Well, since there were actually two people that responded to my last blog I will put off for a short while going to bed and write a bit about my recent vacation. The vacation was absolutely WONDERFUL. I will have to admit that it was a bit cooler than we would have liked but what a great time we had just being away. As i have mentioned before it has been unusually cold down here. If you look at one of my earlier blogs you will see a picture of ice on my pool. Excuse me but this is Florida! If I wanted ice on my pool i would have stayed up north; but i digress.
We started our vacation on Friday even though the ship wasn't leaving till Saturday. We booked a motel room for Friday in Slidell, just outside of New Orleans. We had a leisurely start Friday morning, dropped Fozzy off with Kathy and had lunch in Crestview. We were on our way and I could feel the tension starting to fall away just a bit. We got to the motel, checked in, went out for dinner and just had a nice quiet time together. Our vacation was starting.

The next morning we got up, had a cheesy breakfast at the hotel and prepared to head out to the pier. Well, were we in for a bit of a surprise. We gave ourselves plenty of time but this was not only mardi gras weekend but the Saints just recently won the super bowl. As soon as we got near New Orleans it appeared that everyone east of the Mississippi was headed into New Orleans. Mind you, i had been wound tighter than a thin rubber band and this wasn't helping. It took us about an hour and a half to go a distance that should have taken about ten minutes. Deep breath, it is going to be alright. Finally the majority of the traffic split off and headed toward the French Quarters and we headed toward the pier. There it was; OUR SHIP. We turned into the parking garage, but what was with the long line of cars in front of us. People were getting out and handing their luggage to unknown persons who promised to get the bags to the ship. Now I was feeling better but Kim was starting to get nervous. What if our bags didn't make it to the ship. We would have our pictures taken in the same outfit for a whole week. Now you know Kim was getting REAL nervous. I gave the guy with the luggage cart five dollars hoping that would help him remember our room number on the ship since he didn't have and tags to put on the bags. Now Kim was REALLY getting nervous.

We drove up a couple more levels in the garage after leaving our luggage with some dude we never saw before and found a parking space. After parking the car and breathing a sigh of relief we headed for the elevator. I was hoping we could remember where we parked when we got back but I wasn't going to worry about that to much right now. We walked into the building and were shown where we needed to go; back outside the building around to the other side and through some long corridor. Has anyone seen a bathroom? You have to remember that we just spent a whole lot more time than expected traveling and were now standing in what appeared to be an endless line. Have you ever seen the Detrol commercials? That was me! Think desert thoughts. We were herded down a hall, up an escalator, down another hall, through those rope mazes they set up and finally through a baggage scanner. All this took almost as long as the trip to get here; and still no bathroom, which was starting to become a real problem. Finally we got through the scanner, gathered our belongings, put our shoes on and headed for the next line. There was not going to be any more line without a bathroom break.

Kim stood on the next line while i very quickly headed for the nearest available bathroom. Doesn't cruising sound like a lot of fun? There were people everywhere wanting to take my picture. Apparently they did not understand, that would not be a good idea right now. After returning to join Kim in line I was feeling so much better. This was the line that would really start our vacation. We would be verifying our cruise statue, dinner seating, and receive Kim's favorite cruising item; the on board charge card. After all of this we started heading toward the gangplank and boarded the ship. Now i was on vacation! I could literally feel the weight drop overboard and i was in another world, even if it was only for a week. I quickly threw off that thought and said this is day one and i am on vacation. OK, point me toward the food. After finding our room, sans luggage, we looked for something to eat since all we had to eat today was the cheesy hotel breakfast. Let the eating begin, and it did. Our first day on the cruise is usually just getting to know the ship. After all this was going to be our home for the next week and we wanted to know our way around. After a tour of the ship we headed back to our room to see about getting ready for dinner. It is a good thing that there is no dress code for dinner on the first night because we were still luggage-less. Need i say that Kim was getting more nervous.

We went for dinner and found our table. It was a table for ten but we were the only ones sitting there. Can you say awkward. OK we didn't have our luggage so deodorant and fresh clothes were not an option but just us at a table for ten tucked away in the corner. After the waiter took our order six people showed up and sat at our table. They were all acquainted and cruising together and after the obligatory introductions they talked among themselves and Kim and I stared at each other. I love cruising, always something different. After dinner we went back to our room and what do you think we saw? Nothing. Now Kim was wondering how we could make our two outfits work for the whole week. We sat in the room for awhile and heard some noise outside in the hall. Kim opened the door to look and there it was; my suitcase. OK maybe she could accessorize with some of my stuff. Alright her suitcase finally showed up later and she was a very happy camper. It took a little longer to get there because they had to go find a very large dock hand to help move it. We are on vacation!!