That's 'pilots' not 'pirates' of the Caribbean

This morning we got up early and went out on deck with our coffee so we could see the ship pull into Freeport. There were a couple of other people near us, and they started getting really excited, pointing to something in the water. This is what they saw:

Then they got really excited when the ship pulled alongside us:

I asked what the excitement was all about, and they said they thought it was pirates. I explained that this was the harbor pilot, who has to board the ship to drive it into the port. By this time the pilot had boarded and the ship moved away:

They were disappointed. One of them even said, “Oh, that’s not as dramatic as pirates.” Well, no, it’s not.

Here are a few more photos. This is the waterslide I keep talking about, from two views:

And this is the wide-screen. For reference, that’s Tony standing under it.

We’re off to play with the dolphins.

Relaxing day ... and we found Henry!

I don’t know what the Guinness Book of World Records’ current record is for the number of naps a person can take in one day, but I think I might be a serious contender.

Today was one of the two days at sea (the other being the last day of the cruise on our way home), and it was as relaxing as I could have hoped for. We had no schedule, just went wherever we wanted, ate whenever (and whatever) we wanted (coffee and pastry, followed by breakfast, followed by mid-morning pizza, followed by lunch … you get the idea), joined in when we wanted, took naps when we wanted.

One of my naps was on deck – but fortunately I did get slathered up with sunblock (SPF 1-trillion) first. Alas, I will still end up sunburned, because I have very fair skin, and it does not get along well with the sun. Maybe if the two spent more time together.

We did not hit the waterslide as we’d hoped to. The line was just too long, and what can I say, we were not in the mood to wait. Still a few more days to do that, though.

Mid-morning we met up with the Cruise Critic roll-call folks for our meet-and-greet. We were quite the festive gathering with our beads. It was good to put a face to the screen names.

Tomorrow we’ll be in Freeport, and our excursion – as I’ve mentioned before – is the Dolphin Encounter. Looking forward to encountering them.

Oh, and here’s this photo, especially for Amanda. Look whom we spotted in the hallway! It’s Henry!

Embarkation day recap

One of Carnival’s latest features is a huge widescreen flat-panel, and I do mean huge – it’s positioned over the pool area. They show movies and concerts and other things, and both the picture and sound are great. There was a movie – The Bourne Ultimatum – but we watched only part of it (not having seen the other Bourne movies or read the books, we didn’t have a clue what was going on … they should have shown Back to the Future). Still, we stayed long enough to know it’s a quality setup, and we’ll head back for other movies. There’s something really cool about sitting on deck beside the pool watching a movie, with waiters milling around ready to go fetch a beer or glass of wine or some rum concoction.

Last night, after the obligatory lifeboat drill (which: I’m thinking if we hit an iceberg or some equally calamitous thing happens, there’ll be a lot more chaos and a lot less lining up by height, I’m just saying), we did the most important task: finding the fastest route from our cabin to the buffet. (Priorities, people!) The important thing is we found out where the 24-hour pizzeria (oh yeah!) and the ice cream self-serve machines are located.

That task completed, we went to the welcome aboard show, and the comedienne was great: Kim Harrison, from West Columbia, S.C., by golly. I’m hoping to run into her on the ship and talk to her – seeing as how we’re practically neighbors (100 miles apart, but still). (This is what traveling does to me. “You’re from South Carolina? Me too!” And then I do the typical southern thing and ask about “your mama and them.”)

After the show we moseyed around the ship. We found a really good singer in a lounge area outside the casino. As we were looking around for a seat that was close enough to hear but far enough way that our eardrums wouldn’t burst from the loud speakers – what did we run into but the Coral Sea Café, which is a type of dessert bar with about 10 different kinds of chocolate cake and milk shakes and other chocolate desserts and coffee and did I mention there’s chocolate. There is no finer moment in life than this, people.

By then (after I did indeed partake of one certain chocolate creation with fruit on top) we could keep our eyes open no longer and went to the cabin. I know that makes us weenies, but it was after midnight, and we are old married people who lived through three teenage daughters. Cut us some slack. Sail-away parties were still in full swing, though, all over the ship. For those of you who can keep up the pace, you won't be disappointed.

We left the curtains open last night, and this morning we woke up to the sunrise over our balcony. How awesome.

Today we plan to hit the waterslide. I’ll try to get photos of that fun and post later.

ETA: I'm taking creative license with the "teenage daughters" comment because people with teenagers, especially daughters, can relate. But truth is our daughters are terrific, and we're very proud of them.


.

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:

.

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?

.

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.
.