Port Canaveral

Activities:

It was a busy morning. Francesca and David were up first and got their showers. By the time they were done CJ and Caitlin were awake. We had breakfast.. turnovers from Walmart then went to work packing the van. With the extra passenger we needed to use a roof top luggage carrier to handle all the bags along with the 2 wheelchairs. We were running a bit behind schedule but still managed to be on the road by 11:30. The later start was advantageous in terms of pretty much breezing through luggage drop off and check in. By 1:30 we dropped off our carry ons in the cabin.

The cabin was a pleasant surprise. Our understanding was that it had a sofa bed and 2 pullman beds that unfold from the wall. In reality the space which was used for the walk in closet on the Mariner was now walled in and closed off with a curtain. Inside are a set of bunk beds and a small storage area. And to replace the lost closet there are a few wooden storage units spaced around the cabin. CJ claimed the bottom bunk and we gave Caitlin the choice of the top bunk or the sofabed. She chose to try the top bunk despite the narrow gap to the ceiling.

After we checked out the cabin we headed to the Windjammer for lunch. We got our food and circled the area for table and finally found one right after the previous occupants left. CJ ate particularly well... pizza and a cheesburger with fries and he finished almost all of it. We bought the kids the soda package (unlimited fountain sodas from any of the ship's bars or restaurants) in advance of the cruise. They got cool thermos cups as part of the deal. By the end of the day the adults also had soda packages as it really is nice to be able to get a cold carbonated drink virtually anywhere on the ship with no charge.

After leaving the Windjammer we wandered down to the Royal Promenade so Caitlin could familiarize herself with the layout. While there are new additions, it is similar enough to what we were used to on the Mariner. We then went up the elevators and exited out on deck 12 so Francesca could go to the appointed meeting spot for the pre-Meet and Mingle. It was in virtually full sun so there was no real surprise to discover her face was sunburned by the end of the night.

After our exploration of the ship we headed back to the cabin to await our bags and unpack. Unfortunately some things (the shoe bag, Caitlin's bag and the manual wheelchair) didn't make it there before Muster Drill. We headed to Muster hoping the bags would be there waiting for us when we got back. Muster was actually rather pleasant. No life jackets are required any more (which is a loss as tradition has been for David to get a photo of Francesca and CJ in lifejackets at the Drill) and those in wheelchairs got to sit in Bolero's Lounge rather than hit the lines outside on the deck beside the lifeboats. They also let us go before the masses so we caught an elevator and made it back to our cabin without our previous long waits.

Unfortunately still no bags. Caitlin grabbed a camera and went off to further explore the ship. We noticed a message blinking which told us a bag was being held in the "naughty room" by security. David left to go retrieve our bag(s). As we suspected our array of tools to fix any powerchair issues held up our shoe bag. By the time David returned the manual wheelchair had arrived as well which only left Caitlin's bag.

By then it was sailaway time followed shortly by dinner time. In solidarity none of us dressed up for dinner as Caitlin couldn't. We were once again pleasantly surprised to find us at a table for 4 next to a window. Both our waiter Woravit from Thailand and assistant waiter May from Columbia worked hard to please us through dinner.

After dinner we went back to the cabin. Still no bag so Caitlin headed to the "naughty room" and discovered that her bag had lost it's tag. This didn't surprise us as the wheelchair when it arrived had the majority of someone else's luggage tag stuck on it. They aren't so easy on the bags from the time you drop them off to when they arrive at your cabin!

By this time we had reviewed the day's Compass and looked over the night's festivities. Now that Caitlin had her bag she was able to change for the night's parade which she and David attended (CJ was konked out relatively early thanks to all the earlier excitement) and then at midnight she attended a 18-20 mixer in the disco. Apparently it wasn't well represented but she met a young man from Ireland and they apparently spent some time laughing at the old fogies dancing skills!

She made it back to the cabin by 1:45. We gave her a 2AM curfew as we want her to really enjoy her vacation and not feel obliged to hang with us in the cabin all the time.

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