Carnival Legend - Embarkation Day

Sunday, August 15th -- Cruise Day!

It was a bit crowded in the hotel lobby the next morning but the free breakfast was appreciated. While shopping the night before the kids had bought a couple of cases of Diet Coke, some wine & champagne and some “other stuff”. The legal things (wine, Coke, etc.) were put into the carry-on bags, but Zach was trying to figure out a way to get the “other stuff” on the ship. He had brought along his backpack as a carry-on bag and ended up pouring the “other stuff” into the bladder of the backpack. He made it through security with it but I never did find out how he got it back out! (I had visions of him wearing the backpack around the ship sucking on a tube.) Matt did have a bottle of wine removed from his checked luggage because it exceeded the size limit (which is why he tried to hide it in the checked luggage.) I had my chance to say “I told you so”…but he knew it was a risk and thought it was funny that they found it. He got it back the last night of the cruise.

The first shuttle to the port was at 11 am…there was a sign up sheet and since we had checked in so early the previous day we were able to pick the early time. The shuttle was a different one than we had been on the day before…judging from the logos on the side it must be shared by the HI Express and the Hampton Inn. As we got close to the terminal, the driver showed us a parking garage across the street and said that was where he would meet us at the end of the cruise.

There were porters waiting for our luggage and zip, zip, zip…we had handed over all of the bags and headed into the terminal. Marji and Erica had never cruised before so they were anxious to get a good look at the ship.

After filling out a health questionnaire we were immediately in the line to check in. All of the computers were down but in spite of this I thought the lines moved pretty quickly. We slowed things down a bit because we were using several different credit cards for the Sail & Sign bills. (Mom and Dad footed the bill for the cruise, but the kids were on their own for any additional spending.) Our group was given a card with “Zone 6”. Groups were already boarding when we sat down and we followed them within about 10 minutes.

A quick stop to get our photos taken for the S & S card and we were on the ship. (We skipped the photographer who wanted to do a group shot.) Knowing we couldn’t get into our cabins we went directly to the buffet on the Lido deck…along with hundreds of other passengers. This first afternoon was really the only time that the ship felt crowded…too many people trying to occupy the same spaces until the cabins were ready.

<Side note totally unrelated to cruising>…Zach had luggage issues. He has nice luggage at home, but was worried it was too big and he would over pack and go over the 50 lb weight limit set by Delta. Instead he brought a smaller bag...one of the first suitcases ever to be fitted with wheels…except the bag rolled horizontally instead of vertically. At least that was how it was intended. Most of the time the bag was flopped over and he was dragging it on its side. And that wasn’t the worst part…his carry-on bag was a bit newer and looked fine…but I swear it had square wheels.

The first couple of hours on the ship we were stuck schlepping around our carry-ons until we could get in the cabins. Clackity, clackity, clackity…that’s what Zach’s carry-on sounded like as he pulled it through the ship. To me it had the same sound as using a clothespin to clip baseball cards onto the spokes of a bicycle (ever do that as a kid?) ANNOYING!

Wandering around through the buffet area (with the clacking suitcase) we eventually found two 4-top tables next to each other. We took turns watching the stuff and getting our food. Bob was tickled to death that the Legend had an Asian station at the buffet. He loved the Mongolian BBQ on the Freedom and this was almost as good…and it didn’t take forever to get through the line.

For the rest of us the number of choices was a bit overwhelming! For those of you not familiar with the Legend…in addition to the Asian station, the Lido buffet area has a grill (hamburgers, hotdogs, fries, etc.); a deli with freshly made hot & cold sandwiches; a salad bar; a dessert area; a “taste of nations” that changes daily; and the regular buffet. Oh…and don’t forget the 24-hour ice cream & frozen yogurt machines and pizzeria!

I actually circled the Unicorn Cafe a couple of times taking inventory of what was available before I finally decided what I wanted to put on my plate! I can’t begin to tell you what we all ate…but I did get one photo of what was included in Tim’s lunch!

After the 2 days of hub-bub and traveling I sat down to eat that lunch and finally felt it…I was on vacation!

The cabins weren’t ready until 1:30 so we wandered about the ship until then. I normally take a lot of ship photos but traveling with the family I found myself doing mostly “people pictures”. Here are just a few I did get of the inside of the ship…

We never made it to the steak house, but I liked the way the colored windows gave it a pink glow. (The steak house is "under" the funnel.) I was a little freaked out by the glass staircase leading up to the restaurant however!!

The boys cruised with us on the Victory in 2005 and one of their best memories was having a table in the dining room by a huge window in the back of the ship. They were really, really hoping we would get another window table this time. On our “tour” of the ship we stopped by the Truffles Dining room and a gal was standing outside with a “blueprint” of the dining room. She checked our table…number 366…and “yippee!” it was in the back by a window. Unfortunately the table was on the upper level…but having a window was more important.

Finally at 1:30 we were able to get to our cabins. The 8 of us had 4 adjacent cabins…all category 4K (4136, 4138, 4140, and 4142). These cabins are classified as “inside” cabins, but have French doors that open up to a wonderful view…of the side of a lifeboat. They are considered “obstructed”…and they were unless you pick a cabin that is between lifeboats. The kids all checked out their cabins and were surprised to see that we could actually see the water from our cabin (4140). Since I was the one that did all of the planning…this didn’t happen as an accident!

Here are some pics from 4140…

Besides having natural light from the French doors, these cabins also have a couch. I don’t believe the standard inside cabins do.

These photos are from 4136 so you can see the difference…

I love unpacking on the first day of the cruise knowing that we have a whole week to look forward to. There is plenty of space to put everything and then we stash the empty luggage under the bed.

This was our first time at a muster drill where we did NOT have to wear those beastly life jackets. It was still very hot…but I know it is necessary. We joked that if the ship was going down we would just jump out the French doors of our cabin and we would be in the lifeboat. Our muster station was on the deck right below our cabins.