On board!

We got to the port about 3:20 and moved through security and check-in pretty quickly and got on board by about 3:50. Not bad. Still, I have to say, compared to Port Canaveral (which is where we usually sail out of), it seems a little less organized. But that's probably due to the fact that Charleston has way fewer ships sailing out of here.

Oh, and Tony's beads were a bit hit with the check-in group. Every one of them commented.

I know you're all curious about what we did first (after finding our cabin, of course). We hit the food, what else? Delicious buffet, awesome dessert. Two thumbs up to everything so far. (I could not be a food critic. Obviously.)

We ate at a window seat in the Mediterranean Cafe with a view of Charleston. I live here and I'm a little jaded on the town, but this is an awesome view. We noticed that the shuttle buses and the cars were backed up way down the road. Glad we got here when we did!

We checked out the layout of the ship -- as much as one possibly can within an hour on a ship this size. Then we got connected to the wi-fi. As you can see:

This is the view from our cabin (can you see why he was such a hit with those beads?):

She's heeeeeere

For those who are wondering, yes, our ship came in. We were at the waterfront park when she arrived and watched her being tied up:

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Beads

Something we started doing for the past few cruises is wearing beads -- and when I say beads, I mean as gaudy as can be (think Mardi Gras) -- and having other people from Cruise Critic wear them too so we can spot each other when we first get on board. (For example: from the Mariner cruise last year.)

We don't wear them throughout the cruise -- just through the Customs check-in and maybe the first few hours.

Here are ours. Mine is on the left. It has animals on it, and Tony added an alligator from one of my wind chimes to the bottom. (For more on the "thing" I have for alligators, visit here.) Tony's is the one with the red hot peppers. He was going to get one that had red hots AND blinked, but we decided that would just be too much, even for Mardi Gras/cruising. Adorable, aren't they?

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Charleston excursion

We did our first excursion! Charles Towne Landing:



We saw some of the "babies" -- two-year-old alligators:



And we saw Sherman, who seems to have gotten in a fight recently.

Other than that, we're still packing. So far the experience of cruising out of our home town, as opposed to traveling 400 miles to Port Canaveral, is going well. We're just aware of how much we've put off to the very last minute, knowing that we have until tomorrow afternoon/evening before getting on the ship. Had we been going to Florida, we'd have gotten on the road Friday night and made a stop in St. Augustine ... the point being that our vacation would have already started.


Something to think about.
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Dolphin encounter

In Freeport, our excursion will be the dolphin encounter. I won't get through this experience without thinking of the movie "The Day of the Dolphin." (Fa!)

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What I'm looking forward to most, excursion-wise

The Atlantis Aquaventure, a day pass to the Atlantis resort and its awesome water slides and pools:
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Take a look at our digs

Here's what our cabin looks like:




It's an aft balcony cabin. When we leave Charleston, we'll be sitting out there with a view of the Ravenel Bridge.


Here's the layout:

For a virtual tour, click here. It looks a little small, but remember, this is just where we sleep ... and have champagne on the balcony. The rest of the ship is HUGE.
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