Day One

We leisurely got ready and ate breakfast at the nicest little breakfast area by the pool at our hotel. Our vans left the hotel headed toward the cruise ship around 11 that morning. We found one to fit eight people plus all our luggage and piled in!

the whole crazy crew

Once we arrived at customs near the ship, we all had our luggage tagged with yellow tags to be delivered to our staterooms later that night.

Everyone got their embarkation papers and passports out, and we headed into the building. Last time Russ and I went on a cruise, we didn't have to have passports or go through customs, so this was new to us. We filled out medical information with questions like: "Have you had a sore throat in the last couple of days?" We answered the questions and signed at the bottom, showed our passports, and inched closer to the ship.

Me and Russ

Dustin and Mary

Lee and Kristin

Just so you know, I was a tad bit nervous about this cruise. Not the cruise itself so much as the thought of being in the middle of the ocean with no land in sight. I don't remember feeling this way last time. But, once you are on the ship...all is forgotten! There is WAY too much to do, and the ship is WAY too big to feel isolated in the middle of the ocean.

Please notice the temperature in Miami on December 11, while our hometown was fighting 15 degree weather!

We eventually boarded the ship and explored as much as we could before we were distracted by another fun place or event. Ha! Mama hurriedly made reservations where needed, and we found our staterooms as soon as they were opened and cleaned from the previous cruise.

When Russ and I opened our door, I had a grand surprise! You see, I celebrated my birthday while on board, and my parents had the room decorated with banners, balloons, and crepe paper! I even had a birthday cake and other goodies on the counter!

Happy Birthday to ME! (a couple days early)

My birthday cake

These chocolate covered strawberries didn't last long!

We were on board by 12 or 1 Saturday afternoon, and the boat didn't embark until 4:00. So, we had lots of time to play before we even left the port!

Miami skyline

We found a table with a great view, laughed, talked, enjoyed the DJ, and even danced a little ourselves! We became instant friends with Wilson, who referred to Daddy as "Sir Smith" and Mama as "Dirty" (his version of Dorothy...her first name). He called Lee "Fred" (his first name) and Russ "Bill" (since his first name is William). Every time we saw him, it was like a good friend. Russ would yell, "Wilson!" Wilson would call back, "Hey Bill!" It was hilarious!

Lee, Kristin, Daddy, Mama, and me

Mama and Daddy

At 3:30, when everyone was on board, the Bon Voyage party with our very own "celebrity DJ", began. The cruise director, the dancers, and the one and only Spongebob Squarepants partied as we embarked on our fabulous 7-day cruise. And, if Spongebob says it's time to party....you better PARTY!

Paul Scally, our Australian cruise director

Spongebob and gang

Mama and Daddy showing us how it's done!

It's really difficult for me to explain exactly what all was going on during our embarkation. Hmmm....

Maybe if you watch this video, you'll get a better idea. Ha! (Mute my playlist first.) Enjoy!

Didn't I tell you this was FUN!? Once the party started good, it didn't really stop. We went to our staterooms to change into swimsuits and shorts. The boys were chomping at the bit to slide down these awesome slides!

the pool area

Me and Russ in the kids' pool area

Russ at the bottom of the green slide....this slide wound around OFF the top of the ship and came back in! Made me a nervous wreck! But, I finally did it myself on the last day!

Leeroy..."Let's go again!"

Before we knew it, the sun was setting and the music was still playing. But, it was time to shower and get ready for our supper at Taste.

There are some things that happened on this cruise that I'll never be able to fully convey on this blog. But, just know a LOT of hilarious things happened between sunset and supper. One involving see through glass showers, newlyweds, and Daddy! I'm pretty sure Daddy laughed ALL the way through supper. We sat directly under this beautiful lighting while we ate supper on our first night on board. It was a delicious meal, and a great way to start our cruise.

After supper, there was much on our list to do! First, a stop to the Ice Bar. This is an amazing place where the cups, seating, and counter tops are made of ICE! We checked in at the counter and received our Eskimo coats and gloves.

It looked safe enough. Nicely adorned in cute tiles looking like a nice igloo. So cute, we thought. We were giggling at the sight of our coats and couldn't wait to enter this neat little place.

Then, we entered the only ice bar in the world that is on sea...

Daddy introducing himself to the viking

There were ice sculptures, ice benches, ice counters, ice walls, and fur toppers on the seats so you wouldn't get stuck to them I guess. Ha! It was FA-REEZ-ING! It didn't take long for our noses to turn red!

Mary is in shock at the temperature - 11 DEGREES!!!!

Yep! You read that correctly! 11 Degrees! COLD! About ten minutes into this little 30 minute reservation, the girls were dying. You should know that we all had on flip flops! Brrrr! One by one the girls peeled off. First, Mama. Then, Mary and Kristin. Eventually all that was left was me and the boys. But, sadly, I didn't last quite 30 minutes! Ha! In fact, the workers only work 30 minute intervals. They switch places every thirty minutes so that they wouldn't freeze. Does that help you understand?

Dustin and Mary

Me and Russ

Lee and Kristin

Once the boys strutted their egos after being able to stay the whole time, we headed over to our last event of the evening: an 11:00 Blue Man Group show! Mama and Daddy had seen the Blue Man Group in Las Vegas once, but the rest of us had never seen them. It was very entertaining! So fun and very funny!

Mama and Daddy sat on the second row...and were asked to wear ponchos. Uh oh! Ha!

There were so many fun special effects, some very funny tricks, and great entertainment. We couldn't take pictures during the show, but I'll show you what I saw as soon as the lights came back on....

Dustin

Yes, we got rolled by the Blue Man Group!

Russ and me with a blue man

What an incredible first day at sea! We laughed saying that our cruise is complete. It couldn't possibly get more fun than this first day. We acted goofy, had a blast, and did what we wanted without a care in the world! Aaahhhh....the life at sea sounds good to me!

And we hadn't even been anywhere yet...