Day 1: Come Sail Away

Our cruise vacation started Friday night at 10:30pm as we boarded our red eye flight to JFK airport in New York where we would catch our 8am flight to Miami. I've never taken a red eye flight before and I'd probably have to think really hard about it before we did it again, but at the time it was our best option to make it across the continental US in time for the cruise departure, without incurring the extra cost of a hotel room. The late night flight, paired with the time change made for a very long travel day. Nevertheless, we made it on the ship with no problems and may have taken the opportunity to catch up on a few Zzz's, after we checked out the lunch buffet.

It was a cloudy day as we waved good bye to Miami and set sail for the Caribbean. But that didn't dampen the spirits aboard the ship as soon the deck was busy with people doing the electric slide and the Cupid shuffle, and every five minutes some server was trying to offer us an alcoholic beverage. I guess there's a reason Carnival's called "The Fun Ship."


Once we were given the all clear that our room was ready we escaped the noise of the party for the serenity of our balcony and watched the ocean roll by in peace.

That night we met our dinning table. I have to admit I was a bit nervous to find out who we were assigned to eat with. Would they be nice? Would we have anything in common to talk about or would we sit there in awkward silence? Would we they think we were cool? It was high school all over again. We ended up sitting with one other couple, Steve and Jill from Long Island, who were about our age and had been dating for about 9 months. Over the course of the week, we ended up seeing them quite a bit on and off the ship.