Embarkation day, we are sailing

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Woke up at the crack of dawn clocks went back last night, with modern technology all our gadgets reset themselves...or did they...? So basically had no idea what the time was, had to text Karen to confirm!

It was 8am but by that time I was wide awake and ready to get going, dragged Alex up got showered, sat on the suitcases again to sqeeze them closed and headed out to get a cab to the port.

As the cab turned into the port the imposing sight of the magnificent Norwegian Epic rose into view, 15 decks high, 350 metres long, passnger capacity of 4,300, crew of 1,700, the third largest cruise ship in the world.

Now on our last cruise from port of Miami everything was super swish and efficient, I guess I should have remembered we were in Spain and they rarely do swish and efficient. Had my first near strop of the day when we told we had to print a copy of our US Visa ESTA applications even though it clearly says on the ESTA website that it iis not necessary to print them and we never had to do so to enter the US in the past. Luckily computers were provided for this service for all the other unsuspecting non-US citizens and a long line began to form. Thankfully being able to speak Spanish helped as I sweet-talked a crew member to give up his laptop for me to use!

Off to stand in line at the Lattitudes members (NCL members scheme) desk to check in for the cruise. Took the time standing in line to observe our fellow passengers. A real mix of ages, nationalities, dress codes, shapes and sizes! Amused ourselves by Mr Moany behind us telling the poor folk stuck behind him how he was dreading the cruise with so many days at sea..Really!! Why the hell would you book it? His poor wife had her back to him ignoring him, expect to see her propping up the bar on her own most of the trip, may do her a favour and introduce her to an elderly American during the cruise to cheer her up!

After collecting our cruise cards and a very important map, we were soon walking onboard. First stop Guest Services to apply for one of the best-kept secrets on the ship, a 'Posh pass'. A privelege card which entitles you to access to a private sun deck and bar accessed by private elevator, only 20 passes per cruise are made available so you can imagine my delight when I nabbed the last two available, I could have kissed the guy behind the desk.

It was time to head to our stateroom on deck 12, after a few wrong turns of which there will be many over the next 14 days, we found our room, chosen on the starboard side to make the most of the sun as we cross the Atantic. The room itself we found to be modern and luxurious, spacious shower, large bed with crisp white linen, flatscreen TV (with football on sports channel!), plenty of storage, coffee and tea maker, mini fridge and the icing on the cake, a south facing balcony complete with sun chairs and table.

After the compulsory 'muster drill' we had time to unpack, get the room shipshape (there I go,again) before the ship began to pull away from dock. As we left the port we cruised by two other ships and enjoyed a lot of mututal waving with their passengers. Got a few extra enthusiastic waves as not realising we would pass the other ships, Alex was in his pants and I, having just showered was just wearing black bra and knickers!

Headed up to H2o bar, adult only section to watch the Man U v Chelsea game which ended 1-1, not bad! Enjoyed a couple of cocktails of the day, something grenadine and cherry based and very delicious before heading inside for a look round the other bars.

Found a seat in Shakers martini bar which was full of atmosphere and nattily dressed guys, we soon realised we had stumbled onto the tail end of the 'Friends of Dorothy' LBGT get together!

We had reservations for the Cirque Dreams and dinner experience so made,our way to,the Speigel tent where we were seated with a couple from Dallas and a couple from Vegas. The show was amazing, not something I would usually look to book but the acrobats and performers were the best I have seen and really brought the house down. The guys were delighted with scantily clad ladies twisting and trapezing in the air above our table while us ladies had the opportunity to 'admire' muscly Russians showing superb strength and skills. Audience participation was mentioned and the two other ladies on our table were dragged up where I had a lucky escape! Mr Vegas felt the wrath of the security team when he was caught videoing his wife participating, he was made to delete the clip while the security guy looked on! Cirque de soleil clearly take copyright seriously!

Mr and Mrs Vegas, who we learned were on honeymoon, headed off to the casino and we rolled back to our stateroom for a nightcap on the balcony.

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