DAY 1 OF OUR CRUISE
At 2005-12-19 on 1:39 a.m.
Monday our cruise began and we could start boarding the ship at noon and it was sailing at 5pm..We left the house around 8am(its about an 3 hour drive to the port)we took our time getting there and even stopped at a Wal-Mart somewhere along the way to buy some film and an underwater camera and some more locks for our luggage...We got to the Port around 12:30pm and parked(which cost us $40 to park there for the week),they start hitting you for money as soon as you get there!! :) We went thru security and gave all our documents that we needed to give and then we got our SeaPass that you carry around with you all the time that has your info on it and you can charge things to it instead of carrying cash with you...Of coarse they had problems with my husbands and oldest sons passes cause they have the same names and they had put minor on my husband and the lady just took a pen and scratched it out and said it would be ok---WRONG---we had problems with it thru out the whole trip...we then went to have our pictures taken that shows up when you put your SeaPass in the scanners-i went thru it with no problem-doug went thru with no problem-husband went thru and all the bell and whistles went off-lol-same with Wes-of coarse we laugh at first then it got old-they said they got it right and we were on our way inside the ship....
We got into the ship and was excited and looking around with wide eyes and of coarse they hit you up right away with a big cocktail with lil umbrellas but we didnt buy any-we did buy the coke package at that time which wasnt cheap-it cost us $118.08 for the trip-next time we wont get it-we didnt drink that much cokes-cokes are extra but tea and coffee,juice(mornings),milk are at no extra charge...
We then headed up to our room to check out how small it was and how it was laid out-we were on deck 5 which was the perfect deck to be on..Our room was very small but it wasnt too bad cause what didnt fit in the closet fit perfect under the beds and the bathroom was better then what I thought it would be-the shower is tiny but it had great water pressure and our cabin had a nice window in it so you could see the ocean...
We left the room and toured the ship and ended up on the pool deck-pretty much everyone did-that is where the party was and it was FREEZING outside-and the boat was a rocking but i didnt see anybody get sick and the drinks were flowing big time by now...we headed back in and went to a bar cause it was 2 for 1 Mojito's :) and me and Wes had those and then we headed over to the casino to check it out and started dropping the money-grrrrr-we then left to go to dinner-we had late seating at 8:30pm...It was casual night so we didnt dress up-nobody really did-but it was fancy and we had so many different silverware at our plates and we were trying to figure out which one to use-i have never seen that many forks at one plate in my life-i used the right ones ;) our head waiter came over and took Wesleys napkin and opened it up and put it in his lap and Wes had the look of WTF on his face-it was so funny-my boys arent rednecks at all but they dont like another man putting a napkin in their laps either...The waiters were very friendly and funny and all were from different countrys(most who work on the ships are from all over the world which is kind of neat)...You have a head waiter,assistant waiter,server and your suppose to tip all of them-it gets expensive-plus you have the same for the people who clean your rooms atleast 3 people who you are suppose to tip....The food was pretty good that night but nothing great...
We finished dinner and headed back to the casino and did a lil more of wasting our money-by that time Doug was about to kill over-he was having bad allergys from everybodys cigarettes-poor boy couldnt breathe...We went back to the room and chilled for the night and watched MR. AND MRS. SMITH on the tv in the room/cabin...Doug got really sick and luckly i brought his meds but it takes days for it to work...by this time they were starting to drive me crazy in our lil cramp space and I was saying im not going to make it until Friday....lol....we all actually slept pretty good that night on the lil bunks and that was the end of day one....more to come later ;)~