We started the day off with waking up to our alarm ready to get to the ship by 10 or 10:30 for a nice early boarding without all the crowds. During our free hot breakfast at Comfort Inn in Galveston, we overheard some people talking about the ship being delayed due to high winds. I checked our email and we had a notice from Royal Caribbean that the ship was indeed delayed and will be informing us later when to arrive at port. I went ahead and called our Port Parking location to see when we could park our car there and when they will be taking people to the ship. They mentioned that they will not be taking people to the ship until 11 but you could park anytime.
We went ahead and went straight to parking after a little bit of Pokémon hunting for region specific Pokémon. The parking place was fine they actually had workers on scooters that we are supposed to follow to where we’re re supposed to park which I thought was kind of interesting.
After arriving at port that’s when the fun really happened. Not really, just a lot of waiting. Because many people didn’t get the notice of ship being delayed , there was already a lot of people already waiting in line to go through security. Then we had to go upstairs for the normal check-in point where we were directed to the Gold members section which really didn’t mean anything because pretty much everone else was there too. Finally we end up at the main waiting spot where you wait to hear your number called to actually board the ship. This is what took the longest. And since many people were expecting to eat lunch on the ship, there was a lot of hungry passengers sitting around waiting because it was already after 1 o’clock. They were telling passengers not to expect a board before 3pm. Royal Caribbean did provide free water and snacks for passengers waiting. But it was first come first serve and batches and they were snagged up really quickly by hordes of people. At about 2:30pm we finally did board the ship and were able to say we are actually on a cruise.
Due to our hunger from waiting, we did make our way quickly up to Windjammer buffet to get some food.
We also toured the ship quickly to see where all the new features are at like the waterslides and the new kids spray ground. Also we went to find our dining table to make sure it was a two seater and it was :-).
We eventually made it up to our room to check out our’s special Ben & Jerry’s Sweet we have for this cruise. If you’re not familiar with this room, there is only one on each of the Freedom class ships and it is a special promenade view room that is right above the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream parlor. Due to the obstructed view by cow butts, they decide to make this special themed room with cow decorations. You also get some sweet benefits like free ice cream each day of the cruise from Ben & Jerry’s and access to the suite lounge.
Right after the Muster drill, it was dinner time for our early seating of 5:30 because of all the delay in leaving Port. Because we drove down from Missouri 13 hours to Galveston, we were able to bring two bottles of wine with us that probably wouldn’t be possible if we flew. So we brought our favorite, Riverboat Red, from Les Bourgeois Vineyards. It is nice drinking our $5 bottle wine when a glass of wine on the ship normally cost $10. My dinner selection for this night was fruit medley and shrimp cocktail for an appetizer and the Porkchop for my main entrée. Then I went with carrot cake and some kind of cherry chocolate cake for dessert.
After dinner went back to our room to check to see if Amy’s one suitcase that still hadn’t shown up was there but it still wasn’t. We did have a note on our door that said that your bag was selected for extra inspection and now come pick it up on the first level of the ship. Usually this means you’ve been called to the naughty room because you bought something you were supposed to go on the ship we have no idea what was in there other than her clothes and maybe the shampoo bottles she had but that usually is not an issue.
Then we got to see the welcome aboard show with a cruise director, a comedian, and a little bit of the aerial show that they’ll have later in the cruise. To round our night out we went and grabbed our coupons for ice cream and collected our first of seven free ice creams. This night it was cookie dough for me.
After a little cruise compass planning for day two, it was bedtime for one of us (Amy) after our long day. At this point I said good night and made my way down to On Air to listen to a little karaoke. Then I made the long trek up the stairs from deck three to deck 13 to walk the track make this post using my phone. It’s nice weather and a ballgame was being shown on the big screen by the pool showing Chicago Cubs verse Boston. It’s not the Cardinals but it’ll do. I’m enjoying the fresh air, getting my steps in, and using voice dictation to write this. So please ignore any mistakes in the wording since dictation doesn’t work the best. I am making really good time on my walks with my watch saying I’m making three minute miles around the track because it using ships speed plus my walking speed.
Tomorrow is a sea day on our way to Rotan for day three. Our plans are not much but probably include some trivia and maybe some water rides.
So long from the Gulf of Mexico for today.