Cruise report - day one
Dec. 16th, 2007 11:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bookaddict43Due to total verboseness - I'll post these reports in chunks. There's quite a few pictures, and as usual, I think they're a bit too big - sorry to those on dial-up...
I was getting pretty nervous by now. Originally I had organised to spend a couple of days in San Diego with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ceslas (My San Diego time and a very small report on the pre-cruise Shindig are here)
and then we were going to share with two others of her friends on the cruise. Unfortunately at the last minute, my good friend had to cancel and I was due to share a cabin with two people I didn't know! *wibble* I was sort of hoping to meet them the night before at the Shindig but poor Cana got held up at Salt Lake City and Kimie and I must have walked past each other a million times without realising it! I resigned myself to meeting on the ship and thought up some contingency plans for if we hated each other or something...
Day one started with me collecting my bags and walking from the hostel to the Marriott where I waited with the other Browncoats for the bus to take us to the boat. Although I still hadn’t met any of my room-mates, I met plenty of new folks while standing in line and had a great time chatting to them about all sorts of things. The bus trip, once we got on, was quick and painless and soon we were at the dock and handing over our large luggage to the porters.
Carnival Elation
Checking in wasn’t as bad as I thought, and we were through all the formalities in less than an hour. Really the ship's authorities were only interested in one thing - our credit cards. These were linked to the cards everyone used on the ship to identify themselves, as room keys and to purchase items on board. Once we received these cards we were on the ship and ready to find our rooms and start exploring.
Finding my way to the cabin was pretty easy and although one room-mates bags were there, she wasn't, so after taking a look around I set off to explore the ship a little.
The stairs near our cabin. Since the lifts (elevators) were pretty slow, these and many, many other sets of stairs were in great demand. I was glad of them, because going up and down the stairs helped counteract eating all the delicious dinners provided on board!
My explorations took me from the top of the ship to the bottom and I got lost heaps of times. I took a walk through the child care areas, found the internet terminals (at 75c a minute, a bit too expensive for me), checked out the mini-golf course, the pools and spas, and attempted to locate the dining room. By then I was pretty tired and went back to the room for a rest and finally met my room-mates!
It was great to finally meet and we were so lucky and hit it off immediately! It turned out that I did know both Kimie and Cana online a little and I think that helped a lot. I was so glad I didn't need any of my contingency plans...
Kimie and Cana. Hi roomies! *waves* I miss you :D
Before we left the docks everyone had to go through the safety procedures, so before dinner everyone trooped down to their assigned areas and learnt what to do in case of emergency.
Lifejackets are not flattering!
After this the boat finally got under way and our trip was beginning. There was a lot more motion than I bargained for and quite a few people were uncomfortable.
Dinner was excellent and I certainly ate too much. It was good to meet and get to know some other Browncoats at our table too. Several tables had a few missing folks that night due to sea-sickness. We were lucky where we were sitting, in that we got a pretty clear view of the table where some of the celebrities were eating. That made our whole trip seem more real straight away.
After dinner were the opening celebrations and we got to meet the staff, volunteers and celebrity guests. I don't have any photos of this since either the boat was moving too much or my hand was shaking - every shot is blurry. I'll be relying on the DVD of the cruise to remember this part by!
The guests were great from the beginnning. All throughout the cruise they were friendly, approachable and really put themselves out for us. With the exception of Jonathan at B3 last year, I have never seen any of those that were there, and I was impressed. It was great to see Jonathan of course and he was in fine form as usual. Hearing Ron's wonderful laugh at first hand was awesome and Michael Fairman and Nectar Rose were both friendly and natural. Michael was travelling with his wife and daughter which I thought was cool and Sonny Rhodes was also travelling with his wife. After the introductions the Bedlam Bards played a couple of songs and when that was over many of us went to hear Sonny Rhodes perform.
I'm not very familiar with the blues scene and except for his rendition of the Firefly theme had never heard anything of Sonny's. But after listening to his talk and wonderful music that night I've become a big fan. Sonny was such a relaxed talker and made his stories and anecdotes so interesting, I was a bit disappointed at first, when he stopped and started to sing! Of course when he started to sing and play I was then wishing he could keep going all night :) I wish I could remember everything Sonny said, but here's a few things that stuck in my mind. He's been playing the blues for 57 years and doesn't mind people using his songs as a base for their own. He said that that was what blues was all about, continuing the story - I liked that idea. He talked about his wife (the poor thing wasn't well and she was sick for most of the cruise) and their life together and he told us how good he was at BBQ!
When the talking finished, Sonny started playing and singing. The Bedlam Bards provided backing music and before each piece Sonny would tell us a little about it or about the guitar he was using. All in all it was a great performance and I was pleased to hear he would be playing again during the cruise.
Sonny had some great suits and wore them with panache! My favourite was the yellow one he wore at the closing ceremonies.
The concert ended late and we all trooped off to 'our bunks' (a line much used during this cruise! LOL) and I for one, collapsed onto my bed and slept the sleep of the dead...
I was getting pretty nervous by now. Originally I had organised to spend a couple of days in San Diego with
ceslas (My San Diego time and a very small report on the pre-cruise Shindig are here)and then we were going to share with two others of her friends on the cruise. Unfortunately at the last minute, my good friend had to cancel and I was due to share a cabin with two people I didn't know! *wibble* I was sort of hoping to meet them the night before at the Shindig but poor Cana got held up at Salt Lake City and Kimie and I must have walked past each other a million times without realising it! I resigned myself to meeting on the ship and thought up some contingency plans for if we hated each other or something...
Day one started with me collecting my bags and walking from the hostel to the Marriott where I waited with the other Browncoats for the bus to take us to the boat. Although I still hadn’t met any of my room-mates, I met plenty of new folks while standing in line and had a great time chatting to them about all sorts of things. The bus trip, once we got on, was quick and painless and soon we were at the dock and handing over our large luggage to the porters.
Carnival Elation
Checking in wasn’t as bad as I thought, and we were through all the formalities in less than an hour. Really the ship's authorities were only interested in one thing - our credit cards. These were linked to the cards everyone used on the ship to identify themselves, as room keys and to purchase items on board. Once we received these cards we were on the ship and ready to find our rooms and start exploring.
Finding my way to the cabin was pretty easy and although one room-mates bags were there, she wasn't, so after taking a look around I set off to explore the ship a little.
The stairs near our cabin. Since the lifts (elevators) were pretty slow, these and many, many other sets of stairs were in great demand. I was glad of them, because going up and down the stairs helped counteract eating all the delicious dinners provided on board!
My explorations took me from the top of the ship to the bottom and I got lost heaps of times. I took a walk through the child care areas, found the internet terminals (at 75c a minute, a bit too expensive for me), checked out the mini-golf course, the pools and spas, and attempted to locate the dining room. By then I was pretty tired and went back to the room for a rest and finally met my room-mates!
It was great to finally meet and we were so lucky and hit it off immediately! It turned out that I did know both Kimie and Cana online a little and I think that helped a lot. I was so glad I didn't need any of my contingency plans...
Kimie and Cana. Hi roomies! *waves* I miss you :D
Before we left the docks everyone had to go through the safety procedures, so before dinner everyone trooped down to their assigned areas and learnt what to do in case of emergency.
Lifejackets are not flattering!
After this the boat finally got under way and our trip was beginning. There was a lot more motion than I bargained for and quite a few people were uncomfortable.
Dinner was excellent and I certainly ate too much. It was good to meet and get to know some other Browncoats at our table too. Several tables had a few missing folks that night due to sea-sickness. We were lucky where we were sitting, in that we got a pretty clear view of the table where some of the celebrities were eating. That made our whole trip seem more real straight away.
After dinner were the opening celebrations and we got to meet the staff, volunteers and celebrity guests. I don't have any photos of this since either the boat was moving too much or my hand was shaking - every shot is blurry. I'll be relying on the DVD of the cruise to remember this part by!
The guests were great from the beginnning. All throughout the cruise they were friendly, approachable and really put themselves out for us. With the exception of Jonathan at B3 last year, I have never seen any of those that were there, and I was impressed. It was great to see Jonathan of course and he was in fine form as usual. Hearing Ron's wonderful laugh at first hand was awesome and Michael Fairman and Nectar Rose were both friendly and natural. Michael was travelling with his wife and daughter which I thought was cool and Sonny Rhodes was also travelling with his wife. After the introductions the Bedlam Bards played a couple of songs and when that was over many of us went to hear Sonny Rhodes perform.
I'm not very familiar with the blues scene and except for his rendition of the Firefly theme had never heard anything of Sonny's. But after listening to his talk and wonderful music that night I've become a big fan. Sonny was such a relaxed talker and made his stories and anecdotes so interesting, I was a bit disappointed at first, when he stopped and started to sing! Of course when he started to sing and play I was then wishing he could keep going all night :) I wish I could remember everything Sonny said, but here's a few things that stuck in my mind. He's been playing the blues for 57 years and doesn't mind people using his songs as a base for their own. He said that that was what blues was all about, continuing the story - I liked that idea. He talked about his wife (the poor thing wasn't well and she was sick for most of the cruise) and their life together and he told us how good he was at BBQ!
When the talking finished, Sonny started playing and singing. The Bedlam Bards provided backing music and before each piece Sonny would tell us a little about it or about the guitar he was using. All in all it was a great performance and I was pleased to hear he would be playing again during the cruise.
Sonny had some great suits and wore them with panache! My favourite was the yellow one he wore at the closing ceremonies.
The concert ended late and we all trooped off to 'our bunks' (a line much used during this cruise! LOL) and I for one, collapsed onto my bed and slept the sleep of the dead...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-16 04:45 pm (UTC)Panache is a great word and really underused. I vote that we all try ad use that word every single day. But I think having Sonny around and that kick-ass Yellow suit/hat combination would make it WORLDS easier to use that word.
;)
And you are right - I must have walked by you a bazillion times at the Pre-Cruise Shindig!
I just thought that I wouldn't have to write a Report because you have written so well already. I'll just point everyone in your direction. ;)
I hope all is well. I miss you tons. xoxo
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-18 01:30 pm (UTC)Hey that's not fair! I want to read your account *pouts*
It occurs to me that I didn't pay you for the photo! What shall we do??? Also my photo from the last night at Friday's is dim and dark - is yours better?
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-16 05:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-18 01:32 pm (UTC)Also where are you? I miss our chats...
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-18 01:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-16 05:29 pm (UTC):D
Pretty ship. *gazes longingly* Wish I had had the guts to go!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-18 01:33 pm (UTC)Maybe if there's another such event, you might come? *inveigles*
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-18 02:16 pm (UTC)If there was another such event, my cash flow would have to catch up with my desire. If that happened... yes, I would love to go!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-16 07:10 pm (UTC)That's funny. Thanks for posting part 1 (or part 2?) of your journey. We get to live the experience through you. How did you manage to avoid sea sickness?
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-18 01:35 pm (UTC)They did come in handy though - I leant them to my room-mate on the last very rocky night.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-16 08:32 pm (UTC)Nice roomies ;-) And you look so good!!!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-18 01:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-16 11:09 pm (UTC)But it looks like the trip was fantastic, and I'm looking forward to the rest of your posts!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-12-18 01:43 pm (UTC)