Our First Sea Day (Part 1)

So Nicki and I are fairly early rises, but the rest of our party was taking it easy. We agreed to meet my cousins on the top deck for some walking (at first we were going to go as early as possible, but after much debate we decided to do it later). Not a good idea to walk in then eat. Kind of defeats the purpose. But what the heck, we are on vacation (and its not like I walk that much at home...HAHA)! Of course eating 3 meals a day is not something I normally do either! But I digress. Any who, where was I? Oh yes. Exercise (no wonder I couldn't remember)!

I must admit I was surprised at how many people are up and exercising in the morning on a ship. I think I got in the way of a few runners. Some of us did 4 laps and some did ten (guess how many I did?) We then decided to try out the MDR (Main Dining Room) for breakfast at least once, knowing that we would be leaving the ship early over the next couple of days.

It was not the experience I was expecting. First of all I did not understand that "open seating" meant you would be seated anywhere with anyone. For some reason (don't ask me why) I assumed you could just walk in and pick a table anywhere. Umm, no! We were seated beside a family that lets just say were less then friendly. They did not open their mouth the entire time we sat down (actually they did, but it was not in a language I could understand). And even though we were open to conversation (my family is pretty laid back and could carry on a conversation with a door if it was possible), they never looked you in the eye or gave any indication that they were willing to talk with us. It made for a very uncomfortable meal. Which is sad, because I really enjoyed my waffle (which I never saw anywhere else), but you could not convince my family to eat there the rest of the cruise for breakfast. LOL Now after they left we had a great time at the table. :)

We decided to hit the Lido deck for some laying in the sun (so not a black thing, but we are on a cruise people)! I think we lasted about an hour! And of course they would say its time to go in just as I was about to fall asleep (water and music on your ipod will do that to you)! Which is probably a good thing, since I have no business falling asleep in the sun! And in all fairness my mom, my cousin and I all take blood pressure meds and it clearly states on the bottle to stay out of the sun!

As we headed back downstairs we were stopped by the most awful site...The Hairy Chest Contest! OMG, I'm sorry but you couldn't pay me enough to touch those men! We stayed and watched a few minutes, and then proceeded to the Excursion desk to see what was available.

My mom had insisted that we go right away and pick out our excursions for the next couple of days (which was funny, because I had assumed that they would want to just walk around and explore which is the norm for them). I'm usually the one over planning and even had my large binder chocked full with things to do on the ship, around the cities...mind you they were color coded and in categories). And it was still smaller then my binder from my first ever Disney trip! And that is when something strange happened. I actually put my binder away and did not use it the entire trip! Not only that but I told my mom and family that what we did was up to them. I was on vacation. If you could have only seen their faces. It was priceless. If I hadn't been so laid back I probably would have taking a picture! LOL

We headed to the Colors Lobby and after a bit of searching picked out a Trolley Tour of Saint John, which included a stop at the Reversing Rapids and a Black History Tour through Halifax (we figured that's not a tour many people take). My uncle has actually driven his motorcycle to both areas from VA and had told us about the Black History Museum many years ago. We thought about doing Peggy's Cove because so many people had raved about it, but most of the party was trying to keep their cost down. (including my college age daughter, and my younger cousin who had just graduated from graduate school). I knew before we left on the cruise that the Canada run was something I would like to do again with hubby so I did not press...plus remember I am on "vacation"! I think both excursions together cost us about $80.00. I didn't have any info on them and did not know what to expect. A first for me...but again...its vacation. No worries...be happy!

We spent a long time in the Lobby, which over the next few days would become "our" spot. So if you were on the Carnival Glory that week and you saw 6 Black ladies hogging the chairs and living it up with the bands...that was us! LOL

The rest of the day was kind of a blur. We just kind of hopped around from one area to another (a little shopping, watched folks lose at bingo, and had lunch at the Red Sail). I think that was the day my cousin and I hit the Burrito Bar (our goal was to try something different each day). Who ever said the burrito bar was the best was not lying! I haven't had one that good in a long time. It was soo good, I didn't stop to take a picture beforehand! lol

Karaoke and our first towel animal!

Karaoke (in the Ebony Club) was very interesting to say the least. We went mainly because its something my daughter Nicki likes to do here back at home (she is a really good singer). There were a few very entertaining people (including the hostess Megan). Besides my daughter our favorite was Alex. He reminded my mom and I of an older version of my nephew (who's name happens to be Alex also). Nicki said the song selections was not what she was use to but we had a great time (we usually have a great time anyway). It doesn't take much to please my gang. There was a lady there with red hair who was very entertaining. We saw her a few days later at one of the other karaoke sessions. You could tell she was a regular karaoke singer. I never did catch her name but she was fun to watch. The girls had hoped for more people their age, but we think that was more about the destination then anything else. And it never kept us from enjoying the week or the entertainment. Actually several nights I think we were the entertainment! More on that later. LOL We caught the Welcome Show at 10:30 and then turned in for the night. Several hours on a bus will do that to you and most of us were excited to see what the next day would hold! We got back to our room to find our first towel animal of the week!

Dinner and a Gorgeous Sunset

It didn't take Nicki and I very long to get ready for dinner. Having our suitcases at the door early really helped. But just in case we had already packed a change of clothing in our carry on bag along with toiletries just in case.

I have heard so much about cruise food that I could taste it before I even got to the table! Now finding the Platinum Diningroom was a pain and it took all week to figure it out, but I must admit it was one of the favorite things of the cruise. Unfortunately the first day we found out that my mom and her friend were not sitting at the same table as we were (it was fixed later, seems there was a mix-up because we were such a large group they didn't realize some of the people were family). The next day we moved to the table my mom was at, and spent the rest of the cruise dining together (at a window table at that)!

I was determined to try things I never had before and for the most part I did (you won't see any seafood on my plate though because that is where I draw the line...just not a seafood eater). My mom and cousins tried a few items and were very satisfied. I had always read about small portions but have to admit that there were nights we could not finish everything on our plates!We had a great server and thankfully it didn't change when we changed tables the next day. Everton was always waiting for us and waving us to the table each night (more on the staff later).

We were sitting down for dinner when the ship went under the bridge. Another beautiful site to see. After dinner we went to the lobby to wait for my mom and cousin who were still eating and took a few pictures outside and watched the sun set over the water! Again, a beautiful site. By the way, you will probably hear me say that several times throughout the week! LOL

New York/Muster Drill

Watching the ship leave the Port is just amazing (wait, I already said that. Not that it hurts to say it again...lol). We had a great time at the Sail Away Party. The girls even went down to the lower area so that they could get in the dance line. Later that week we caught a glimpse of them on the video that they play throughout the week with highlights from the week. After a while we went back to our cabins to get ready for the dreaded "Muster Drill". Which turned out not to be as bad as I thought if you didn't mind being in close quarters with thousands of your closest friends (actually strangers who have to become friends just because of the close proximity). lol The guy standing next to Nicki turned out to be a comedian in disguise and helped to keep things light and provide us with a great distraction. I have to admit the scrapbooker in me missed the opportunity to take pictures with the orange vest. Its a good thing they offer a complete rundown of how to use the vest in your room on the tv because where Nicki and I were standing in the back we could not see anything (the price you pay for being short I guess). lol

After the drill we went back to our room to get dressed for our 6 PM dinner. Is it bad to say that this was the part of the cruise I was most looking forward to?

Lunch and Our First Look at the Stateroom

We had a great lunch at the Red Sail (?). My cousin Pat and I even scoped out a couple of spots for eating later (can you say Burrito Bar ? ). But for lunch we just decided to check out the Italian section of the buffet area. We found our way to the stateroom around 1:45. We were on the lower decks (Riviera) in room 1315. I was surprised at how spacious the room felt. Got to admit that the bathroom was just as tiny as I thought it would be, but I never felt as if it wasn't something Nicki and I couldn't navigate around for the next few days. Not long after we started unpacking our Stateroom Steward Lawrence showed up. We saw him in the halls almost every day and he was always friendly and let us know that if we needed anything to just let him know. Nicki and I are pretty organised people and we never left much out that needed to be cleared away or picked up. We teased him about it later in the week because we said we probably left him hardly any work. He did say he was responsible for at least 25 other rooms so we were probably a break! lol

We unpacked our suitcases within a few minutes. Had plenty of room for everything and even figured out the room safe right away. I had taken a over the door hangar for the door, but my Mary Kay bag ended up being a better choice and the shelves in the bathroom also served its purpose well. I do think I would take more hangars with me on my next trip just because I had so many dresses and skirts that could have used some time to let wrinkles fall out. My mom's friend used the laundry area one night and was not impressed with the iron. lol

Nicki and I headed up to the Lido deck for the send off party. My mom and cousins were still getting settled in their room so we asked them to meet us later. My mom never did find us, but my cousins caught up to us as the boat was starting to clear the port. What a site! Watching that ship turn around was amazing!

Departure/Arrival Day on the Ship

After church on Sunday Marc traveled along with us to Gloucester to meet up with my mom and cousins for our Cruise to Canada. We got on the bus that night around 11 PM. We were in New Jersey early that morning (around 6 am I think) so the bus stopped at a Cracker Barrel for breakfast (who knew Cracker Barrel was even open that early). Cracker Barrel is probably my least fav. restaurant but I was willing to try it again (especially since I knew lunch on the ship would not take place until around 1:30). Once again I was not impressed. Add in the fact that the servers were probably not prepared for a bus load of folks that early (they were literally scrambling to try and get food on the table for us). Our poor waiter kept forgetting to bring items (including silverware and creamer for coffee).

We were back on the bus in a few and then off to New York! We arrived in New York around 9:00 am. As we crossed the bridge you could see the Hudson River in front of us and when we got off of the interstate we could see the port on the side. It took the bus several moments to figure out which area we should stop at so that the porters could give us instructions for getting off the bus and going through security. That part actually went fairly fast, and in no time we were at the desk making arrangements for our Sign and Sail Cards. After a picture taking session with the cruise photographers (who seem to be in more places then the Disney photographers) we started heading on to the ship.

Can I stop right here and say that the Lobby area seemed very small in person after seeing so many pics of it on the cruise boards. We quickly made our way to the Lido deck for lunch (so actually we got to sit down for a meal by 11:00 AM)!