Let's recap: Ashley's wedding was Saturday. The reception was Saturday night. I left the reception at 9 to drive to the SLC airport where I caught the red-eye back to Atlanta (left 2:50 GA time), got into ATL and then tried to catch the earliest flight at 7:20 to TPA (I had a ticket on the 8:40 flight, but wanted to get in asap). So Erin arrived in Tampa around 8:45ish dead tired. Justin drove down with Mom/Dad/Claire, and Katie and Scott both flew in to Tampa Saturday night. Anyways, M/D/J had errands to run, so they dropped me off with the other kiddos and the girlies took a nap to get ready for all the fun they were about to have:
We finally got the car loaded and ready to go. We had the trailer hitch thing on the back with all 6 roller carry-ons, threw Scott in the very back with luggage beside, on top, and behind him (see his hand waving from the back), and put the four of us across the middle. We just hoped no cop would pull us over :)
So finally we park the car, drop off the luggage, wait for D/J to return from parking the car, wait in line to check in/go through security etc.. and are about to get on a boat! Justin's first cruise:
It felt like coming home ;) PS - my favorite part of all these pictures is the look of excitement in everyone's faces. Even if they're waiting for their turn to walk across.
We get on the boat, and everything was decked out in Christmas stuff! There was even a darling little Christmas village in the main lobby. I wish we'd gotten more pictures of the inside of the ship. We were on the Carnival Legend and it was SUCH a beautiful boat! I've only been on 3 cruises, but my parents are now in the teens and kept saying how the Legend was the most beautiful boat they'd ever been on. The theme was "legends" - so there were statues and paintings of famous legends like Hercules, Colossus of Rhodes, unicorns, fair maidens, Gulliver, etc... Very cool.
Since our staterooms were not yet ready, we hopped in an elevator to go get some lunch and then do some exploring of the ship. Can't you tell we're happy to be here?
One thing we found was SUSHI! They had 3 different kinds every day. We usually forgot to come, but we did hit it up a few times. Bless Katie's heart, she keeps trying sushi hoping she'll fall in love with it, but every time she tries it she doesn't like it. Justin and I did, although we have a great sushi place here that was probably better. Still: free sushi? Yes, please!
Katie and Claire were quick to find the ice cream stations. Katie said her total was somewhere between 24 and 25 chocolate frozen yogurts. Yum!
As we explored the boat, Katie found the opportunity to take some fun pictures. The rest of us followed suit.
This is dad's ANTM audition picture.
In front of the iconic Carnival steam thing (what are they officially called?) What's cool about the Legend is the smoke stack (is that what's it's called?) was see-through and from the top floor on the elevator you could look right up into it and see a BEAUTIFUL painting. Did I mention what a beautiful ship it was?
Scott found the hot tub but had a hard time adjusting from the cold outside air to the hot water.
We decided to get a head start on our tanning while we could. Unfortunately it was FAR too cold to take any more clothes off.
At the mandatory safety drill. Now on the other cruises I've been on you actually wear your life jacket, which turns into a wonderful photo shoot. Not today :( So we just stood on the deck with our fellow cruise passengers. We were just down the row from K/S/C...
...who apparently DID try to wear their life jackets. They were stopped before getting too far and so they returned the life jackets to their stateroom. But who says you can't have a photo shoot anyways?
SO HAPPY TO BE HERE!!! (Although I am tired)
Somewhere after 6 we passed under the Sunshine Bridge. This was SO COOL to see. The boat clears the bridge by mere feet. If you cruise out of Tampa, I recommend you go watch this. I only wish it was light outside so Justin could see the Sunshine Bridge. It's a GORGEOUS bridge. The Travel Channel actually ranked it in its top 10 bridges in the US. I've been over it (EFY St. Petersburg, yeah!) and know how gorgeous and big it is. Still, going in night was fun.
Crem-brulee for dessert. Claire and Justin enjoyed it.
And when we came home we had a pet walrus waiting for us. Such a fluffy comforter and pillows, such a good night's sleep!!!!!!!! Stay tuned for Day 2... AT SEA.
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