Woke up before the alarm even went off at 7am... this will be the routine while on vacation. Funny enough I cant do this during the week for work LOL. Anyhow I jumped into the shower and got ready, then woke up the troops to do the same.
Ran downstairs to eat a quick breakfast, then came back up to grab our bags and head out! We dropped our rental car at the Downtown Avis/Budget agency. Then got in line for the Free Shuttle to the Port. It was awesome as the family in front of us were from our cruise thread. So we began a round of introductions and since we were the only 2 family's able to fit on the shuttle it wasnt long before we saw her....
The excitement level got higher in the car, everyone pulled out their phones and cameras to start taking pics. We were at the port by 10:30am, not bad. Had planned/hoped for a 10am arrival. Hubby was worried they wouldnt even let us in since our boarding pass said 1pm. Oh he's so pretty lol.
Shuttle parked and started unloading our crap, we tipped him, then turned around to a porter already getting our stuff tagged. So we tipped him, then headed for the terminal.
Yes, we all were wearing sweatshirts, it was a chilly, windy morning.
Checked in with our boarding pass, then went thru security no prob, they run your stuff thru an xray machine like at the airport. (No hand checking at least for us this time. In Ft. Lauderdale they hand checked the drinks in our carry on.) Up the escalator we went and into line to officially check in!
10mins later we were standing at the counter getting our sign and sail cards. Which was a fun but still questionable experience. Reason being, this is the 2nd 8day cruise for all 4 of us. I was watching as the boys were handed their Red Cards... then the adorable girl behind the counter handed me a GOLD card... AHHHHHHHH. Uh but why? To which the gal said, cuz your special... umm k. Not going to disagree.. didnt want to say I should be red too, who's gonna pass up on moving up a category if thats in fact what is going on. All I could think of was our travel agent had arranged something??? (Anyone have any ideas why, my card is different as I am still unsure? Haven't talked to my agent yet)
When we were done checking in, we found some seats in the back and camped out for a bit. As I went to go charge my phone at the charging station they had, I noticed a few more people from our cruise thread. Did some more introductions, I think even hugs were given lol. We were just so excited. One gal got everyone bracelets to wear with our cruise date/ship name, so she was passing those out.
Everyone was checking in on the various media sites, and as different zones were called we would see people pass us and wave hi. We all said to wear beads so that we could spot each other, so that helped. We were zone 6... not bad, but it felt like forever as we got to hear them start from the beginning. But then they finally got to 6 and we cheered... ok I cheered, the boys just grabbed their jackets and backpacks and looked at me like I was crazy.
Had to take the obligatory Bon Voyage pic, looks like 2 of us are happy to get on board, 1's getting there, & don't mind hubby. The Marine Corps has trained him not to smile LOL.
Going thru the photo process was fast, they had 3 backgrounds going (all the same) so before we knew it, we were walking up the gangplank.. well after one last selfie in the terminal.
You will see that pose from P a lot during this trip.
We then were in the Atrium, taking it all in. Pics dont do it justice, it really is a site. I loved that its a little more contemporary and doesnt have that old Vegas feel like the older ships.
They were passing out Fun times so I grabbed one to start planning our day.
Ship Maps are always awesome.... boys of course had it memorized within a few hours it seemed. E and I still got lost trying to get off the ship on the last day LOL.
For months now I had been counting down via the Carnival Hub App. Since we were on board now, I decided it was the perfect time to log in. At this point only I logged in, as the guys were all in their own world trying to figure out where to eat lunch. Our cruise thread had agreed when we all got on board to log in so that when we met up at our meet & greet later we all could connect.
Next Up: Let the Games Begin
