I either adjusted to the 3-hour time change extremely easily or I was just excited - but I was up and in the shower by 6 AM (Eastern Standard Time) Saturday morning. At about 6:20 AM, my daughter was excitedly motioning at me to come see "our ship" out the window of our hotel room. I grabbed a towel and couldn't believe it when I looked and discovered that she was right! Our Caribbean Princess was coming west - headed straight for us before turning to head to Port Everglades - what a sight that was - one I'll never forget! We woke the boys up, showered and dressed before enjoying a buffet breakfast at the hotel around 8 AM. Our baggage was collected and we were driven via a shuttle bus to the port, arriving right at noon. We filled out the health questionnaires we were given while in line and met a great family with whom we interacted all week long. They, too, had 2 young children - a daughter our daughters' age and a son who was a year older than ours - but whom was Autistic too. What are the chances of that? We really enjoyed them and are so happy to have met them. The check-in process wasn't too bad. We had our picture taken right before entering the gangway to the ship and were happily in our room within an hour of arriving at the port.
The ship was gorgeous. We were all just thrilled to finally be on the vessel which we had, over the last few months, learned and talked so much about. Our room, as expected, was small. We knew going in that it would be but we live in a rather large (5,700 square feet) home and adjusting to the 224 square feet we found ourselves living in together did take a day or so. Honestly, the room was completely manageable with the ages/sizes of our children - as long as the upper berths were not down. When they were, it was very difficult to maneuver around the room. (I have bruises to prove it!) We set our stuff down, went out onto our balcony (which was starboard so the view was of the less-than-attractive dock) and then went to explore the ship as 3,000+ of our fellow passengers filed onboard. We visited the pool area - already starting to fill with people - and the kids' camp before going back to our room to prepare for the 4:15 PM muster drill. I'd warned the children ahead of time about it as I didn't want the alarm sounds to upset them. They were fine and rather enjoyed the bright orange life-jackets they were taught how to put on.
When we returned to our cabin post-muster drill, we met Kemmanat - our room steward for the week. He was wonderful and handled everything in our room just beautifully.
Our Sail Away was delayed 45 minutes becuse of passengers who had not yet made it to the ship but that didn't stop the party! We spent time on the Lido deck (around the pool) as well as at the Tradewinds Bar where we met with a few (wonderful) people I'd met online on a bulletin board for people interested in cruising. It took me a few minutes to even realize that we were moving once we did leave the dock - I couldn't believe how steady (and not scary!) it was. I loved the Sail Away - leaving the port and beginning this much-planned-for journey was absolutely exhilerating. Port Everglades is lined with hotels and homes and condominiums where people come out and wave furiously at departing ships. The kids loved it and I was in awe of everything.
By 6 PM, we were hungry and headed to Caribe for the seafood buffet. I phoned my parents (in California - cell signal was still strong) and shared our excitement with them. At 7 PM, we headed to one of the ships' lounges for the Kids' Club orientation and we were in our cabin and ready for bed by 8 PM. Unfortunately, our children - who had never seen beds like the upper berths before - were over-tired and over-excited and it took almost 3 hours (and dozens of trips up and down the ladders to their beds) to get them to sleep. The end of one big day for our family...
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