31 Jan

Day 3 – Embarkation!

 

Finally, the big day had arrived!  Woo hoo!! 

We didn’t have breakfast included with our rate and there weren’t many options nearby, so we all kind of toughed it out through breakfast.  We knew we’d be eating well soon enough.

We had some pretzels from the day before and a croissant from the plane still.  We were like scavengers.

If you remember my shower picture from yesterday, you may have noticed the shower has a typical European door, or lack thereof, and the floor was soaked after we finished our showers.  We couldn’t seem to figure that out.

After we rallied the kids, we went downstairs and waited for the shuttle.  It was about 10 minutes late.  I knew my chances of an upgrade were slipping away but I decided it was probably better not to spend that much anyway.  So I was at peace.

Here we are on the sidewalk:

Our hotel:

We took a chance with our scheduled shuttles and we knew it. If we booked something the website said would accommodate all of our luggage it would cost twice as much, so we decided to book something we could all fit people-wise and took our chances. If worse came to worst we knew someone could jump in a cab with some bags and we’d still come out ahead.

Here it is:

When the shuttle driver pulled up, he did a double take at our luggage. We crammed, held stuff, and we made it!

On our way!

When we saw the Magic siting there, we (I?) cheered as is our tradition. It was a quick 15 minute ride or so to the terminal. The line was ginormous! But moved rather quickly.

Almost in!

Check in!

Boarding group 3! Woot!

Here’s the check in line:

Today’s Navigator:

The in-laws were already there. We met up after checking in. They had boarding group 4 which was a little weird because we all had the same scheduled arrival time and they even got to the terminal before us.

Here’s the waiting area:

Minnie was there of course:

Here was the picture set up:

They started calling numbers pretty quickly and we boarded around 11:45. Here we go!

After our name was announced and the cheering stopped, our first stop was to Rocking Bar ‘D to try to get our Palo reservations linked up. They put us in the private room for dinner, but no dice for lunch. He was ready for us. He told us he’d tried to find something for us for brunch and already had us in the private room for dinner.

Then it was time for one of our favorite meals. Embarkation lunch at Parrot Cay.

Here’s my plate:

We saw a couple of people I knew from the boards and a couple of servers we knew.

Father in law was happy with the ice cream:

After stuffing ourselves, we walked up top to see the sights. There was a big cloud/marine layer hanging over.

The pool deck was still sunny:

Some crew members were at the crew pool:

Here’s the terminal from above:

People were swimming:

Palo!

At 1:30 we walked down to the room. Hello room! That was weird; we got the old Castaway Club bag:

Some of our papers:

Our bathroom:

Me!

Our stateroom host was named Kenneth which we thought was funny since my Dad’s name is Kenneth.

My parents were right next door but had a different host named Albert.

We tried not to sleep and thankfully our bags started coming at a pretty quick pace. We unpacked until the lifeboat drill and Sail Away party!

We were looking at the Navigator before going up to the lifeboat drill and noticed something. Read this:

Oops!! Methinks someone forgot to proofread the Navigators! We thought about going and demanding our bus transfers to WDW.  Our lifeboat station was in the shade thank goodness.

As we were going out to the party, we interrupted someone putting some gifts in our Fish Extender. They gave us great streamers and laurel wreaths. We put them on and headed upstairs! Party time!

See our cute new headwear?

The cast members were passing out scarves in honor of being on the first Greek sailing. Very cute!

When we started moving we walked to the side to see the sights.

The actual sail away was fairly impressive as the Captain did a complete turn around inside the narrow passage. It really looked like we were going to hit the side form some angles. I’m sure Captain Robert had it all under control though.

Here’s the ramp we walked up a few hours ago:

Check out all the white cars!

As we walked behind the basketball goal to the other side, we passed some giant vents. Before I knew it, my streamer and the stick it was attached to were sucked out of my pocket and into the vent! Ack!! I was afraid I broke the ship!! Thankfully part of the stick stuck and I could get it all back out.

We went back to our room and freshened up for dinner after that.

Our first dinner was in Lumiere’s. Our servers were named Plamen and Meisa. They were both wonderful. Plamen seemed a little nervous and overeager to please at times, but he loosened up over the trip and we really liked him a lot. He brought us extra appetizers and desserts every night to try. I love that!

Meisa was a snowboarder from and he was one of the best assistant servers we’ve had. We never wanted for drinks and they never tasted like they’d been sitting out so long that the ice had watered them down.

He was super personable and friendly. Let the eating begin!

I had steak:

Actually I had steak 10 out of 12 nights I think. Someone had shrimp:

Here’s what my 18 year old, recent high school graduate had for dinner most nights:

Yes that is two kids meals of pizza and fries. Plamen brought him veggies every night too, but trust me, they were never touched.

Every night Plamen brought out a few of the sampler trios as we were trying to decide what to have for dessert. It really helped with the decision!

Of course my fall back was always a Mickey bar!

Stephen usually got sundaes:

I forgot who had these:

The waters that first day and night were amazing. It didn’t even feel like we had left the dock they were so smooth. I enjoy itineraries where I can see land most of the time. Not because I’m nervous, just because I like the change of scenery. It was one of the things we loved about our Alaska sailing. We could see land for a lot of this one too.

The kids left with my in-laws to go through the shops after dinner. When we came out the line was short for Matador Mickey! Yay!

Mickey made kissing sounds when we hugged. It kind of threw me! I think I liked it though!

Stephen apparently missed the memo for the cute pose.

Mom loves Mickey!

After seeing Mickey we walked through the shops and then went to the Welcome Aboard show. For some reason there was only one variety act that night and the show finished early. The variety act was a singing/stomp type act. I didn’t know what to expect, but they were good!

We were too tired to do anything else after the show and went back to the room. Here’s our door decoration for this trip!

Dad and Mom’s door:

In-laws door:

Fish Extender!

Room was turned down!

Look at these wonderful coasters Disney gave everyone! They weighed a ton!

And a print:

Here’s an invitation for Chase to the 18-21 social. He declined:

The kids didn’t come back until 11 or so. I was so out that I didn’t hear them at all. In fact the next morning I woke up worried that they hadn’t come back. Parent fail.

Monaco is up next!

 

Our 19-Day Mediterranean Adventure – Greece, Turkey and the Search for Free Wifi

Day 0 – Crazy Days Before Departure! 
Day 1 – On Our Way! 
Day 2 – London Layover 
Day 3 – Embarkation!  
Day 4 – The Beauty That is Monaco 
Day 5 – La Spezia aka the Road to Pisa or Florence 
Day 6 – Rome Baby!
Day 7 – Sea Day Fun! 
Day 8 – Introducing The Pneumonia 
Day 9 – Athens and the Inside of the Hospital Onboard!
Day 10 – Turkey 
Day 11 – Mykonos and the Start of a Countdown to Get Back to Mykonos 
Day 12 – Sea Day and Palo Dinner 
Day 13 – Segways in Malta! 
Day 14 – Last Day Onboard 
Day 15 – Disembark and Barcelona 
Day 16 – Travel to London
Day 17 – London Baby! 
Day 18 – Harry Potter Heaven