Sailing Home!

We left Southampton on the maiden voyage of Royal Caribbean's newest ship, the Quantum of the Seas.  

Quacker Jack is ready to board the ship.

Our stateroom, complete with virtual balcony

The North Star, in the background...we did not take a ride in it.

This is the maiden voyage, so there was still some unpacking left to do.  







The indoor skydiving instructors had fun demonstrating before we sailed.

We found a cozy little seat in the Solarium.

We spent time on one of the upper decks waiting for us to set sail.

This ferry boat sailed by before we set sail.

Lots of cars and people in the parking lot across the water waited to see us push off.

 We finally set sail!

Those are some mighty big fenders.

Our captain was so good - he backed us out of the channel and into open water.

Imagine our surprise when we found Alabama brewed beer on the ship!

 We made an unplanned stop by the Azores to drop someone off for an emergency medical procedure.  We were there for about 45 minutes to get the passenger off loaded - it was a surprise to see land halfway into our cruise.

 More North Star action

There is beautiful art all around the ship.  This one, though, is not exactly what you want to see aboard a ship's maiden voyage from Southampton to New York  (sound familiar?). 

One of the cute animals our room steward, Anna, made for us

We got little prizes a couple nights to celebrate the maiden voyage.  These backpacks were nice, but check out those CERTIFICATES!

Our captain managed to work out a sail by the Statue of Liberty as we came into port early Monday morning.  New York themed music played on the pool deck and a news helicopter circled us - not a bad way to return to the US.
 

Total distance sailed = 3695 nautical miles