Before sharing my cruise photos, I want to say that this trip was mainly to see childhood friends I’ve stayed in touch with for many years. One of them has known me since I was two years old, and another I walked to school on her first day of kindergarten. Our parents were good friends and the three families did so many things together. Being on this cruise with all of them was almost like being back in our old neighborhood, only instead of playing hide and seek, we were having cocktails and dancing.

OK, we boarded the ship in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I hadn’t been there for many years, so was surprised at how big it was. It was also warmer than California (around 84 F.). I was really surprised at how many people were on the beach! San Diego beaches are not crowded in the winter at all–it’s mostly tourists and diehard surfers in wet suits.

This was at 1 p.m. on Friday. It felt like spring break, but the partyers were older than college age.

We don’t see ships this close to shore in San Diego. There were quite a few too.

The palms were a little different from ours, but lovely.

Not sure if this is a private beach, but almost all of the umbrellas were the same blue.

I didn’t get a shot of the ship that day because the boarding process was kind of a melee, and we didn’t want to lose our places in a very long line. I’ll have a shot of it at sea in the next post.

Leaving Fort Lauderdale.

I love the white ship and multicolored flags against the blue sky.

I completely forgot to take a shot of our stateroom, so here’s a Princess photo of a room just like ours. It was really comfortable and the steward cleaned it at least twice a day.

I did remember to photograph our patio.

Out by the pool there was a screen for movies and it was huge.

You could even watch movies under the stars. We meant to do that, but either the movie didn’t appeal or we were doing something with our friends.

I took this on the first night when it was cool outside and everyone had to wrap up in blankets.

I thought the lighting by the pools was so beautiful.

This is a “Sea Walk” over the ocean.

I have a thing about heights, but forced myself to walk it. My knees were a little jelly-like, but I made it. Didn’t look down at the ocean much, though!

There were plenty of lounges and bars:

Believe me, they weren’t this empty after the first night.

Overall, the food was great, but I’m just realizing we never had desserts like this after the first day. They were a fraction of this size and not nearly so ornate, but I can see why. With so much food, you just didn’t want a big dessert.

A pastry shop. There was a gelateria and candy shop too, along with a clothing and souvenir boutique.

The whole ship was beautifully appointed. I’ve only been on one other cruise, but that ship wasn’t nearly as nice as this one.

The concierge area.

There was a three-story atrium with dance floor and plenty of table and chairs for people to sit and watch or have drinks.

Atrium ceiling.

The ship’s gym was really nice. You could watch TV, and good music was blaring the whole time. The light’s not great here, so it’s hard to see the ocean, but this was my view from the elliptical machine:

Best workout view, ever!

Hope your week’s going well so far.

{carole}