02.09.2012 – 02.09.2012 
35 °C
Day 1 of our Cruise of the Caribbean! My day started off quite early with M and I hitting the local hair dressing salon where I am overdue for a haircut and colour. My hair stylist is a Russian born, although US raised, lady who changed my hair colour today to a dark brown. I can’t recall the last time I was a dark brown (or whether I’ve ever been this dark) but I actually quite like it! She did an awesome job and a couple of hours later M and I were ready to hit the boat and start having some fun!!!
We caught the free shuttle down from our hotel to the cruise ship terminal (thanks to D I didn’t miss out on lunch.. one big momma of a ham sandwich) and arrived just after 1.30pm. We got our luggage sorted and checked in, when it dawned on me that I couldn’t find me mobile phone… At this stage I was feeling fairly concerned, I had used it just before we got on board the bus to try and reach D so knew that my phone had been left on the bus. Luckily for me, the ship employees were able to contact the bus driver and he was able to return my phone to me.. Phew! Here I was thinking, what a crappy start to this part of the holiday if I lost my best friend (you have to understand that my phone is also my email, book, facebook, bank, games machine, music player and everything else all rolled into one, so losing this is like losing my best mate!)
Anyway, crisis #1 averted! The three of us boarded the huge boat and off we went! Our rooms are on the 6th floor- 6248 (M&D) and 6250 for me. We had upgraded our cabins so no down in the bilges with the crew for us, but up in the light with our wonderful balcony suites!!
After dumping our junk in our rooms and “oohing and aahing” over all of the cunning little drawers and cupboards in our rooms we headed upstairs to start discovering all that this boat had to offer. As I said earlier we’re on the 6th deck, to give everyone a rough overview the boat has 11 decks. The first few are crew and pleb passenger decks. The 2nd and 3rd decks are also were some of the action is; comedy club, casino, auditorium, dining rooms, lobby, kids area, piano and sports bars, card rooms etc. The 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th floors are mainly all cabins. The 9th floor is the pool deck and a big buffet. The pool decks are cool! There are three adult pools on board, one of which is an adults only area, complete with comfy chairs, lounging chairs, hammocks, a bar, tables, hot tub etc.. Its quite nice because it is also a quieter area—so a place to go when you need a break. The other two pools are open slather and are generally the party pools.. Plenty of booze, bikinis and music to be found in this area. The gym and day spa are also on this deck. The top two floors are the walking track, mini golf area and slippery dips… I’ll have to test those out at some stage.
By the time we had gotten our bearings it was time to head out of Tampa Bay and head off for Mexico!!! It is a very hot day today so we spent the remainder of our afternoon sitting next to one of the bars (in the shade) sipping cocktails and just generally relaxing.. We’ve been on the go for so long that it is kind of nice to just kick back and do nothing (which for me means no blogging or trying to work out the best way for us to get from A to B and for D that means no driving… Aahh bliss)
Our first meal was down in the big dining room. Its quite nice because we don’t have any set dining time, we just show up whenever we feel like it and get fed. Dinner was a three course menu, which was ok but not that inspiring! We did all decide to purchase the drink package though, so at least we will have semi-reasonably priced wines on our menu. Our evening came to an early close with M and I not partying all night long, but actually heading to bed at a normal hour. D decided to head down to the casino test out his luck… I guess we’ll find out tomorrow whether he is up or down!
Song of the Day– Barbados Merrymen, Feelin’ Hot, Hot, Hot