We dropped Ryan and Wyatt off that Friday morning and raced down to Port Canaveral.  This was Emily's 1st cruise.  Needless to say we were very excited.  The ship was so big we could see it long before we got to it.

We got the terminal by 11:40, dropped off our bags, checked in and were on the boat with drinks in hand by noon!

We snuck into our cabin.  We were not supposed to go into them until 1pm but Jeff found a back way in to the cabin hallways and we went for it.

After some familiarization with our new home for the next 3 days we headed up to the Windjammer Buffet to get some grub.

After lunch we wondered around the ship and found ourselves on the top deck overlooking the pool.  They were painting the forward pool today.  It would be open tomorrow.

Note the lack of bodies on the pool deck.  It will not look like that again until the day we get back home.  The round room you see across the way is the Viking Crown Lounge.

We had muster drill at 4pm.  Don your lifejackets and stand around a bunch of strangers looking just as clueless as you.  After the drill we went back up to the sun deck.  It sits above the pool.  We laid out and got sun until 5pm when the horn blew and we started moving!  Jeff's hair got really excited.

We could see the NASA Vehicle Assembly Building and the rocket launch sites!

We got a Coast Guard Escort out of Port Canaveral.

A small boat headed towards us and the Coast Guard sped up to make sure they were kosher.

And we were out into the Atlantic headed for Paradise.  That night for dinner we were able to get our own table for two.  We relaxed into rum drinks and good food and slept like babies that night.

GOOD MORNING BAHAMAS!!!

We woke up to deep blue water.  You could actually see the bottom it was so clear.  We were in a race with a few other ships into Nassau.  We were going to win. Ha ha

Once we got close to port a pilot tug boat raced up and tied to the side of our ship.

We went back to our cabin and got ready for a day in another country.  From our cabin view the boats name is Inspiration.  Fitting.

Waiting to be cleared so we could get off the ship we hung out on the sun deck again.  We took a few pictures of the port.  You can see from left to right the straw market, Senior Frogs, and the Hilton hotel.

Another cruise ship came and parked right next to us while we waited.

We finally were cleared off the boat and down the pier we went.

We strolled through customs and headed out into town to the bus stop for Cable Beach.  We saw the Pirates Museum.  Cannot wait to take the boys here.

We found the bus stop.  The busses are called jitneys.  We never got the air-conditioned ones.  The were fun to ride in.  Quite exhilarating.  Definately felt like a local in those deathtraps.  After a short adventuress ride we arrived at the Nassau Beach Hotel on Cable Beach.

We found two beach lounges and started to relax.  Ruthie, our waitress brought us a Bahama mama  and a Pina colada.  We relaxed and enjoyed the day with a walk swimming and some sun.

We took a jitney back to town and shopped a little.  Tonight was formal night so we wanted to get back early and get ready.  Here is our ship on our way back aboard.  Our room looked over the third lifeboat from the back.

We got back and got ready for dinner.  

We had a wonderful dinner and took a few pictures from the back of the ship.

We had a long day in the sun and a great meal.  We retired to our cabin to play with our monkey!

\

When we were done playing with the monkey we went to bed to rest up for Coco Cay.

Cruise Part II