plowing through the waves somewhere between Miami and Bermuda - what a
feeling!
Strangely, I did not even dream of missing the boat last night. After a
slow start to the day we packed the bags again - how come do the bags
feel heavier already? And then we sat and waited for the time to go
by..... and it did, quicker than I thought. We grabbed a taxi from the
airport - a 10 minute drive for $14, but hey - that's what it takes :)
As we crossed over the inter-coastal waterways, there she was - the
Celebrity Constellation!! And my gut churned and I was in love! She is
sleek and neat, not as tall or block looking as the other cruise ships
all around. She has style and her brightly colored life boats dot her
sides, measuring her length from bow to stern. And best of all? There
was a room waiting just for us!
After making sure we had our passports, the taxi driver left us standing
in a group of people all looking as if they knew what to do.... and they
did. Soon our luggage was wheeled away from us - me sort of nervous of
letting my laptop and all my camera parts, not the main camera's
though!, head off into the bowels of the workings of 'the system'. I
knew they were all going to be scanned for stuff that we were not
allowed to take on board, and hoped that the bottles of wine made it
through ok. And we were shown where to go to book in. All I had were
two pieces of paper with bar codes printed on them and our names.... it
was hard to believe that we were going to be allowed onto this vessel
with just those papers, and our passports, of course. The process did
not take long and soon we found ourselves standing in front of the
counter with a woman looking at me, then at my passport and then at my
Green Card/Permanent Resident Card........ and she said. "you have
definitely had a good few different hairstyles.... you should go back to
*this* one." she says, pointing at a photo of me taken 9 years ago, 15
pounds lighter and with no gray hair. Well, hell.... sure lady - find
me the flippen magic wand and I will go back! I think. But only if its
only the hair that changes.... :)
Before we got onto the boat we were posed in front of a huge poster,
told to smile and click went the camera. We thought it was some
security thing... but no - it was our 'boarding photo'. Why did no one
tell me that? Sigh... I would at least have tried to look like I was
already having fun... ah well. Again. And on we went following the
people walking in front of us. It was not crowded at all and everything
was very calm and relaxed with many smiling faces everywhere. We were
each issued with a credit card size piece of plastic that will serve as
the key to our door and its also to be used to buy anything on the ship
as well as to clock in and out of the ship when we go on shore
excursions. I bet it could be quite an issue if we lose it. After a
short walk through one of those things you walk through to get on an
airplane, there we were..... on board finally!
We were met with many more smiling faces and champagne being offered at
every angle.... Just looking around brought back memories of when I was
a very small child and my aunt was going on a cruise, we all walked into
the boat with her on a red carpet, to be met by a total sensory
overload. I remember being wide eyed and very excited way back then,
and this was similar to the feeling of seeing all this now. We have
been on much smaller ships in the Amazon Jungle and at the Galapagos
Islands, but neither of those boats was anything like this in size nor
in opulence. There are Christmas trees everywhere, hugs snowflakes and
other decorations everywhere... Its not as glitzy and shiny as I thought
it would be and we spent a good while just walking around soaking it all
in. Champagne done, we headed to the elevator to check out our
cabin..... but first found a place with ice cream, coffee and other
snacks and just had to try them out. Then we found the upper deck and
another deck, a bar with great beers..... it took us a while to get to
the cabin :)
The balcony is much bigger than I thought it would be and its already
one of my favorite places.. The room is small, but absolutely fine - we
don't plan to spend much time inside at all. There are huge mirrors 3
feet away from the bottom of the bed and.......well, I just saw myself
and notice that I really should get some sleep! (and yes, I found myself
trying to find my 'thin face' for future photos) The mirrors make the
room look and feel much bigger than what it is. In the bathroom they
have those little bottles of shampoo and conditioner and so on, and I
wondered why they put out so much - until I realized that there was only
half of what I thought there was - the brilliantly clean mirror ...well,
you know. There is a tv, fridge and plenty cupboard space and a couch
and little table too. So its very comfy in here.
After finding where we would be living for the next two weeks, and not
yet having our luggage brought up, we headed out to explore a bit more.
Oh, this is going to take a while to get it all figured out. I get
myself totally lost in a heartbeat, and Frank takes half a heartbeat to
get turned around too...and then just when I think we are in for yet
another mile of walking, we find something interesting and it does not
matter that we are lost - there is only so far one can go on this boat.
Just finding the restaurant tonight was an adventure in itself!
There are shops, a spa, theater, dance floors.........ach, so much,
probably everything.... and I know we have not seen it all at all. Our
cabin is almost right at the front of the ship which is great, we get to
feel the rocking and rolling as we head out... every now and again there
is a little jerk or pitch - we love it! Looking out over the balcony a
few minutes ago (again - I am like a kid in a candy store with that
balcony!), I can see the shining white wake all the way down the length
of the boat - lovely! The moon is bright and high in the sky and the
stars are shining brightly as well. It's a tad cool outside but if I
stand just a foot back from the railing, its beautifully balmy. But
wait, before we got here, we first had to leave the dockside. We were
supposed to leave at 5pm, but some people had their flights delayed and
the captain waited for them. This put us in the back of the line to get
out of here and 6 other cruise ships left before us.... It was lovely
watching them, all lined with people on the decks like tiny little
dolls, slowly turning around, catching the beautiful sunset red and
heading out to sea with no hassles at all. There are little boats all
around with blue flashing lights that stop all other traffic when one of
the ships leave port - they run around like matadors dodging the bows of
these ships as they dash across to the other side to tell yet another
little boat to stop.
We laughed...... yesterday we were looking slack-jawed at all the huge
boats as we cruised the intercoastal waterways in our cheapo taxi.....
tonight as we were leaving port, there was one of those huge, expensive
boats having to wait on us to pass on by...... only yesterday that boat
looked huge, today it lost that all - it was just a tiny thing from way
up on our deck. What a view we had from the deck. We could see the
ocean, the white beaches one one side, airplanes flying in in a constant
stream almost overhead, and the lights of Ft Lauderdale blinking on as
the sun set. Just lovely. It had rained a really good rain for about
an hour before and of course everything was wet and giving beautiful
reflections in all my photos. Yes, I took a few. Unfortunately it was
already dark by the time we left the port, but it was beautiful with all
the flickering lights of the early dark lining the city and beaches.
People in the hotel right at the port entrance, yelled and whistled and
waved as we went out - the modern day equivalent of throwing streamers,
I guess :)
And so we headed out to sea, the ocean dotted all over with the other
ships that had left before us, all brightly lit up by thousands of lights.
I bought internet access, but cannot get it in the cabin, which is a
good thing, I recon, and the closest place to get it, is about 3 miles
down the ship! Well, ok, maybe not three miles, but we are just a few
doors from the bows and the internet cafe is aaaaalll the way at the
back end. There are other places on board to get connected, but hey - I
will send and check emails once a day at least. That's plenty.
It's SO good to feel the boat moving and I am about to head out onto the
balcony again... or maybe I will get an early night and be ready for a
full day at sea tomorrow. This is good.. this is really good. We
decided on an early night tonight and tomorrow we will join in on the
doings of the boat..... and there is a lot to choose from.
So, for now - till next time
love and light
Annie
--
http://cruisebaggs.blogspot.com
PHOTOS: http://s992.photobucket.com/home/travelbaggs
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