Pre-cruise and embarkation day

We flew into Fort Lauderdale and our friends, J & E, drove down from their place in West Palm Beach to pick us up.  We were able to spend the evening and much of Sunday with them and their adorable bundle of energy.

Sunday, October 12, 2008


J & E just moved into a lovely apartment with incredible views.  I unfortunately didn't think to take any photos of the outdoor mall where we had dinner on Saturday night, nor the lovely rooftop pool and lounge area where we sat and talked until way later than we should have.

J & E's three-year-old was a blast.  He is almost completely bilingual (English and Spanish); mom is Spanish and dad is American.  He spent much of the summer in Spain, and his dad was lamenting that he wouldn't speak English to him.  I quickly noticed that when mom and dad weren't around, he spoke English to me without a bit of trouble.

Little booger.

I guess since he knows that his dad speaks Spanish and that is his first language, he just wasn't going to be bothered with English.  What a stinker!

The little guy warmed right up to his "Uncle Rob", and the two had a blast kicking back for some movie time and tickling one another.  Rob also taught him what every uncle should teach their nephew - the art of administering wedgies.

After enjoying an amazing lunch prepared by E, we headed back down to Fort Lauderdale and Port Everglades.  We boarded the ship, Crown Princess, around 3:00 PM, breezing right through the check-in process.  We went straight to our cabin, meeting our room steward, Henry, who gave us some instructions, answered questions, and confirmed our dining (we'd had a huge mix-up thanks to an unfortunate error on the part of our TA, but they managed to get it all fixed without a moment to spare, and we were confirmed for the late seating traditional dining room).

Our room was a bit larger than I anticipated (though Rob thought it was smaller than expected).  Definitely adequate for two people with plenty of spots to stow our things.  It wasn't too long before we were called down for the "Muster Drill" - a necessary albeit tedious orientation explaining what to do in the event that our ship became the HMS Titanic.

We went back to our cabin and started unpacking until we heard Captain Andy announce that we were leaving port.  We journeyed up to one of the upper decks and joined the crowd as our ship slowly pulled away from the city.

I was amazed how many people came out of their homes to wave to us as the ship sailed by.  Everyone on deck was in a festive mood (some more than others, as they'd obviously discovered one of the many bars quite early).



It felt like a dream.

We spent some time exploring more of the upper decks, then wandered into one of the buffet restaurants where I bought a "coffee card" (it gave me 15 specialty coffees and unlimited brewed coffee - very important since the free stuff was nothing more than a coffee syrup added to water: blech), and then grabbed a pre-dinner snack, since our seating wasn't until 8:15 PM.

What a spread - the sheer amount of food available on a cruise borders on the obscene.  The embarkation night buffet was chock-full of yummy seafood, and I especially enjoyed the plethora of shrimp.  I also discovered what would become my cruise-crack: fresh pineapple.

Oh. My. Word.  That stuff was like candy.  I think I inhaled ate half a dozen pineapples all by myself over the course of the week.

We wandered about the ship a bit more, then headed back to our cabin to prepare for dinner.  In order to eat in the main diningrooms, one is required to dress "smart casual" (think business casual), save the two formal nights.  At first, I wasn't sure if I would like that, but I actually enjoyed gussying up a bit for dinner each night.

For those unfamiliar with cruising, traditional dining means you will be sitting at a table of 6-8 people who you usually don't meet until that first night.  I have to admit, I was a bit apprehensive about who our table mates might be, but thankfully my fears were unwarranted.  We were seated with a family (mom, daughter, and son) who were onboard to celebrate the mom's 81st birthday.  Best of all, they were all experienced cruisers (the son having cruised over 100 times!), and they graciously answered our questions and gave us great tips and ideas.

Our servers were Florin and Renata from Romania.  Florin reminded me of PeeWee Herman before he turned out to be a creepy freak.  Renata was sweet albeit a little over enthusiastic at times.  She also pronounced her "Rs" as if she learned English in the Bronx (which Rob found particularly humorous, for some reason).

I didn't think to take any photos of our food (I did try to do that on other nights, but was rather hit or miss, as you will see), but you can see my dessert (hazelnut icecream) in this one.  I can't remember all that I had...I think I had pinacola soup (chilled) and fettucine alfredo that first night (this quickly became a favorite of Rob; I think he had it as his appetizer every night of the cruise).  Rob had steak, and immediately told me that while it was good, it was no where near as tasty as mine or Gary's.

After dinner, we did some more exploring, still trying to get our bearings on where things were and what the ships' nightlife had to offer.  We saw the very last bit of comedian Phil Tag's act in the Theater.  We turned in soon after...I think we were both a bit overwhelmed and not a little exhausted from the previous week.

Stay tuned for Monday, October 13th - Princess Cays (the Bahamas)!