We had a great continental breakfast at the Springhill Suites complete with scrambled eggs, sausages, original and strawberry Belgium waffles, and your typical cold breakfast items.
Then we headed to the Port to figure out how we could walk there and get our first glimpse at the port.
The hotel recommended walking around the Convention Center to the north but you end up doubling back because the convention center is so huge. We decided we will walk there via Julia street. We were told by a security guard that although it says no pedestrian traffic on the port road, they make exceptions for cruise travelers.
Our walk to the port went well even with two young children. We arrived at the port around 10:45 a.m. My parents had a suite and so they had priority boarding and we were allowed to join them in the check in and boarding process. After checking in and going through the scanners, we only sat for a couple of minutes before they made the announcement that the ship was ready for passengers. Again, as we were part of the priority boarding, we were one of the first ones on the ship. The regular lines didn’t look that bad either though. By 11:30 a.m., we were in the Restaurant Cezanne enjoying some lunch. It couldn’t have gone smoother.
Rooms were ready by 12:30 p.m. and so we dropped off our stuff, did a little unpacking and headed out to explore. Here are some pictures of our first walk around the ship.
On deck:
Impressionist Boulevard near the Alchemy Bar:
The ship has a lot of really decorative glass throughout. As you can see in the above picture, the lamp fixtures are are these beautiful flowers that remind me of trumpets. Below you can see the sun in the atrium in front of our dining room.
At 3:30 p.m. before we could sail, we had the muster station drill where they pack the entire ship of people on to the perimeter of one deck. I have to say this is probably the first time I saw so many people bring drinks to this drill.
These pictures were taken when probably 1/3 of the people had arrived.
When we got back to the room they were delivering our suitcases so we finished unpacking and on the balcony watched as the shipped sailed down the Mississippi. This first picture shows the dock. There are two cruise docks here. The Carnival dock is the one closest to the bridge.
There were several car ferries.
We saw two different refineries and several cranes in operation transferring what looked like coal and sand (separate cranes and barges).
We then headed down for a drink at the Alchemy Bar. This is by far the best bar on the ship with interesting drinks that are really good. Here are a few pictures of the Impressionist Boulevard as well.
We dined in the lower level of the Monet Dining Room at table 303. It was a great table for 8 (which included only our party) right next to a window and kind of in a corner so the kids didn’t disturb too many people.
The food was delicious.
Here are a few sunset pictures:
As our room wasn’t quite done shortly after 9:00 p.m. we headed down to check out photos and listen to some music in the Lobby. Travis was singing and playing guitar and harmonica all with a country twang. He was alright and it was humorous when he stopped playing his guitar yet the guitar music continued. We think he was using a foot petal to record and play to make up for the fact he was a one man band.
More interesting though was probably the people watching we did. We sat right near where one of the photographers had set up so we got to watch everyone get their pictures taken. We also had our pictures taken. This is where we ended our day. As we drifted off to sleep we were just getting to the end of the Mississippi. By morning we would be in the open sea.
Click HERE for tonight’s dinner menu.
Click HERE for tonight’s dessert menu.
Click HERE for today’s Fun Times.
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