Embarkation Day

Embarkation day – September 20^{th
Evening Attire: Cruise Casual (Carioca's) - South American Cuisine
Drink of the Day: Bahama Mama
Evening Entertainment: All Aboard! Let the Magic Begin!}

Since the morning rain had cancelled our plans for the fort, we decided to hang around the hotel.  I kept in close contact with our facebook cruise group on the internet and discovered there were hiccups at the port and they were not opening it up until later.  I requested a late checkout with the Sheraton and the girls and I went up on the roof-top pool and discovered we could see the ship!  So close, yet so far away.

Once we got the news that check-in had opened and people were moving in, we took a cab over to the Pan Am Pier.  The cab ride was $20, which I am sure was a rip-off but we didn’t check the fee before we got in.  In no time at all, we arrived at the pier.

The line looked like it was speeding through.  We dropped our bags (the only painless part) and were the next people to have our IDs checked – when they halted the line and said security was cutting us off.

So we waited.  And waited. And waited some more.  It probably was 45 minutes to an hour we stood there.  Disappointing, because we didn’t want to arrive until we knew we’d get through but what can you do?  Later on, our server told us the staff waited to disembark for hours, due to previous passengers being slow to get off and custom delays.  Most of them ended up not being able to leave the ship, as they were not cleared until it was too late.

After they started us up again, we got through the metal detectors and checked right in, since we were at the front of the line.  We got boarding number 16.

After another 45 minutes or so, we finally got our number called and walked through the terminal and boarded the ship on deck 4.

Our Captain is Captain John.  Cruise Director is Natalie  All announcements were also translated in Spanish and some of the movies shown this week will either have spanish subtitles or be in Spanish.

It was probably 1:45 by now, so we dropped our bags off and went to eat at Cabanas.  Poor choise, as it was a madhouse but Carioca’s was supposedly closing at 2.  My 2 DDs accidentally got up from the table while Hubby and I were off getting things and someone pounced on our spot so we were left tableless.  We ended up taking plates back to the room.

Our safety drill was at 4, with another repeated for late arrivals later that night.
The girls wanted to go to the pool so we headed up there for a bit.  DD9 got to go on the twisty slide over and over again with no wait.

Then it was time to get ready for dinner.  Our rotation was CLACLACLAC,w hich put us at Carioca’s the first night.  Our wait staff was Fabio from Italy as Assistant and Esther from Trinidad as Server.  The cuisine was South American tonight and my garlic steak was pretty good.  Right before we went to dinner, Captain John came over the PA and apologized for the crappy embarkation and offered everyone a free drink at dinner.  I chose the Bahama Mama – the drink of the day.

Following dinner, our show was All Aboard! Let the Magic Begin!  It featured the comedy and magic of David Williamson, who is performing all week and was very interesting at the show.

We called it an early night since our travels have been exhausting the past few days.  I believe the ship left sometime after 10:30 pm that night.

Up next: Sea Day