Had another slow start today, since we weren’t in a big rush to go anywhere. Once we had gotten dressed we headed downstairs for breakfast again. Like the day before, wasn’t the best, wasn’t the worst, but it was enough to satisfy us until we would get on the ship. After our bite to eat, we headed back upstairs and finished packing up our bags and securing our luggage tags. We then just hung out for a while since we still had plenty of time before we needed to board the ship, we lazed around for a while and watched The Vow on TV. We didn’t actually finish it before it was time to head downstairs and make our way to the ship.
After following the advise of several people on Cruise Critic we decided that I would drop Mom and our luggage off at the port, then I would return the rental car to the airport and then take a taxi back. While we were pretty close to the port, it did take us a while to get there, and we did drive through most of the port before we made our way to the Royal Princess berth. It felt like we were waiting forever in this line to get to the drop off point. This was the first photo of the ship that I could get since I was driving, she sure is beautiful (less the orange pylons).
Once we made it to the drop off point I let mom and our luggage out and I made my way back to the airport. There was an accident on the way and it felt like it took forever to get back there. I got the car dropped off and headed back to the terminal and to look for a washroom, well it turns out there are not very many public washrooms in that area of the FLL airport. So instead of trying to find one there, I decided to just head out and grab a cab, so I could make my way back to the terminal as I knew Mom would be starting to worry. The trip back was much quicker and I actually hopped out part of the way through the loop this time, since I had no luggage. I found Mom sitting on a bench talking to some others that were waiting. I made a mad dash to the washroom (which lucky for me was right there). We then decided to head inside and begin our embarkation. We completed our paperwork about illnesses and made it through the x-ray machines quite quickly. Then we headed to the lines to receive our cruise cards and that line was long! But it really didn’t take us very long, soon enough we were heading through the terminal, getting our photo taken and having our cruise card scanned for the first time.
Once we got on board the ship was even more beautiful then I could imagine, the attention to detail is just amazing. I have pictures floor by floor that I will share in later posts. We entered the ship right next to Alfredo’s and I had read that they had really good pizza, so we decided to head right there and get a bite to eat. I didn’t get a picture of our pizza this day, but it was so good we went back a few other times and I did get pictures then. They were not kidding that pizza was one of the most delicious I have ever had, and I believe Mom would agree.
After our belly’s were full we decided to head up to our room and see if we could get settled a bit. We had a standard balcony suite on deck 12, it was room A308, which was pretty close to mid-ship. by the time we got there 1 of Mom’s bags had arrived so we made our way into the room.
It is definitely not the biggest room I have ever stayed in, but we new that going in, and it worked just fine for us. I took the bed next to the wall and relaxed a bit while Mom began unpacking since her bags had made it. Then I went out and did a bit of exploring, mostly I needed to find the smoking sections (since I hadn’t quit yet). By the time I got back to the room one of my bags had arrived so I started to unpack. We also met our room steward (I am terrible with names and cannot remember his), we didn’t have any complaints about him, we didn’t see him much, but he did a great job and got us whatever we needed.
Then it was time for muster, the one thing I don’t like about Princess is that you have to take your life jacket down with you, but this is for safety so we will roll with it. Our muster was in Club 6 and lucky for us we headed down there early so we managed to get a seat. We probably were there for about an hour, they cover all kinds of scenarios, so I felt pretty safe. Once we were released I took both of our life jackets up to the room and left mom sitting in club 6 for a while (since it takes forever to get anywhere after the muster).
Once it had calmed down a bit, we headed up to Deck 15 so we could take part in the sail away celebration, I got one of the cocktails of the day. I can’t remember what it was called, just that it had tequila in it, but it was really tasty.
While we waited for sail away I took some pictures of the waterways, I love watching the drawbridge and managed to get a great set of progression shots of that.
It is also just fun watching all of the nearby action, especially the 2 tugs pushing the giant freighter.
Before long it was time for Royal Princess to blow her horn (which happens to be the theme from The Love Boat” and we were on our way, I believe we were slightly delayed but not by much.
We stayed on deck for a while longer and then headed back down to our room so that we could finish unpacking, relax a bit and then get ready for dinner. By the time we got back to our room all of our suitcases had arrived, so we could go ahead and finish getting unpacked and settled into the room, however because the room is so small we could only really do this one at a time, so it took a while. Once we were all settled and ready we decided to head down to the dining room. We like to eat dinner in the dining room and do “anytime dining” so we are not stuck to a schedule. We also like sharing the table with others, as you get to meet a lot of interesting people, and on this trip, we had excellent table mates each night. We also learnt on our last cruise that when you are in the dining room if you want wine (and don’t have the drink package), you can order yourself a bottle of wine and they will cork it for you and store it for you until you finish the bottle, a much better deal then buying by the glass, and especially great if you like different kinds of wine, which Mom and I do. For dinner tonight I had a Pina Colada Soup and the Fettuccine Alfredo (there’s is delicious even if it is no longer served in the parmesan bowl. I didn’t take a picture of my dessert so unfortunately I don’t remember what I had.
After dinner we sat in the Piazza for a little while, before heading up to our cabin and calling it an early evening. We had had a long day and tomorrow we would be in the Bahamas!
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