The Honeymooners-part I

So, I’m skipping the wedding and going straight to the good stuff…the honeymoon! Really, I’d love to write about the wedding day, I just don’t have any pictures to supplement the content, so I figure I’ll wait to until a bit later to write about that. Also, I’m going to do installments, because really, no one likes to read a huge long blog post…

So, we left really early Sunday morning for the airport. Thankfully, my parents are morning people and had no problem leaving the hotel at 6AM. Also, it worked out great that we just happened to plan our wedding to fall on the one night that we get an extra hour of sleep! This is the one time in life that I said…”Hooray for Daylight Savings Time!”

Waiting on our plane to Miami

The new rings!

We get to Miami and its raining and crummy. I had read that the easiest way to get to the Port was by taxi, so we asked a few questions, made sure of the rate to the cruise terminal, and jumped in a taxi. At the port, there were tons of taxis, lines, and Homeland Security officers. We tell him our cruise line (Norwegian Cruise Lines)…but our driver pulls up to Carnival. Now, granted its very easy to see you are not at the right location. There were Carnival signs everywhere and I thought I saw an NCL ship a half mile or so in the other direction.

Driver: This is your stop.

Sara: Um….the signs say Carnival. We are on Norwegian. ….I really don’t mind walking but its raining pretty hard and I don’t even know which direction to go!

Driver: Ok, well I can’t go over there. See…I forgot my ID at home and they’ll throw me in jail if they stop me. I got lucky this time but I can’t go back.

Joe: Well, what are we supposed to do about that?

Driver: Well, I’ll take you to get another taxi….

So our driver drove back out of the terminal and to another location where he found one, lone taxi. This poor man was in the middle of eating his lunch and reluctantly agreed to take us to the correct terminal. I guess it is pretty well known in taxi driver circles of Miami that there have been some delays because of Homeland Security. This guy said they call them, ‘ICE’, because they are bigger and badder than the other forms of police. Who knows…

We get to the NCL terminal, pay the guy (the 2 drivers split the cost because Joe and I were not going to pay more for the first guys negligence…I mean, why take people to the port if you know you don’t have the proper identification to go to the port?), and dashed out of the rain. It was chaotic. We didn’t know if you had to check you bags, where to check them, what do to at all…It turns out, that a cruise is just like an airport. We could just carry everything on board with us. Note to future cruisers: Unless you are going for 2-3 weeks, keep everything small and with you. The hassle we avoided by doing this was unmeasurable.

As we go to board the ship, we see two Steelers fan talking to a man and a camera crew. As we were walking we were approached by one of the crew…

Lady: Hi, would you be willing to speaking with (Mr. So-and-So). We are looking to hear from a cute, young couple for a documentary that we are making about the cruise line industry.

Sara: Sure!! We’re on our honeymoon! We just got married yesterday!!

Lady: Even better!!  Wait just one moment and we’ll interview you…

Joe: (in backgound….) Grumble, grumble…

So we talked to this guy from CNBC for a bit and they asked us for our names. For those of you who don’t know Joe, he’s very private. If you are a sales clerk, I pity you if you ask him for his telephone number or ask to see his receipt as he is leaving (Wal-Mart) as you will either be ignored or told why you do not need this information. So, knowing this, I could just hear a piece of Joe’s soul die when he had to give his last name to this random camera crew…TWICE after they didn’t write it down correctly the first time. Despite me dragging him into the interview, it was a neat start to our trip.

When we walked aboard, we were greeted with champagne and smiling faces. We got to our room, and I was in heaven! It was small and cozy, but the balcony was oh so perfect. We also had flowers, strawberries and champagne waiting for us as part of our honeymoon package. Ooo-la-la!!!

Joe checking out the balcony

Honeymoon package!

After the weather cleared up a bit, we ate lunch and toured around the boat. We were on the Norwegian Pearl…a ship weighing approx. 93,000 tonnes with about 2,200 guests and ~1,100 crew members.

Our balcony overlooking Miami port

So, that was pretty much the first day…a lot of exploring, eating, getting acclimated, unpacking, napping,…and we went to a show. The next day was at sea. We woke up fairly early to eat breakfast and so I could see Cuba as we were passing by. I don’t know why I was so excited about this…I suppose it’s both because I have studied the country and its history, but also because it is the forbidden land to us in the US. Maybe I’ll get to go someday…

Joe is excited about Cuba, too!

This first day at sea was just what I needed. I don’t think I realized how exhausted I was until that day. After breakfast we napped for awhile…then lazied on the deck sipping a strawberry daiquiri…had lunch…then decided to nap some more. It truly was a rough day. The sunset that night (and many other nights!) was so beautiful.

Then, it was time for dinner. As you read more and more, you will find that food was the reoccurring theme of this trip. There was sooo much food!!! NCL had kind of a cool restaurant setup. They had multiple main dinning rooms with a different ambiance to each one. The first night we ate in “Indigo” which had a more modern feel to it. This night, we decided to go to “Summer Palace” which was modeled after one of the French royal palaces. The food was very good. It’s oddly liberating to order whatever you want and not worry about the individual item cost. I also found that I ordered much more unique dishes, because if I didn’t like it, it really wasn’t a huge loss as I could just order something else.

Summer Palace

To round out the evening, we relaxed in the crystal atrium…

…watched Big Ben on the VERY very big screen…

…danced and lounged in the club…(notice the actual bed in the background!!)…

Bliss Lounge

…and were greeted by a cute little piggie and chocolate when we got back to our room! I just love these little guys!!!

All in all, it was a very good start to our cruise! Stay tuned for details about our first stop—Roatan, Honduras!