Reflections of My Travel :: Day 2 – Bahamas Celebration Cruise

Day 2 – Bahamas Celebration Cruise

Oct 19
2009

This morning, we were able to sleep in just a bit before the hotel’s breakfast bar was closed. We then took our time checking out of the hotel and found our way to the Port Everglades cruise terminal (after a quick stop at the Ramada Visitor Welcome Center to get our boarding voucher). Oh. My. Goodness. I know that this is a small cruise line, but good grief at the embarkation process. We waited in several different lines. Long lines. We had security, luggage check, paperwork, check-in, dinner reservations (what?!), security photos, embarkation photos, and, finally, gangway entrance. It took us one hour and forty-five minutes to board the ship. Craziness.

Perhaps this would be the time to stop and explain that this was a “free cruise” (had to pay port charges and fuel surcharge, which was practically nothing). The travel agency we booked last year’s cruises with offered this little two-night cruise as an incentive to book with them. Since we did two cruises back-to-back with them, we got two free cabins on this Imperial Majesty line. I had looked it over online beforehand and I really wasn’t expecting much. Since my sissy and BIL were joining us, I tried my best to prepare them. I repeatedly told them that I was not expecting a great, luxurious trip but that the four of us would be together having fun and that would make it worthwhile.

All of that to say this… I was very pleasantly surprised by this ship. It was far nicer than I expected it to be. The only thing that met my low expectations (and maybe even sank them) was the staterooms. I was a bit taken aback when I walked in and found two pull-down cots in bunk bed form. Seriously, the “room” is 6’x6’, enough space to have one cot going across the back wall and one cot above that going down the left side wall.

our very own luxury jail cell

The bathroom is pretty standard for a cruise ship but that room?! The beds?! I truly was not expecting the bunk bed situation. Even that wasn’t as bad as the bedding that was on them – threadbare sheets and ragged blankets. Oh well, considering how much nicer the rest of the ship is compared to my expectations, I can deal.

When we met back up with sissy and BIL, we took the tour of their stateroom (also bunks, but one directly over the other as opposed to our perpendicular ones which made more room for storage) and they took the tour of ours before we all headed up to the lunch buffet.

while we found many of desserts at the buffet, we never did find any deserts on the ship. yes, we were highly amused by the english-as-a-second language all over the ship.

while we found many desserts at the buffet, we never did find any deserts on the ship. yes, we were highly amused by the english-as-a-second language all over the ship.

We then spent the afternoon attempting to nap in our respective staterooms but they kept making very loud announcements over the PA system every fifteen minutes or so which was not at all conducive to me napping. We all met back up, some more rested than others, for the muster station drill and a continued exploration of the ship.

BIL, the painter, found and inspected the paint locker

whereas sissy was more interested in playing with the fishies

and hubby got all electric! boogie woogie woogie with the electric slide

We spent some time on the very comfortable poolside loungers,

lounging around the pool

sissy and BIL relaxing sans kiddies

enjoyed our view of the sail-away,

pretty bridge and yachts

my attempt at the technicolor csi-miami condo shot

our small passage

a look back at ft lauderdale

hubby, me, and a lovely sunset

and eventually made our way to our scheduled dinner.

I had mentioned earlier that one of the long lines that we encountered during the embarkation process was for dinner reservations. This ship does the standard early/late seatings but you also have to choose your dining room. There is the normal sit down with a menu and order restaurant and there is a themed buffet restaurant (also another fancy restaurant for which you have to pay extra). We made our reservations for the buffet tonight and the standard dining room tomorrow night. The theme for the buffet tonight was Brazilian and it was in the style of a mini-churrascaria– we made a buffet run for salads and sides and then they came around to all of the tables with long skewers of meat (beef, turkey, sausage, and duck – yeh, duck) and put slices on our plates as long as our tag was turned to green.

pirates!

After dinner, the show. There was a Tina Turner style singer with a lovely voice and impressive dancing considering the extreme motion of the ship and her six inch stilettos. She was followed up by a British comedian who started out very funny but lost me a bit when his show turned into impersonations of cultures around the world.

We followed up the shows by sneaking into the teens-only lounge for a little play time before bed.