Getting Ready on Day 1

Saturday, Jan 5, 2013

We woke up this morning at 8:00.  Showered and dressed, and then Karen phoned.  She got the message of our room number from the desk last night, and decided not to call us then, as she knew we would be tired.

When we went to bed last night, I was streaming the audio of the Blazers game.  It started just after 10:00 EST, so I didn't figure to be awake long enough to hear things.  Dawn was asleep and awake, so in the end, she listened until 1:00, when she said it just shut off - the game wasn't over.  I don't know what happened, but she knew the Blazers were ahead.  I had to log onto the Blazers site this morning in order to find the final score - 6-1 for us.  (Yippee)  We hope Ross enjoyed the game.

After going down to the eating area, we decided to only have coffee.  The breakfast wasn't that great, and we weren't too hungry, so it did the trick for us.  Back at the room, I checked TSN to find that Canada had lost the Bronze medal game, so it was another bad day of hockey.

Then, it was get things ready for the bus, and we were checked out and waiting for the shuttle by 10:45.  However, they had changed the time, combining the 11:00 and 12:00 shuttles with a shuttle bus at 11:30.  There were lots of people and the bus stopped at 4 different ships, so I guess it was the best use of time.

I hadn't printed our boarding passes or our baggage check tickets, so I was a little worried about being able to board, but clearly Princess Cruise Lines is used to people like me.  They had all sorts of contingencies, and we were able to get in quite easily.

View of Fort Lauderdale Harbour

We boarded, got into our rooms, and then went for a walk around some of the decks.  We had our emergency drill at 3:15, and after the Costa Concordia, Dawn paid close attention (funny how a tragedy does that to someone)  Karen and Lloyd had gone for a smoke, so we didn't see them at the drill.  Instead, we met in the buffet for lunch.  Ate too much, but that is usual for me.

Ship that was mnoored beside ours, as we left the pier

Then we went back to our room to see if our bags had been delivered, so we started unpacking.  We were so busy, we didn't even notice we had pulled away from the pier, but upon noticing we were moving, we went onto our deck to see the leaving. 

After everything was away, we got things set up - clocks set, CPAP machine repaired, etc.  Then we watched a little TV.  The Houston-Cincinatti football game was on, so we watched until half time.  Then, we thought we should go out and sign up for the internet.  On finding the Internet Cafe, the sign said the guy wouldn't be there until 7:00, so we went and purchased some things from the duty free store.

That's where we go to leave the harbour

Then, while we were listening to a fellow play the steel drums and watching a few couples dance, Karen and Lloyd pulled up.  They were heading for some dinner.  We weren't too hungry, but agreed to go with them.  Good thing I wasn't hungry, because I can't imagine how much would have been on my plate if I was  hungry.  After that, I was stuffed.

Well, trying to find our way back to our cabin after that was a bit of an adventure, but we finally made it.  I signed up for internet, right from our room, and after sending a quick email to the family, I sat down to produce this entry for the blog.

We are watching to second football game right now (Minnesota-Green Bay).  I'm afraid if I settle down to watch it, I will be falling asleep.  But, it will take a while to recover from the long trip down here, and the lack of sleep on the long flight.

Until tomorrow.