My wife and I had a great wedding. Family and friends on a gorgeous afternoon in the month of May. It couldn't have gone better and as far as we're concerned it was the best wedding we have ever been to. But then everyone says that about their wedding, probably even the people who send their wedding videos to those wedding bloopers shows.



But I digress. We chose to go on a cruise for our honeymoon, which turned out to be a lot of fun for both of us as neither of us had ever been on a cruise before. We cruised on one of the Fun Ships from Carnival Cruise Lines out of Port Orlando Florida. Now many of you experienced cruisers out there know all this but for us first timers going on a cruise was a new and novel experience.

Cruise ships are big, and the ship we were on was only considered medium sized. Trying to find our way around took a little getting used to, but by the second day it was pretty hard to get lost. The first thing we did was find our state room and drop of our carry on bags and then we were off to the lunch buffet up on the main pool deck.

Now here's where it gets a little confusing for the first time cruiser. Standing in the line at the buffet it suddenly dawned on me that like most cruises this one was all inclusive, except for alcoholic drinks. That meant I could get as much food from the buffet and it was already paid for. Not only that I could come back as many times as I wanted, not that I did. Realizing that we didn't have to carry money with us was kind of liberating. All we really needed was our room key which doubled as a kind of charge card for things, such as alcoholic drinks, that weren't part of the all inclusive package.

After lunch it was time to explore the ship and see what it had to offer. I won't go into big detail here other than to say there was a lot to be done on a cruise ship. On the upper main deck at the back of the ship was the casual dining establishment. It was always open and always had food available. Now as we walked through I noticed towards the back of the dining area a large kiosk. As we approached and came around it from behind it was like a dream come true.

A soft serve ice-cream machine. You know, like the ones at Dairy Queen. It took me a moment to realize that just like the lunch buffet back on the main pool deck this ice cream was absolutely free. Do you get that, for 5 days and 4 nights I could come and get either vanilla, chocolate, or, and this is the best part, chocolate vanilla swirl ice cream anytime I wanted.

And right next to the bowls and spoons was every topping imaginable. They had chocolate, caramel, sprinkles, hot fudge, peanuts, cherries and whipped topping. It was like getting locked inside a Dairy Queen for the night, only the night lasted for 5 days. I mean, come one, that ice cream machine was more than worth the price of the entire honeymoon cruise.

So if you ever get a chance to go on a cruise make sure to find out if the ship you want to go on has a soft serve ice-cream machine. I know I'm looking forward to the next time my wife and I go on a cruise just for that simple fact.