VACATION DAY TWO: LEAVING PORT

We were all pretty tired after the previous 48 hours.  Sunshine and I had gotten about 2 hours sleep on Friday night and maybe 6 hours sleep on Saturday night…but once we made our way to the ship we were completely awake and ready to go.

Waiting in the outside line-up.

We arrived at the Carnival Glory around 12:30pm.  We left our luggage with an attendant and went to stand in line.  There were a TON of people standing in a line that snaked around the front of the building.  Luckily the weather had decided to co-operate…it was absolutely gorgeous outside without being too hot and hey, it wasn’t raining so that was definitely a good thing.

I was initially discouraged thinking that waiting in the line-up would take forever.  Surprisingly the line was moving quite rapidly around the building.  However, I became even MORE discouraged once I got inside the building itself…

Yikes...inside the "loading area" for the Carnival Glory.

But honestly, this room FULL of people made up about four or five lines and they moved at a decent pace. This was the customs portion of the cruise and I was quite surprised at how quickly everything moved. It was maybe a ten minute wait…not much considering around 2,800 people would go through this area over the course of the next three or four hours.

The cruise ship's "check-in counter".

So we moved to the next section of the boarding process, which basically was the check-in.  It was here that we got our Carnival ship “Sail and Sign” cards.  Y’see, once you’re on the ship there isn’t really a reason for money.  At all.  If you buy a drink, you use the card.  If you buy a photo, you use the card.  If you buy a souvenir in their gift shop, you use the card.  Each room had a safe so we could lock our wallets/purses/valuables in our room whenever we weren’t at a port. Really, this was an EXTREMELY simple way of going about our week.

After a few more minutes, we made our way on board…

This was only a tiny bit of the luggage that was gathered outside of the ship. But y'know what? No issues!! These guys are pros!

Y'know, for a family of four I could see this being EXTREMELY small. But for Sunshine and I it really was more than enough space for sleeping. Honestly, we didn't end up spending a ton of time in our room anyway.

TOTALLY stoked!

We only stayed in our room for a few minutes just to get situated.  We took the usual “self portrait” that we’re now famous for (lol) and head straight up on deck to enjoy the “Sail Away Party” that was going on.

I gotta tell you…Miami is one of the most beautiful cities I think I’ve ever seen. Would I like to stay there longer than a day or two?  No…but just check out the scenery from the 10th deck of the Carnival Glory:

Yeah...we were slightly happy knowing that we were in Miami, Florida en route to the Caribbean.

Nothing says "extravagence" like having a oceanfront pool right next to a sandy beach.

Each time we left a port there was a “Sail Away Party”.  This normally included a two-man band and then some line dancing.  Seriously…line dancing was a big part of the “party” experience.

The view from the 10th deck waterslide that over-looked the Lido deck pool area. People were definitely having a great time as we left port.

It was fun listening to the band playing "Margaritaville" in a Reggae style. Plus Sunshine and I would learn to love "Big ship sailing on the ocean"...which is quite simplistic in its lyrics but fun to sing along to. OH...and that big screen? They played news in the morning, concerts throughout the day, and movies at night. Really great.

Oh yes...the line dancing. LOTS of line dancing. Not really our bag, but it was fun to watch.

Let me just say for the record that if you’re NOT an extrovert or if you don’t really care to be around other people, then you probably won’t like a cruise. From the time we boarded to the time we left, this ship and its staff were all about having FUN, whether it be dancing or laughing or participating in something.  And y’know what?  I absolutely appreciated that. It wasn’t just a “thank you for the money, here are the sites” kind of trip.  This was an experience that Carnival wanted us to have and remember forever.

After supper we went to the Amber Palace, which would be a location we’d end up becoming VERY familiar with by the time the cruise was done. This would house the nightly shows and performances (more on those later) and it would also be the home to trivia games, contests, bingo, and a lot of other fun activities.

On stage ready to kick some butt!

The first night was “Game Show Night”.  Me being me, of course, immediately volunteered for Round One.  Luckily for me it was a “Name That Tune” contest that really was too easy (well…for me, at least…lol). Actually, at one point the host (Kiwi) had me stand to the side of the stage and start counting the lights in the chandalier in the middle of the room so that the other two had a chance to get back into the game.

But at the end of the day, I prevailed and ended up winning the first of FIVE trophies…the infamous “Ship on a Stick”. Can you tell how happy I was to win this beautiful piece of gold-plated plastic?

SHIP ON A STICK, BABY!!!

As the first day came to a close, Sunshine and I were absolutely exhausted. The party was still ongoing on deck but we just needed to catch up on our sleep and knew that we’d have PLENTY of time to further enjoy our experience.

This last picture became a nightly highlight for us. Y’see, every evening when the room steward turns down our sheets and provides us with a mini-newsletter of what’s happening on the ship the following day (yeah…how awesome is that?), they also make a little “towel animal” and leave it on our bed.  We were really impressed with this and it was just one more small, but extremely fun, detail that added to the overall enjoyment of the cruise.

Here is the towel animal from Day One:

Is this a seal or a vagina with eyes? I'll let YOU decide.

So ended the second day of the vacation. C’mon back tomorrow for more!