole contraption was removed. Does Margaritaville not have these at all? We would be forced to hang our wet bathing suits on anything that we could find...as it dripped onto the floor and toilet paper in the bathroom. Ugh

So it was 3:30pm and we slept right through the entire muster drill thing. Oops. Well, in our defense, we had just did it and know where to go and what to do. The loud rings woke us up and we were not about to be "those" people that came to the drill as it was almost over and sneaking in and walking the walk of shame in front of everyone else. I guess this is what happens when you are still on the old style muster drills and don't check in people by scanning their key card or asking for the room number to check them off the list as attended. It made me wonder how many people actually don't even bother to go.

Sail away was now under way and we decided to hang out on our balcony. Sakari would do a few drawings as we passed the time by. She's so creative and even put music to some of them. She also does animation as well.

We were heading toward the bridge now and I look at my phone and it tells me that Sakari is driving recklessly. Um child, you need to slow down! LOL (Our Life360 app on our phones). We definitely got a laugh out of that one. Maybe the Captain is day drinking already?

A few hours went by and Orlando did announce that we would be going under the Skyway Bridge at around 6:15pm...and he was spot on!

We were getting closer! The kids had decided since we had just done this up on the deck on the last cruise, they wanted to stay on our balcony this time around.

I have to tell you, it was not the same experience as being up on the top deck when passing under the bridge. You don't see the ship coming within feet of the bridge but we did have a more relaxing wait this time around. So, if you want to really experience it, I would say be up on the deck unless you have done this before and not interested.

One of our issues with getting a better view from our balcony was our location. There was a bump out room a few doors down from us and then there was an overhang above us. But you could hear the crowd cheering upstairs as we passed under it.

https://youtube.com/shorts/_9W7FhDRWdA

We had an audience of birds at every buoy that we passed by:

The pilot boat was right down below us. I guess this means we were officially on our way now!

Well, the kids were hungry again and wanted to get dressed up to go to dinner in the main dining room then off we went.

What was on the menu tonight

Well, it's a new cruise so I guess I'm allowed to wear the same dress (and the only dress) I brought with me on the cruise. At least no one has seen this one yet (not that anyone would recognize it to begin with but it's a mental thing and I personally know I've already worn it). Sakari brought a bunch that she could rotate. I will plan better now that I know the kids are enjoying the dining room more than the buffet.

Our starters would be salads and Meemaw's Meatballs which came with a very soft bread with cheese on it and Karl was already eyeballing it. No Karl, you eat the hard rolls they bring out with every meal. (Don't get me wrong, the hard rolls are good too)

For our Entree we had Garlic Shrimp, Jerked Porkloin and Grilled Brick Chicken

Dessert was the Pina Colada Lush and Chocolate Cappucino Icebox Pie

After dinner we decided to walk around and go Duck Hunting where I would find my first duck of the season. It was SO SMALL! What is this new fad of hiding ducks so small that people can barely spot them? Me no likey! Don't people know this is not just for kids and some of us older adults with bad eyes enjoy it just as much? (While I do have 20/20 vision I'm not seeing well these days up close and that's my defense with these small ducks) I mean this is a competition between Karl and I. How am I supposed to spot these mutant ducks the size of a pebble? I think I only noticed this one because it was bright pink.

Karl was now officially on high alert for ducks. Sakari was beside me yelling out "scanning" as she looked back and forth across the room and at every hiding spot that someone could potentially place something. Then she yells "Found a duck!" and jumped up and down. Karl almost didn't believe her until she held up the smaller than life yellow duck between her fingers. IT'S EVEN SMALLER THAN THE ONE I FOUND! R U KIDDING ME! Ok, this is obviously how this cruise is going to go and I was going to have to shift my duck hunting skills to look in even smaller crevices.

Poor Karl, he was without a duck tonight.

Mom-1 Sakari-1 Karl-0

Here was the Checklist to Chill for the day

Since we had already seen the show for tonight on the last cruise we decided not to go tonight and just chill in the room and relax.

We watched the ghost channel and some of the "find my beach dream home" shows and then Orlando made an announcement to let us know to always keep our clocks on ship time and we would be in port tomorrow early so get some rest....(a joke obviously because we wouldn't be in port until 1pm).

I was kinda shocked that Karl didn't say anything about going to the casino since he had such good luck on the last cruise but no worries....it was coming.

Sakari decided to do a character color drawing and worked on that the rest of the night.

Then it was time for bed...

💤