2018 Caribbean Cruise - Ft. Lauderdale - Sunday, November 25, 2018

This morning we woke up, packed our suitcases, and caught the hotel shuttle to the cruise port.  The shuttle was running a bit late because the airport was chaotic, making all the following shuttles a little late but we still made it to the port about 10:50 a.m. (our check in time was between 11:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.)  Upon arriving, we were dropped off, porters took our luggage and we proceeded into the terminal building to go through security.

Embarkation would have been a completely seamless process if it weren't for our fellow cruise-mates.  A significant number showed up without a boarding pass (despite I don't know how many e-mails and notices on their website that you need to print your boarding pass and bring it with you).  So before these people could even go through security, their IDs had to be compared to the master list (which is quite large considering the size of the ship - just under 7,000 passengers).  This held up the entire line, although fortunately the line was fairly short.  Once through security, we walked right up to a check-in desk and were quickly walking on the ship.  

Our rooms weren't ready until 1:00 p.m. and so we started with some lunch in the Windjammer Marketplace (the buffet) which contrary to other cruises we have taken was not that crazy.  It was easy to find a spot to sit and lines for each of the buffet stations were non-existent to minimal.

After wandering the ship a bit and taking pictures of the other ships in port, we were able to get into our room and a little while later received our suitcases so we could unpack before the muster drill.

My parents were on the Caribbean Princess, sailing out the same day.

The Zuiderdam, the ship we got married on, was also in port.

And the brand new Edge, which isn't even open to the general public yet, was in port, although there was a "Dam" ship in front of it so I couldn't get any good photos.

It's behind this Nieux Amsterdam.

We were pleasantly surprised to see the early dining time listed on our sea pass cards and so scrambled to change our show reservation times (but there were still plenty of reservations left so it was no problem).  Dinner was on deck 3 in the main dining room at table 154 which is a table way in the back.  The servers were too busy to show people to their tables so it was a bit of a scavenger hunt but eventually we made our way.  It is a table for two (separated from another table for two by only a few inches).  Our waitstaff team has been very attentive so far and the food was very good.

After dinner, we had reservations to the show in the Aquatheater, The Fine Line.  The show was a mix of acrobatics, aerial work, tight rope walking, diving, synchronized swimming, and dancing.  The skills displayed by the athletes and performers were amazing, especially considering we are on a moving boat!

After the show we wandered through Central Park (which is quite neat at night), had some free champagne as we perused some high end watch and jewelry shops and then made our way back to our room.