Boarding the boat and working out the kinks

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Oh man, I’m a brat because all I can think about is an ice cold Diet Coke!

I remember years ago when Carnival announced that they were changing to Pepsi. Jeff and I both agreed we would have to find a different cruise line for that one reason alone. Well, here we sit on Carnival and here I am wanting a Diet Coke. I should probably address this addiction but I just really like Diet Coke. Ok, we move on…

Getting to the port and the parking lot wasn’t that hard. We did miss the entrance to the parking garage and had to circle the block but we eventually got there and walked right to the terminal. For some reason the boys were leading the pack and walking ahead of us like they knew what they were doing. They did not and lead us into a parking lot where you could not get to the terminal. Undeterred by their mistake they charge on again like they know what they are doing. I couldn’t figure out why they were so gung-ho and walking a million miles in front of us because I had their paperwork and they weren’t getting on the boat without me. Weirdos.

You know how some people wake up and choose violence. Well, yelling lady at the terminal was one of those people. Geez, we are just trying to go on vacation and we are getting yelled at. Goodness.

For Carnival you are allowed to bring on a bottle of wine per adult or a 12 pack of sodas. You cannot bring plastic bottles though. We brought two bottles of champagne. I found it very interesting that no one questioned me about the bottles and we just went through every checkpoint without issue. Yes, I could have brought a 12 pack of Diet Coke but I did not because I didn’t think it was that big of a deal at the time. Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt. Oh well.

The check in process didn’t take too long. Our appointment time was 1pm. We left the hotel around Noon and we were one the boat and through with our muster station check in right at 1:30pm.

Since most of our kids aren’t 18 we had to split the parents up and assign kids to parents. In reality the parents are sharing a room and the kids will be in rooms together. This isn’t the first time we’ve done this. There is a rule that parents aren’t supposed to be more than a certain number of rooms away. If the kids behave and do not draw attention to themselves then they can stay in their own room. Will keep you updated. Setting the rooms up this was does cause a room key situation though. Took us two cruises to figure out we could just ask for an extra room key. Who knew! Room key situation was settled after dinner.

When you think of a Carnival cruise on Spring Break you see the big middle deck with a million people gathered in a small area. Fortunately that is not this ship. We have all been pleasantly surprised at how we haven’t felt crowded and we have tons of room to roam. I found out from my new lifeguard friend that this boat is actually one of the smaller boats in the fleet. Last July we went on Carnival Liberty and that boat holds 4,000 guests whereas this boat only carties 2,000 passengers.

I like the way the boat is set up. All the pools are on the same floor. There is a little pool, the main pool and the Serenity pool (21 and older). If anyone needs Tori she will be at the Serenity pool. They also have two pretty big water slides on the 10th floor.

The parents ended up finding each other and we just hung out for a little bit. No clue where the kids were. A couple of times I saw the shirtless boys running to somewhere. They would just smile and wave and go about their business.

Jeff said if he’s going on a weeklong cruise he wants a suite. I’m starting to like our room more and more. It’s pretty spacious for the two of us. I’ll tell you more about our room later

We unpacked and then met everyone at our dining room for 6pm dinner. The kids know the rule is they have to show up to dinner on time and dressed properly. They are all normally pretty good about that. Fortunately all of us have the same dinner. They have us split between 3 tables. We decided adults at one table and the kids can figure out the other two. We have a few seating arrangements to work out tomorrow because Hayes is not sitting next to her sister at dinner all week. She can do that at home. Poor Hayes.

I forgot our waiters name but he informed me that we are family. Well, dear family member, these adults would like wine and cocktails with our meals. Ugh! I know it’s the first night and everyone is in a hurry to get things running smoothly but really! You couldn’t even take a drink order or keep water glasses filled? I informed my new cousin that tomorrow night when we come to dinner we would like him to take our drink orders first, a basket of bread and then we will continue on with food orders.

The food at dinner was ok. The chocolate dessert I will be eating every night is was super good.

We all have the Carnival HUB app and on that app it tells you the going ons for the day. I thought it was funny that Timmy had his app up at the dinner table and they were going over their plans for the night. The adults were doing the same thing except at our table but G was the master of ceremonies. After dinner the kids had thing to do. They gave us hugs and high fives and went on their way.

The adults started out at the Alchemy Bar, moved to the piano bar, danced at the Red Frog bar and a couple of us ended the night at the casino.

I know my title of this little story is working out the kinks and I didn’t discuss any kinks other than dinner. Last night I was so annoyed with various bartenders and the service. I could have written a scathing review. It would have not been nice. Well, we all had a great time yesterday and there were a few hiccups but as I write this I realize all the fun that was had. If y’all could see the smile on Carter’s face! Knowing the kids are having a blast makes all the little things fade away.

Today we are at sea. Not set plans today except sunscreen!

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Photos

Follow the leader
I will say that there is one plus to having matching shirts. They let us all through security at the same time and it was also easy to spot folks

The fellas
The boys found food and then went on their way

The Starling’s
That’s us!

Timmy was here!
I was waking to our room and saw this white board on someone’s room. Well, so did Timmy. Ha!