We have never been on a cruise before so we were really looking forward to this. Friday morning dawned and we finished our packing. Have to make sure our suitcases don't weigh over 50 lbs each so we don't have to pay extra charges. We headed out to visit the family before we headed over to Terry and Lydia's for the night. Since we are flying out of LAX we decided to stay at their house in Long Beach for the night. We tried to go to Red Lobster for dinner but it was packed so we headed over to Black Angus. We had a really good meal then headed back to their house for some TV and talking. Soon it was time to go to bed in anticipation of early morning travel. SuperShuttle was picking all of us up at 8:15 AM to head to the airport.
We made it to LAX with no traffic problems and quickly made it through security. We stopped for breakfast at one of the restaurants then grabbed sandwiches for the flight. They sold stuff on the plane for $10 a sandwich so we paid less for ours in the airport. Arrival in Miami was only a little late and the flight was uneventful. We were surprised to see the hotel shuttle right outside after we got our luggage. Wasn't too impressed with the hotel/motel (Days Inn). Don't think I would stay here again. Terry had a problem with Expedia not paying for one of the rooms so that took some time to figure out but we all got our rooms and got settled in. The cafe in the hotel was closed and we didn't see anything when we looked up and down the street. We settled on ordering pizza and wings. It was either good or we were really hungry. Here are a couple of pictures of us eating and the leftovers.
This was Terry & Lydia's room. We weren't in a big hurry the next morning as our shuttle to the boat (or is it ship?) was at noon. I think it was around midnight, Miami time, when we got to bed.
It was a short ride to the port where we unloaded our luggage and went through all the lines to board. We had to wait in line to show our passports, then to check-in and get our cards, then they wanted to take our pictures, next we had to have a picture taken for the cards. These will be the cards we use to open our room door, purchase things with, and to exit and enter the ship. We finally made it onboard and into our rooms. We dropped off our carryon luggage then went to the buffet to meet our friends, Terry & Lydia, and Ed & Betty for lunch. Here are a couple of pics of the pool area and around the ship.
It was fun watching the ship pull out of port and set sail. Is it sailing when they are powered by huge engines? We explored what would be our home for the next 7 days and then met for dinner. Here are some pictures of us getting to know the ship.
Tonight was casual night so we didn't have to dress up. We had a table for the 6 of us and our wait staff was really good. They learned our names quickly and were very attentive. Some nights they performed for us by singing and dancing.
We had really good food every day and there was way too much. Each night there was a fish dish, chicken, steak of some sort and a vegetarian dish. You usually had a choice of 8 appetizers, 10 main dishes, and about 8 desserts. I really liked the soups they served. Shrimp was also a popular appetizer. Each day there was a special selection with things like frog legs, escargo, oysters, etc. Usually one of us tried those. Lobster night was a big hit with those that like it. They could have as much as they wanted but they would usually bring you a second whole meal instead of just the lobster! Filet minon was popular, too. Sorry, but I didn't take any pictures of the food but we did attend a cooking exhibition in the steakhouse and I took pictures of what they prepared -
Each night we got a different towel animal on our bed along with chocolates. One day during the cruise they also surprised everyone by putting towel animals out on the Lido deck.
I am going to have to break this up into multiple posts because of all the pictures. You have been introduced to life on the ship so I will cover the shore excursions we went on in the other posts. The last post will have the slideshow of all the pictures I took.
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