First Night On Board

The first night on board was awesome.  That is when all the fun truly began.  You usually spend your first night getting used to where everything is on the ship and trying to find your way around.  Lucky for us, this wasn’t our first Carnival cruise and Carnival builds all of their ships with the same basic design.  So we pretty much knew where all the important stuff was – life jacket, food, casino, life boat, comedy club, bar, restaurant! That’s all we needed.  We got on board, got our sail and sign cards squared away and found our way to our rooms.  Because we chose to stay in a suite, we were able to check directly in to our room and our steward was waiting for us upon check in.  We met Merlyn and were given our first night’s itinerary which included player’s club coupons for the casino and coupons for the shops on the fifth deck.  We were given a brief overview of the ship and then sent on our merry way.  We did a quick run of the ship and then decided to return to the room to unpack.  After unpacking we decided to go to dinner.  The food is ALWAYS amazing.  LOVE THE FOOD.  We sat with a really fun couple from Jersey and enjoyed a great variety of dinner.  Unfortunately dinner was interrupted when we were all summoned to our muster stations for the evenings training on how to abandon ship in the event of an emergency.  Fortunately, we didn’t abandon our wine!  Mustering can take a while.  Gathering 4000 people from their rooms and dance clubs can take a long time and trust me… this is a MANDATORY event and they are serious about it!! 

After muster, the real fun begins.  Jason and I went back to the room and we stood on the balcony and watched the ship disembark.   It’s my favorite part.  Watching the lights fade and watching the cities disappear.  It’s so calming.  Then it’s time to party!  Jason and I wandered the ship some more and then we headed to the casino where we began some of the greatest friendship.  That is where we met Inne and Leanne.  They are the casino hosts and we spent most of the week with them.  I began a simple conversation with them about shopping and that conversation began a great friendship.  It was amazing.  I will tell you more about each of them in a later blog, but trust me, they are worth knowing.  So fun! 

So this was the first night…. Amazing ship, amazing fun and a great week ahead of us…. Can’t believe we are actually here.  I miss my girls, but I am so very excited to be here!