GypsyJilly: Day1. November 29,2022. Port Everglades, Fort Lauderdale.

Updated with pictures on December 1!!!!

We arrived at the Holiday Inn express and suites (about three or 4 miles from the port) late yesterday afternoon. We had a really uneventful evening dinner at a really unremarkable place, and we went back to the room and got a good nights sleep.

Before I knew it, we were on our way to the port and the madness that is check in. I will say it was very simple. There was a lot of direction and we were immediately taken to the Porter area to give our bags over. We did that and then proceeded to a line that moved very, very fast because we had already completed all of our medallion app stuff so we had a green status. Our line moved much much quicker because everyone in it had all of the information we entered on the Medallion application completed. They were able to just scan us in on a tablet, and we were already checked in and ready to board the ship. That was it. We got our tokens, and we headedup the escalator and immediately into a very short line to board the ship. I'd say the whole process was about 20 minutes!

Our rooms were ready so we immediately went and found our cabins. We are in the aft of the ship, two floors apart. They (Kolton and DeAshiah---now known as K&D on this blog) are on deck 11 and I am on deck 14. I know that does make it three decks but this ship has no deck 13. We are in inside cabins and they’re perfectly fine for one or two people. Lots of storage lots of drawers space a nice little closet everything you need.

The only thing that is bothering me is the fact that the open closet on the other side of the wall from the bed has a lot of rattling hangers now that the ship is moving.

Random pictures

After unpacking, we met up on the Lido deck for a drink, and then we went to find some lunch. The food on the Buffet was very good. However, I felt like it was not laid out in a very natural way. It felt very chopped up. However, we had no problem finding a table and we had our lunch and made a dinner reservation through our medallion app. It’s quite painless.

We then made our way to the aft of the ship to the Wakeview Bar. There is a small infinity edge pool at the back and I can’t wait to get in it.

Much of the rest of the afternoon was spent wandering around the ship drinking lots of Tito's! As stated there is plenty of storage in these tiny cabins. They are perfect for 2 people. Although, my cabin has 2 upper berths. I could not even imagine having 4 people in this cabin.

I met up with K&D in the casino! Oh yes, I did! I didn't get on any tables, I just had to blow money on the Wheel of Fortune Game. HA

Then is was time for dinner! We chose the aft Dining Room - Almalfi. We were seated at a table for 3 and shortly afterward, a lovely English couple sat at the table next to us. You just meet the best people when you cruise!

I have no dinner pictures because we all scarfed our food down before I remembered. My dinner was excellent. I had a Greek Salad, soup and linguini with clam sauce. I ordered the hazelnut souffle for dessert -- highly recommend!!!

After dinner, there was only 1 place I was headed----the Casino. I got on a 3 Card Poker table and was able to hold my own for about 2 1/2 hours. Then I started to lose, so I colored up and cashed out. I made $25!

I was still restless though and not ready to sleep. I have no idea what K&D did!!! Guess I'll find out in the morning. At any rate, I walked around and stopped at a few slot machines, but just kept cashing out looking for something else. I found it! Video Poker! I put $100 bucks in and played for a long time. I was up and down money. So, I decided to play 2 more hands and call it a night. Ding Ding Ding I hit a Royal Flush and immediately cashed out. I have a tidy little sum in my onboard bank.

Here are other random pictures from around the ship. I think I finally figured out this picture thing after loading and losing the pictures 3x already!