Sunday 22nd April 2007

The alarm woke us up at 8am this morning - we had to get up, there was going to be no taxi driver banging on our door today and today... was cruising day!

We finished packing our bags and checked out at about 9am. We rode the bus for about an hour until we got to Bayside. We could see the Carnival Victory ship, and so figured that, to save money, we would walk to the port.

Oh dear! After 6 days we obviously thought we were experienced travelers - I can assure you, we are not. The walk took about an hour and with our shells* on our backs, it was a struggle. At one point, because of the sun, I was starting to wonder if the Carnival Victory was just a mirage!?

When we got there at 12.30pm we went straight to check-in. As our room number was to be allocated on arrival, we were unable to give our shells* to a porter. Boy, was I going to hear about this later...

The check-in procedure was worse than at an airport - you go through this scanner, that scanner, go over to that line, spread your legs for that big hairy man (just joking) - and Nikki was starting to dehydrate... with her shell* still on her back - oh dear..!

After finally checking in, the fun really started. We chose to sit in the lobby of the ship and take everything in while all the Americans were charging around. We were lucky we did, because when it was announced that there was a buffet on the Lido Deck there was a mass stampede!

We tried to find our bearings on the ship and then went up onto deck as the ship set sail. We then lay on some sun-loungers as we left Miami. We lay here for about an hour before exploring some more and then getting ready for dinner.

Dinner was amazing! We were sat with a couple from Wigan and had a lovely meal. The staff were fantastic - taking care of our every need.

After eating we went for a wander and headed to the Caribbean Lounge, where there was a 'Welcome Show'. This was fun, and went on quite late - so once it had finished we headed back to our room to rest after a long day.

Americans are the Kings of food... eating it anyway!

*our backpacks - we like to think of ourselves as snails.