Saturday March 31st

Up and at em at 7:15 - showered and downstairs for breakfast by 8. Continental breakfast and then discovered our shuttle didn't include a trip to the cruise ship - only to the airport. Darn. We booked 2 Ubers and 2 minivans arrived promptly. Ours unfortunately took the scenic route to the airport by mistake but we still made it to the port with plenty of time. Driving onto the pier and seeing the massive ships in port was just surreal. We walked into the building and were ecstatic to head straight through to the attendants with no line up. We checked in, got our passes and walked up the numerous ramps to get into the ship.

The moment you arrive on the ship, you are bombarded with music, lights and entertainment as it greatly resembles the inside of a mall with shops reaching high into the air and advertising everywhere.

We proceeded down the hallway and were fascinated with all the amazing shops including the Robotic Armed Bar where drinks are all computer made. Very cool.

As we traveled from front to back of each deck from deck 5 through 18, each deck had something more amazing than the last. From shopping to casinos and skating rinks to surfing and waterslides too. We grabbed a bite to eat at the Windjammer Cafe - a full buffet with hundreds of choices from appetizers and salads to mains and desserts.

As we neared 1pm, we headed to deck 10 and checked into our room.

After getting unpacked and things sorted, we headed to the pool complete with a couple layers of SPF 100. The clouds burned off a bit and the sun was blazing through a blue sky. We enjoyed some cold beverages while in and out of the pool.

Around 3 we headed to our room and put on some day clothes before heading to the large theater for our 45 minute evacuation debrief.

We headed to guest services to get out wristbands for room access and non-alcalcoholic drinks. The boys met up with us for a bit before disappearing for a couple hours.

We wandered the ship through coffee shops and eventually met the boys for their private Waverider Surf lesson from 615 to 730. Nicholas in Jacob posted extremely well and had an outstanding time surfing.

We all headed back to our room and got changed for supper. We had a down to Deck 4 and our table of 8. We ordered a multitude of appetizers including escargot, shrimp cocktails, Caesars salad, mushroom soup and soul much more. Just about everyone had prime rib except Krista who had salmon. The food was quite good although some of it came out a bit cool.

Jacob wolfed down his prime rib and disappeared to go and play dodgeball. The rest of us finished up our meal and the we headed up to watch the diving show which regrettably was cancelled due to high winds. The boys went off to play Pink pong and more dodgeball while the parents checked out a couple of night clubs with a great piano player and a live band.

Easter Sunday Mass was tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. so midnight was Easter Sunday Mass was tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. so midnight was good enough for night 1. What an outstanding adventure it was today!!