Cruise Review! December 22nd

There a few different ways to do these review posts.  I can just post pictures.  I can just type out the memories.  I can make long lists.  Or I can do a combination.  As I was editing the pictures, I realized that there were too many pictures to post and to write long explanations.  I've decided to let you see the pictures with minimal captions!  So, here we go...

Saturday, December 22...

We made the decision on Friday afternoon that it would be easier and cheaper to hire someone to drive us to the airport.  Claudio, our favorite driver, arrived promptly at 4:45am to take us to the airport.  Everything at the airport went smoothly- well, smoothly for Panama- and we had no trouble making our 7:20 am flight.

Coralynn sacked out after an early morning.

 

 

Upon arriving in Orlando, we made our way to Carnival's shuttle to wait for the next bus to Port Canaveral.  It was so cold in Orlando, the mid40s, that our thin Panama-living blood would have liked to have frozen!  Fortunately, we didn't have to wait long for the next bus.

Waiting in Orlando for the bus to the Cruise!

 

As this was our first cruise, I had no idea what to expect.  The process of getting on the cruise ship was a little different than I expected, but everything went quite smoothly.  We arrived on the ship about 90 minutes before we set sail.  Fortunately, we made it in time for lunch!

I was so excited to stand on deck to watch as we sailed away.  I couldn't believe that we were so close to NASA's Port Canaveral location.

Tony and the kids watching us sailing away.

 

As we got farther from port, the Cruise Director, Jaime, got the party started.  The girls and I had a great time dancing, and Carson had a great time watching all the busyness of our first moments at sea.

The girls and I working on the Electric Slide.

 

 

We spent the rest of the first day getting used to the boat and its deck plan.  We saw where the kids' programs would take place and took a look at the gym.  In all honesty, it was the only look at the gym we took.  (Please note- there will be no scale pictures from me for the next few days.  Thank you for understanding.) 

 

We fell into bed about 10pm and slept so well.  Cruise Day 1 was a reassuring start.  We could do this cruise thing!