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January 06, 2013 - 12:47 a.m.
"carnival breeze day 1: embarkation, port of miami"

Hey Journal!

What a long and crazy day... but we are here... on the Carnival Breeze!! AMAZING!!!!

I went to bed around 10:30 last night and it took me a while to fall asleep with all the excitement! I finally got to sleep but kept waking up periodically throughout the night. I finally decided there was no way I could fall back to sleep at around 3am. My alarm had been set for 4:30.

I got out of bed and did some random stuff online, got dressed, and just waited for it to be time to leave. Dan got up and took a shower, and then we loaded all of our luggage into the car and off we went.

We headed over to meet my mom at 5:15. We got there in record time... only 5 minutes! No traffic, of course!

My Uncle came a couple of minutes later and picked us up to take us to the airport. His car was super-hot inside! At first it was great because I had only short sleeves on, but then it got oppressive, so he had to turn it down! lol

He showed us a little back way to the airport and I'm sure it saves us some time! It could be especially useful if we were going at a more busy time!

So, we arrived at the exact same time as Dan's parents and Brian and Jessica. We waited on line and checked our bags and then headed through security. For the most part, it was pretty smooth! The airport was a little busier than it was when we went to Disney, but not terrible.

We got on the plane and took off on time. It was a smooth flight, and my mom had no problem with it at all. She did, however, cause an issue in the bathroom by putting paper towel into the toilet and clogging it up. I went in after her and it was ridiculous! She claims not to have seen the big sign that said not to put anything other than toilet paper in the toilet!

So, we landed in Ft. Lauderdale at about 9:45 and headed over to get out bags. We made a quick stop to go to the bathroom and I changed from my jeans into my shorts.

We got the bags and put on our Carnival tags and got settled.

We had booked a shuttle to take us to the Port of Miami, so we called for it. They guy told us to come outside and he pulled up a couple of minutes later. He loaded everything into the car and then we were off. We picked up a couple more people along the way, but it was no big deal.... we weren't in a rush at all since they said we should really be getting to the ship around 1!

One of the people we picked up was talking to us about our cruise, and he was going on the Norwegian Epic.

We dropped them off first, and then we were the second stop . We got out and went through the whole Embarkation process. I felt like it was a lot easier than it had been in previous cruises! It was super easy to get through the terminal and it flowed really well.

We got our cards and then headed on to the ship! One little issue was that my mom was seated at a different table for dinner than all of the rest of us! We have no idea how or why that happened, but we had to figure that out.

First though, we went to the Marketplace Restaurant (the restaurant on the Lido deck) and had lunch. The food was fancier than other Carnival ships we've been on, and it was obvious that they were trying to go for a classier feel. The whole ship is very different because it's the first of their ships not to be designed by some guy named Farkas. It's very different, and has these "branded" areas, but really, they're pretty cool. I like the ship's design, too. It's laid out really nicely, and has lots of cool areas.

After eating lunch, Dan and I took a little trip to explore the ship. We went to the Shore Excursion desk to see if we could book the excursion we had wanted, but it still wasn't available. We are on the waiting list, though. Then we went to the dining room and fixed the dinner issue, or so we thought. The maitre'd looked up my mom's account and moved her to our table. He said they would set it with seven settings instead of 6.

Then we went back and sat outside on the "faux wicker" furniture. It was such a beautiful afternoon and there was such a nice view of Miami, and a nice breeze!

At about 1:30, we went to see if our rooms were ready. They were, so we headed there. Our room is an inside cabin. The first time we've had an inside on a Caribbean cruise. It's really different than having a balcony, or even a porthole! It's much smaller, and doesn't seem as much like a cruise, but at the same time, it's not really that bad, and you don't spend THAT much time in the room. And on the bright side, or not so much "bright," in the mornings, we won't be woken up by the light!! I like that!

We had to wait for our luggage to arrive, though, so there wasn't much to do. We went to the Spa Tour with Brian, Jessica, and my mom. It was a good tour, and then we entered the spa raffle.

Next, we explored some of the upper decks and played a little mini golf before the muster drill. At 3:30, we had to go to our muster stations.

We didn't need to bring our life vests, which isn't new... we had the same thing on the last cruise we went on... the only difference, and a pretty major one, was that we didn't actually go and line up at the place where the lifeboats are. Instead, we had meeting points... Ours was the Sapphire Dining Room, upper floor. My mom, Brian, and Jessica were on the lower floor, and Dan's parents were in some place completely different.

They just demonstrated how to put on a life jacket, and then told us that we should go to that room in case of emergency and people would be directed from there. Very interesting new twist!

After that, my tiredness was really catching up to me, but that didn't really matter. We kept going. We headed back to the rooms to check on the luggage, and then over to meet Dan's parents at the "faux wicker."

Finally, at about 5:00, we set sail! Dan and I went up to the Lido Deck to watch! Dan got a Miami Vice and I got a Strawberry Daiquiri to celebrate!

Then we went and met everyone at the Spa again for the raffle. My mom was the first winner, and she won a $50 gift certificate to the Spa. She was not very happy with her winnings, though. I don't think she fully understood the concept of the raffle.

Dan wanted to do a special massage and asked his parents to get it for him as his birthday present. He did the massage right then, and so I went back to the room. That was at about 6, and shortly after, the last of our luggage came. I was able to get my bathing suit out and go in the hot tub!

I first checked the ones in the back of the ship, but they were full, and then the one on the side had a couple people in it. I went to the one by the "faux wicker" spot.... (I need to think of something better to call that area!!!)... and luckily, it was completely empty.

I was in there for about 5 minutes, and then a family came over. The man asked me if there was room for them, and then they came on in! After a few minutes, he started talking to me, and we quickly became BFFs. He was approx 55-60 years old and his wife, son, and son's girlfriend were there too. We talked about his job... Making liquor in the mountains of North Carolina, about previous cruises, about booking or not booking excursions... about or thoughts on sea days and itineraries, and they said they had taken this cruise because it goes to all ports that they had never been to! SAME AS ME!

I loved it. They were so friendly and fun. We had a good conversation. The only bad thing was that my towel fell into the hot tub. Boo. We asked someone what time it was, and it was about 7:15. They got out because they were hungry, and wanted to go eat. They had the Anytime dinner. I got out, too because I had to get showered up and ready for dinner.

I had to run back to the room because I had no towel and was dripping wet!! It wasn't as cold as I had expected the run to be. It was warm out, and even inside wasn't too bad. When I got back, I was surprised because Dan wasn't back yet, but I took a shower and got dressed for dinner.

Dan returned from the Spa at 8... they had given him some extra treatments, so he went over his scheduled time! He got back and took a quick shower, got dressed, and was ready to go at 8:10. We got to the dining room and waited for them to open which was only a minute after we arrived.

We got to our table, and unfortunately, it wasn't good. It was set for six people, even though we had already spoken to them and asked for my mom to be moved to our table. THEN, we told them about it and asked for another place setting on the end of the table but they tried to cram it in on one side and the table was not at all big enough. It would have been ridiculous.

Dan went to speak to the maitre'd again, and this time they moved our table. We have kind of an awkward location now, behind a big wall and you can't see anything at all, but at least we all fit at the table.

For dinner, I got the beef and barley soup and TWO entrees! I got the flat iron steak and some kind of beef. I forget what it was called. The steak was amazing. It was PERFECT. The beef was good, too. It was beef brisket.

After that, everyone went to the show but Dan and I went out and took a walk around.

We found a few cruisers who have already earned nicknames. I have Brows, Sticks and Stones (Two different people who come in a pair,) the wolf, spaceman, and of course, Moonshine! (My friends from the hot tub.)

We stumbled upon the arcade and Dan remembered reading that we get five free games each before midnight tonight so we played! I wound up getting a little alien figurine and a smurf. What a deal.

Then we went and met everyone else in the lobby and hung out there before calling it a night and going to bed! Now it's insanely late and we have had a lonnnnnnng day, so now it's time for sleep and tomorrow is a DAY AT SEA! I love days at sea, and this cruise has the perfect itinerary with them, so it's gonna be good!

Until tomorrow...

Goodnight. :)