Sunday 4th September.
Embarkation Day.
We started the day at the nearby restaurant with an unlimited continental breakfast before repacking the car and heading on over to the parking. This drive bought us the first view of the boat as we had to drive past it to get to where we where going.
Once we had arrived at the parking we offloaded the bags and put them in the minibus to be shuttled back to the port.
Once we offloaded there the whole check in process was very easy and quick. Lots of lines but everything moved quickly.
First up baggage tags for mum and dad as theirs hadn’t arrived before departure. They were waiting for them when we got home after the cruise.
Then someone checked the covid paperwork / QR codes and issued us all with a green wristband to indicate that we were all clean and uninfected. Then it was on to the scanners and passport control before being ushered into the waiting area. We were a little ahead of our port arrival time but it was only about a 10 minute wait here (if that) before our boarding number was called and we were on our way to the ship.
Once we were announced onboard and greeted by captain Mickey we were steered towards fathoms to get the app all set up on our phones before being released to the rest of the ship.
The staff here certainly knew their stuff across all operating systems and were able to help with issues on both my phone and my parents iPad.
We the went to our muster station to take the obligatory photo of it on the app and then watch the safety video. I have to say this is a much more efficient way of dealing with this.
We then headed up to deck 9 and Cabanas (oh na na) for lunch before character watching for a while until the staterooms opened up. We may have also stopped at Cove cafe during the afternoon for a coffee and an orange chocolate muffin.
Once in and unpacked we headed to deck 10 to watch the Sail-A-wave Party.Just before the party there was a coastguard helicopter getting a better look at the ship on the way past.
Next up was shopping. In the past we have had a some issues with merchandise being sold out before we got there so we went with the rush the shops on day one option. It certainly worked as we managed to acquire everything we had wanted.
Then it was back to the stateroom to freshen up for dinner.
. Up to Cabanas for breakfast and then no real plans for the day except relaxing.