Cruise Departure and Sea Day 1 & 2

Instead of posting a very lengthy story of our cruise, I plan to write small installments, both to help me get it done, and to not wear you all out from all the fun we had!

Jacqui, Kayla and Grandad #1 flew into San Diego on Saturday even after a bumpy ride down from a very snowy Washington. The airport in Spokane actually was shut down for over an hour with us all in the plane on the runway waiting to take off because of the snow. Grandma was worried :) but we made it without a problem. In San Diego it was gorgeous around 50, the natives were VERY bundled up in coats, gloves, scarves, boots, etc and we were loving the warm sunshine! We walked around Old Town that evening and retired to our room, where to Jacqui's delight there was a full wall mirror... She made the most of the evening talking to herself and performing in front of the mirror, it was a great show!

Sunday we headed down to the bay and the cruise ship and boarded before Levi, G & G got there. It was a gorgeous ship and we were all amazed at how beautiful it was on the inside, as well as how big. The Atrium

G & G and Levi boarded and we were so excited to see them all! We spent some time on the Lido deck eating lunch and waiting for the rooms to be ready for the next guests... At the appropriate time, we found our rooms, cozy and very nice and met our room attendant Joseph, what a great guy he was! We walked around the ship and explored some, and watched the loading of the ship, what a process to get ready to be at sea for a week! Finally the ship left port, we danced on the deck to the YMCA party music, and we went and had dinner in the Empire Room. Our waiter was a guy named Arman from the Philippines and was such a fun spirited and genuine guy. We were amazed at the food choices and made the most of it, trying a little something of everything!
After an eventful day, we went to bed with the ship rolling pretty good because of some strong head winds...
Sea Day #1 was quite eventful. We of course had breakfast on the Lido Deck and set out to further explore the ship. We played a round of mini golf on deck 11 that was quite entertaining. Jacqui was introduced to Camp Carnival and had a blast making her own cruise shirt, making friends with other kids, and working on arts and crafts. I absolutely LOVE that the ship has free babysitting during daytime hours and offers lots of fun things for kids to do... what a blessing and a breather for all the parents on board! Jacqui loved hanging out with them, and was very proud to show off what she had worked on during the day. While she was away playing on Camp Carnival, the adults had a chance to find some fun games and played various games of trivia as a team all over the ship. We had so much fun trying to come up with answers to Trivial Pursuit, TV show trivia, and other trivia...
Sea Day 1 had our first elegant evening formal wear. We got all gussied up to head off to dinner. Might I say our family cleans up very nicely! Grandad #1 even had bought a jacket for the special occasion and Levi got a couple of really nice new suits! We looked sharp and really enjoyed dressing up just for fun. We also took many pictures with the ninja photographers all around the ship. After our fine dining experience we went to our first Carnival show, 'Jazz Hot'; and it was amazing! There was singing and dancing, and all with the ship of course rolling with the waves. The cast put on a great show that evening and we were exhausted by the end of the day. We returned to our cabin to sleep and found a cute little surprise waiting for us wishing us a good night's rest...
We all slept hard and in the morning got up and headed to breakfast on the Lido Deck. We planned out a day full of trivia and Jacqui swam her little heart out all day. She also got to play on the water slide on board as I worked on my tan and worked on homework... In the afternoon we all had a special British tea time which was quite lovely.
And again to the Empire Dining Room for dinner with a twist. A magician showed up to our table and put on quite a show for Jacqui, pulling balls and candy out of her ears. We were all laughing so hard at her amazement and then her belief that she was indeed magical. She was making items disappear and reappear the rest of the trip! During dinner we also were surprised to see our waiter come out of his shell... They put on some music and he hopped on a table and danced for the entire room. It was GREAT and so memorable!~ After dinner we went to a hypnotist show that was a hoot, and then back to bed for a good night's rest...