Reflections of My Travel

We had a few bumps in the road, but we managed to get our cruise vacation after all.  I woke up around 04:00 this morning and couldn’t get back to sleep.  I guess I was a little anxious to make sure that everything went right and we actually got on the ship.  When hubby got up several hours later, he joined me in relaxing on the couch.  It was strange to not be running around like crazy but we actually got 99% of our packing completed last night so, perhaps for the first time ever, we were good to go day-of-travel.  We loaded up the car and got on the road a bit after 09:00 and headed west.  We made it to the port just after noon and found a crazy mess of traffic backed up waiting to get to the terminal.  I don’t remember it being anything like that last time we cruised out of Mobile.  It took us a while to get to the parking garage and then get parked but the wait inside to get through security and get checked in really wasn’t bad.  We were on the ship and in our room by 14:00 – yes, this cruise is really going to happen!!!  As we were leaving our luggage in the cabin, our room steward, Alit from Indonesia, stopped by to introduce himself.  He is a wonderfully friendly young man and we enjoyed our introductory chat with him before undertaking our first order of business – the excursion desk.  We booked snorkeling trips for Jamaica and Grand Cayman.  We had chosen a Mayan Ruin trip for Cozumel but we were informed that it wasn’t being offered on this cruise because we wouldn’t be in port long enough.  I guess it’s a good thing that it was too late for me to book excursions online because it showed available on the website.  We decided to go excursionless in Cozumel since we’ve been there several times before and know it’s a safe enough place to “wing it.”  Our next order of business was to take on the first buffet of the week!  Don’t you judge us - we had only a small breakfast around 08:00.  After lunch, we took a quick lap around the lido deck and then headed back down for the muster station drill, which was by far the longest and seemingly most chaotic one we’ve done yet. 

exploring the pool deck

Sail away was supposed to be at 16:00 but, for whatever reason, we didn’t actually pull out of port until about an hour later.  We then undertook a full exploration of the ship to get a feel for what all was there and where to find it.

carnival's whale tail as we leave mobile in the distance

who needs bunny ears when you can have whale tails?

cool wake pattern

hubby enjoying the view

Since one of us had been awake since 04:00, a quick nap before dinner seemed like a good idea but, sadly, my body was still fighting sleep.  Such is my life.  We always do the late seating for dinner.  It just seems to fit better not only with our regular routine but also with activities on the cruise.  We went to our 20:15 dinner and found that we were placed at a small, four-top table.  Generally, we prefer the eight- or ten-tops so that we can socialize with a variety of people but the couple we were seated with, Billy and Elaine from Tupelo, were very nice so we weren’t going to abandon them to be moved to a bigger table.  They were both former casino dealers so the conversation was interesting.  After dinner was the Welcome Aboard Show, one seating only, in the main theatre.  It included song, dance, and comedy.  There were two comedians who are promised to be performing for the next two nights.  Mark Hawkins has a very high energy, verging on caffeine-overdose, comedic style that I appreciated.  John Sibley is much more country-boy and laid back in his presentation – sitting down and talking slow.  Both made us laugh but hubby definitely preferred the “redneck” feel of Mr Sibley.  After the general audience (GA) show, we made our way up to the comedy club lounge for an adult-only (AO) set by Mr Hawkins.  I found this show to be much funnier than his brief GA bit.  It was a full day and I’m just relieved that we actually made it on our cruise.  It’s going to be a great week!

towel animal du jour: seal

mirror pic