Day 3: Start of Cruise - At Sea

Posted on 2012-05-02 in Transatlantic Cruise and Europe • 873 words • 5 minute read

Sumner

Today was tiring at best. We started the day out in Ft. Lauderdale and ended it out of site of the shore. We had breakfast in the hotel and then went back up to get ready to check out of the room at ten. Then we went to the port, Port Everglades. There we dropped off our bags and went to the airport to drop off our car. We took the shuttle from the airport back to the port and went through a very extensive security and check in. Eventually we got to the jet-way. Oh wait, it can’t be a jet-way, we weren’t going on a jet. It did look like it though. Anyway when we got onto the boat it was really cool. It was really grand. We were almost attacked with people with hand sanitizer and everyone was very nice. Then we were told where to go to get to our room and there we put down our bags and then we went to lunch. After a delicious buffet lunch we explored the ships for a little while and then went back to the room to get on our bathing suits to go swimming. After that we watched the embarkation at about 6:00. There is a kids club and a teens club on the ship. The kid club (called club HAL; Holland America Line) had a meeting and so Hannah went to that for a few minutes while mom, Oma and I went to go eat. We learned that I was one of two teenagers on the ship and Hannah was one of about ten or so kids. We were going to try to eat at the nice restaurant but the line was so long that it just wasn’t worth it. We went to the buffet instead. After we had eaten we went up to pick up Hannah. One of the leaders of the club informed us that I was actually the only teenager on he ship. The other “teenager” turned out to be 67 not 17. Someone had made a typo. Anyway Hannah came down to have dinner and then we went back to the room to go to bed.

~Sumner

Hannah

Today has been the best day in my ENTIRE life. (Of course, I will say that for other things too.) Anyway… This morning was very hectic. Why? Because we had to get packed. And packing in our family takes a while. (for the ladies. But not me.) we got lost trying to get to the port, but we made it. Oh! This might tickle all of you. So when we went drop our bags off at the port, an African American man told us he would take them. He asked us where we are from and we said Colorado. He said “are you Broncos fans?” And we said YES! Isn’t it funny that he did not believe us? well it was strange that he would be asking us such a thing. Until he pointed out his hat. It was a Broncos hat. We got the rental car dropped off and headed back to the port. It was not until then that I realized how BIG the ship was/is. It was GIGANTIC!!!

And I mean it. Here are the details.

Decks:

Passenger Elevators:

Passengers:

1,918

Crew:

620

Length:

935 ft

width:

105.8 ft

That is

HUGE isn’t it? But our room is extremely small. I will post pictures on the blog too.

There. we just set sail. It was gorgeous. Although the horn was blasting. Earlier today we had a practice emergency test. The siren was ear piercingly loud. It was fun though. After that we had lunch. It is served buffet style, but yet it wasn’t. Strange! To order you just said “May I please have a salad?” then they say “Yes.” What was funny is that when I was ordering my salad, I couldn’t get a word in. He just said “carrots, yes?”

PLOP “zucchini, yes? PLOP “tomato, yes?” PLOP. The entire time I didn’t even say one word. For kids there is this thing called Club HAL. It is this club for kids 8-12. I am the oldest. Oh. The funny thing was that the employees said there was another teenager. (Sumner is the only other teenager.) Anyway, we found out that they made a mistake. The other teenager was 17. But we later found out that he was really 67. It actually was REALLY funny. So for dinner you have choices. You can do reserved seating, which means you have to eat at a specific time. Or you can do open seating, which is eating whenever. We did open seating. Also every Wednesday and Thursday, I believe, are the formal nights. That is when you have to be formal. OBVIOUSLY. that will be REALLY fun. There is also a swimming pool. It looks small, but is A LOT deeper than you would think. (I found that out) Well, today has been fun, hectic, exciting, and plain cool. See you all later!

-Hannah-

NOTE!

Please don’t try to email me. (even though I said email me.) internet costs. (I mean like $5 a minute.) It would get a little expensive. Thanks!

-Hannah-