Day 1 - We're Underway

We were getting the shuttle from the hotel to the port. The process was that at 9:00 AM you could start signing up for the shuttle. At 10:00 AM the shuttle would start taking people to the port. Once you signed up, you were supposed to check out. We didn't sign up until 9:30 and we were pretty low on the list. The lobby was full of people and bags so we decided to just stay in our room. We stayed there till after 10:00 and then went downstairs too because our room was pretty hot, Actually, last night was the first time I didn't sleep with socks and my fleece on top of PJs. The heat wasn't on but neither was the air. We spent a few hours waiting for the shuttle and played gin rummy.
Around 2:00 we went to the port and by then it had been raining for quite a while. The van driver told us that the cruiseport was having trouble with their computers and had to manually check everyone in, Because of this, there were long lines and they weren't letting any of the vans unload their passengers. We were happy to have been playing cards rather than sitting in the van, When we got there, we unloaded our bags to be checked and proceeded to check-in. There was a long line ending out in the rain where people were standing with umbrellas. As we were walking toward that line we saw that there was another line that was completely protected from the rain and that's where we stood. We were in line for at least a half hour, it snaked around 6 times before getting to the security check-in similar to the airport but we didn't have to take our shoes off. I forgot I was wearing a bracelet and it set off the alarm.

Then we had to stand in another line forever to check-in and get our Sea Pass. Once done with all that we finally got on the ship. We went to our room, bags weren't there yet so we went out to explore and find something to eat. We went to the snack area but there was a long line for that and we didn't want to stand in line anymore and since we were on the early seating for dinner we figured we could last another 1 1/2 hours.
We got ourselves familiar with where everything was and saw that it was the same layout as our last cruise.

We're underway, 4:45 PM

We went to dinner at the restaurant and were at a table for 6. One couple from Pennsylvania and the other from Maryland. We found out that if we order the wine package they would store our open wine for us which made me really happy because I don't want to drink a full bottle of wine at dinner anymore. We bought the Platinum package which was the middle package and included a better selection than the one below it but wasn't that much more expensive. We got 7 bottles which we thought would be good for 12 days.
For dinner we both got the healthy choice selection. Spinach salad to start and sea bass with vegetables. We did manage to finish the whole bottle of wine but Larry drank way more than me :) For dessert I got the lo cal chocolate choice and Larry got a Blueberry Peach Cobbler with vanilla ice cream. His was definitely better but mine was less fattening. After dinner we went to the liquor tasting and bought two bottles of a coffee and cream liquer that was delicious. When we first got there, no one was pouring so we poured our own and filled up those little cups to the top, twice. Later when we went back and someone else was pouring we got less than 1/4 of a cup. I'm glad we got there when we did and I'm also glad I didn't have a fattening dessert.
We wandered around and even danced for one song. When we went to our room we unpacked and Larry passed out while watching TV.