May 14, 2017

First of all, today was Mother’s Day and we had a wonderful brunch. The chefs always outdo themselves with lots of delicious food.  I probably mentioned that there are 67 chefs on board! Just a few pictures to give you an idea of the temptations we faced.

After that it was a relaxing sea day.  The Around the World quilt is shaping up. It turns out we have too many squares to keep the quilt a reasonable size so our work today was deciding which squares would go into a separate wall hanging that will also be raffled off.  Not an easy task!  It is looking beautiful and David Smith, our on board photography lecturer, is taking pictures and will put a book together.  I will also try to post photos when both are complete.

The highlight of the day is that we have been planning a vow renewal ceremony for our 35th anniversary. Tricia, the Around the World Ambassador and Corinne, the social hostess, were doing all of the planning with our input.  It was scheduled for today at 6:30 PM.  Our anniversary is the 16th but the Captain needs to do these ceremonies while we are at sea and we will be in Israel on the 16th (ironically that is where we spent our wedding trip 35 years ago!!)

We had a surprise delivery of champagne from Adam and Mark and we thought of them throughout the day and the ceremony and spoke of our love for them and the family we created.

Vishant, our butler, brought Norm’s boutonnieres (red and white roses) and my bouquet – 2 dozen long stemmed red roses and baby’s breath with white ribbon and bow – to our suite and escorted us up to the library where the ceremony was being held.

Here is the program that they printed for people as well as the certificate we got.

The string quartet played as we entered and after the vows – we did select the music and it was beautiful.

We invited some couples that we are friends with here on the ship and because we wanted this to be smaller and for “us”, we are having a dinner for a number of couples after Israel on the 17th.   Many of the cruise officers and crew attended and wow, did they make it special!

Here are some pictures that Graham Denison, our artist in residence took:

And, yes, Farid our executive chef, did put Oreos on the cake!  After the ceremony, they served champagne and cake.  Then we were treated to a private dinner in Toscana with wine – yes – bow tie pasta in addition to their wonderful Italian menu complete with an olive oil and balsamic vinegar menu so you can choose what you want.  We were surprised with yet another cake – my favorite chocolate mousse and creme brulee cake.  We had small pieces and gave the rest to the wait staff.  And of course they all sang happy anniversary.  What a wonderful experience – and a toast to Oceania for really exceeding our expectations and making it so extra special.

When we returned to our room, here is what we found!

Once I get more pictures from Robert and others who took them, including a video, I will post the photos and hope to post the video.