Carnival Cruise!

Day 1:

Today began our first adventure, carrying three generations of family females, aboard the Carnival Cruise Line the “Inspiration”. 

It all started early this morning (early to some people anyway) with packing, eating the last of food, loading up the car and meeting Emma and Aunt Vicky at their house. It was a lot messier than I remembering it being…Aunt Vicky has been lacking a lot of energy lately, but it was crazy. I swear driving to the dock was one of the most exciting things! Then when you finally can see the top of the ship poking out through the sides of sky scrapers- it’s like a tantalizing dessert staring you in the face…but you have to eat your dinner first. Check in and all that took about 30 minutes, but not at all terrible compared to air ports. Also I believe the fact that we were waiting to get on a cruise rather than a plane made the waiting seem like nothing at all. Once you got your check in complete you just walked onto the boat. The moment on you first stepped on a ship is like nothing you’ll ever experience before. Because it was the first time, you’ll never be able to feel like you did at that time, ever again. You look up and see 5 golden floors going up stories high and secretly 5 levels below are underneath our feet, the colorful lights red, blue, and green are all lite up as if a spotlight was cast on your arrival onto the Inspiration, sunlight is streaming in through the skylight above our heads where you see flags waving and white clouds sailing by, the piano man is playing his comforting music at his baby grand while the bar tenders underneath the elevators are working hard to keep up with the orders of all the oncoming guests. We had to stop by customs to get rooms rearranged- which gave us plenty of time to spin in circles with our jaws hanging wide open admiring the grandeur of the vessel we just boarded.  

We ate lunch (MMM MONGOLIAN) in a packed dining hall filled to the brim with hungry passengers, went to locate our rooms, relaxed for a little while, and then went to explore the ship. Getting yourself situated in a ship this big is a must-plus it reminds me of being a pirate; Locating the booty surrounding each corner. After exploring we had to endure a short security demonstration/briefing, walked up to the top of the ship where they have a mini golf course. While we were up there the ship started to take off, which was perfect because we were on one of the best spots on the ship to look out at the oncoming water we were to intercept. There will always be a breeze when you’re on a cruise ship. Preceding all this, dinner time was closing in. We journeyed back to our rooms where we changed out of flip flops and walked to the Mardi Gras dining area where we had a wonderful meal! All of my dishes were scrumptious; however, some courses my comrades tried where less than splendid. Everything on the menu was only there for one night and changed the next day. I decided on an appetizer of Beef and Barely soup, head of ice burg lettuce salad, had a main course of wonderful lasagna that has spinach in it (Grandy agreed it was the best dish for dinner that evening-if it pleases her, you know it’s good.), then had a dessert consisting of Lime Sherbert and a cheese tasting plate. Yes, we will be obese when we roll off this ship on Monday. 

Then waddling to the Paris…hall? (Also Emma and I got to see a quick watch of break dancers’ show off their moves before the shows started) We got to enjoy and participate in 3 shows: Guess that Movie Star, So you think you know how to dance (Emma and I got to get onstage and was taught moves to the song Single Ladies by a super-hot, super good dancer Charlie from Australia), then watched a game show involving guest being the contestants-they were all fun and quite humorous. We walked to the buffet where we dined on ice cream, frozen yogurt, and pizza-all of which are opened 24/7. Grandy went back to the room and Emma, Aunt Vicky, Mom, and I explored more of the ship we didn’t get to see earlier in the day. Mom and Vicky then went off to bed and Emma and I went back to our room. I was in the mood to blog, so Emma went out exploring (to the singles dance they were having I believe. She brushed her hair then put on deodorant and body spray, so I presume that’s where she went.) I’m about to head to the top of the deck for a slice of pizza and more personal blogging on the top of the ship. We’ve had a wonderful day! More fun and adventures tomorrow, then our excursion in Cozumel, followed by our last full day at sea before arriving back at the port of Tampa 9 o’clock Monday morning. Until tomorrow evening!