Time to get this cruise started

Boarded the ship this morning, it was a quick process, 1 ½ hours from the time we were picked up at the hotel to the time we were on board.  Because I was using a cane, we were directed into a line for disabled people, so that really did speed the process for us.  Our room was not ready, so we made the dash to the dining room (all the other floors were locked out on the elevator) with everyone else, to wait out the time, and of course, start the cruise ship food orgy.

Looking out from Garden Buffet towards South Beach   

 View from our stateroom looking across to the new Norwegian Cruise Terminal building currently under construction with some sort of tour or inspection happening 

Looking across to the Port of Miami

 Miami skyline

 Our room was ready at about 2 o’clock, then it was a wait for the checked baggage to arrive.  The room is a typical cruise room, compact, but this one has a bit of a funny cupboard near the foot of the bed that really restricts movement between the bed and it,  space narrows down to about 12 inches.  There is a couch near the balcony, and the balcony is small with 2 chairs and a little table.  What I think we will be liking is that there is about an 8-foot overhang above our balcony, this will shade us from the direct sun and elements.

The rest of the day and evening was spent exploring our new environment.  There are a couple of pubs, several eating venues, some complimentary, some additional charges applied.  On this cruise line, they have “freestyle” dining, so you have no assigned dinner times or tables, and no formal wear required.  There are 3 main dining rooms that you can dine at.  One is the classic large dining room, and the other 2 are smaller and more intimate, for a ship that has 3800 passengers.  For our first night’s dinner, we chose to just sample the many offerings from the buffet.  We topped the evening off with the live theater presentation, which was a sampling/compilation of many of performances we will be seeing in the coming days if we wish to partake.

  

Ship’s Atrium around which all the shops and several eating and drinking venues are located.

 

Ahead of us was a Royal Caribbean ship  

We were 2 hours late leaving Miami because of some problems with the provisioning of the ship.  No problem as I would much prefer the ship be fully provisioned for a 16-day trip, then worry about what time we depart.  Finally departed at 6 PM.  This will not affect our stop tomorrow, as we are not too far away and were just going to slowly cruise there anyway, so they will just have to pick up the speed a bit.

Royal Caribbean Cruise Terminal