Our Sunday morning began waking early enough at the hotel to fit in a workout prior to getting ready to head to the port. First James went for a run in the downtown Miami streets (YIKES!). When he returned to the hotel room I headed downstairs to the fitness center and got in a good sweat, all the while telling myself that in just a few more hours I'd be on a cruise ship where I would be facing all kinds of yummy goodies every which way I looked. Best try to keep in shape as much as I can to help avoid the pounds that seem to find their way onto most people's shapes while cruising.
Anyway, after getting ready at the hotel, and happy-dancin' a little bit about going on a cruise, we took off for the port of Miami, just a short 10 minute drive from our hotel. In port we saw OUR ship parked between two others, the massive Royal Carribean Freedom of the Seas and another Carnival ship, the Triumph. We parked our van in the parking garage, loaded our luggage onto the shuttle bus, and made our way through the crowds of people exiting the ship. Finally we found the inside of the terminal, had our bags scanned, and entered the line of people waiting to check-in. It wasn't a long line at all, mostly because we had chosen to arrive pretty early, about 11am. The cruise lines advise you to arrive around 1 or 2 but it is common knowledge among the cruise message boards I frequent that the ships begin checking people in around 11 and begin boarding very shortly after that. If you arrive at the terminal about the time we did you will likely be on the ship by noon and able to start your week long gorge-fest with a lunch time meal right after embarkation. And that proved true for us this time as was the case the last time we cruised in 2004.
We were on the Valor by noon, carry-on bags and kids in tow. Morgan's first impression of the ship had her jaw nearly touching the floor. She was astounded by the size and beauty of the ship and so completely grateful for the opportunity to cruise! We're certainly lucky to have a daughter who shows her gratitude and counts her blessings.
Our cabin was not ready for us yet, so we took our carry-ons with us as we made our way to the buffet area for lunch. I don't recall what any of us ate at the meal, or much about any of our buffet meals at any time during the cruise, but I do recall where we sat. The area we sat during that first meal came to be "our area," that which we found ourselves going back to most every meal in the buffet for the duration of the trip. James and I seemed to pair off with the girls, he taking one while I took the other, loading their plates, and having an understanding that we'd meet back at "our area" when the food for the assigned child had been gathered. It worked out reasonably well. Not as easy as eating in the dining room where we were waited on hand and foot, but for a buffet meal when we needed one (breakfasts and lunches) our system worked.
Moving on, when our cabin was finally ready about 1:30pm we made our way there and relished what would be our "home" for the next week. On our previous cruise James and I had booked an ocean view room, one with just a window to look out. This time we decided we wanted a balcony room to have the extra space and the view and fresh air. It was a fantastic choice! This room was perfect for us, although with children you can never have too much space, but we made do. The girls loved the balcony and abided by our ground rules all week long, remembering the safety briefings Mom and Dad had given them. Probably didn't hurt that we told them the balcony door had an alarm attached to it that would sound if they were to open the door without their parents' knowledge. Hee hee hee!!!!
The rest of the afternoon was spent walking around the ship, trying to get our bearings, marveling at the beauty, and thanking God that we were together as a family again embarking on such a great journey together.
Around 4:30pm or so the muster drill signal told us it was time to don our neon orange vests and proceed to our assigned station.
After standing there forever, crammed into the space like sardines, and hearing the lady behind me say, "I think I'm gonna pass out!", we saw the horizon starting to change. Morgan noticed it first telling us she thought the ship was now moving. Yes indeed it was! We were sailing away! It irks me to no end that Carnival sometimes does this. Why not wait until the muster drill is over so people can put away their life jackets and then make their way to the decks to enjoy sail away? What harm is there in waiting an additional five or ten minutes to depart? Regardless, we were on our way. As soon as we were released from our lifeboat stations we put the vests back in our cabin and made our way to higher ground to watch Miami growing smaller in the distance.
While sailing away we met a family from Ohio who told us they would be on the same dolphin swim excursion as us the next day, and they had a daughter somewhat close to Bethy's size. We'd hoped Bethy would make friends with her but after having swum in the ships' salt water pools earlier that day and the bright sunshine beating down on us during sail-away, Bethy's eyes were beet red and burning, so she was a little anti-social. We would see this family many times throughout the week and they always appeared to be having a ball!
It was time to get ready for dinner in the dining room, something we'd tried to prepare the kids for. They were excited to dress up and were on their best behavior. Again, I don't recall what we ate that first night but I do recall that our first impression was not terrific. Our waiter confused our order a couple times. I'm not sure if it was a communication issue due to him not understanding us well, or if he was overworked, or what. This was the only night we encountered errors in our meals, but the entire week we were a little bit dismayed at how our service (and the other tables of our server) was taking two hours or more when other tables around us handled by different servers were finishing their dessert before we'd even received our entrees. We didn't complain to the Maitre 'd about it, though, and just let it be. Our waiter did seem to be working very hard and we wouldn't want him to get in trouble for doing his best. Harris was very polite and it was a pleasure to meet him. We found nothing else negative to say about our dining experience so why not let the small stuff go, right?
After dinner we took the kids to their Camp Carnival meet-n-greet party. They danced in the club, sometimes dragging us out there with them and sometimes not. Bethy made a friend while dancing, someone she would hang out in the camp with over the next week. Morgan seemed to have a great time, too, and ended up making a couple friends with whom she exchanged addresses with on our final day.
Soon we retired to bed and enjoyed the wonder of being on such a massive ship, in the middle of the ocean, and going to sleep to the sound of the water rushing by outside. We had a big day to look forward to tomorrow, in Nassau, Bahamas, and we needed our energy for that.
1 comment:
I would like to go on my first cruise now. Sounds like you had fun even if your server wasn't the fastest.
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