Caribbean Cruise - We get to the ship

Megan and I just returned from our week-long Caribbean cruise. I don't want the party to end, so I'll detail our trip here in segments, with pictures. 

Our Royal Caribbean cruise left Galveston, TX at 16:30 on Sunday 2/15/15. Our flight to the ship left MSP airport at 5:10 that morning. We had to catch a connector in Charlotte, NC to get to Texas. My brother, Tony, was gracious enough to give us a ride to and from the airport. He picked us up at our house at 2:30am. I had just seen the Sleater-Kinney concert at 1st Ave and got about an hour of sleep. 

I had lost 20 pounds for this all inclusive cruise. It was our first cruise experience. We had (over)packed two big suit cases to check, and a carry-on each. We set a timer for a light to go on every night, and locked up the house. It was zero degrees. We arrived at 3:10 and bid my brother farewell.

We entered the airport and there were about 20 people standing there with luggage, and no one behind the US Airways counter. I didn't know what to do. It had been about 7 years since I'd flown anywhere. I didn't know 2015 flight protocol. Finally after sweating bullets for 10 minutes, two people came out to take checked bags. 

I had researched on their site that bags over 50 pounds are charged an over-sized bag fee. I hoisted my suit case up on the scale and it was 56 pounds. She told me that I could try to stuff some things into my carry-on back pack, or pay an extra $100 over-sized fee. There were people in line behind me, and my stress was going through the roof. Megan's suit case was only 40-some pounds, so the lady gave us hers to move stuff into. 

After jamming a pair of shoes into my back pack, and moving some other stuff to Megan's suit case, they both came in at around 48 pounds. I basically made $100 right there. 

Then we went through the TSA security with our shoes off. It was my first experience with the X-ray machine where you have to hold your hands up. I had my wallet in my pocket, and a guy had to finger through it after the scan. Then I could lace my shoes back up and continue to our gate. 

As we sat and waited for our boarding, Megan noticed a gal talking to the employee at the desk. She said to me that she looked like our friend Seniz. We could only see her profile, but I thought she did too. Then the girl turned all the way around, and it WAS Seniz. She was on our flight to Charlotte. As a drunk guy at one of the first drinking-parties I ever went to said "it's a small world, but I'd hate to clean it."

Airport selfie

We boarded, and sat for 30 minutes as there was frost that needed to be de-frosted from the plane. The captain didn't turn on the overhead lights, and the guy sitting next to me read a book by the light of the exit sign. I told him that I wouldn't mind if he turned on the reading light. He nodded and went back to the dim, red EXIT light. I'm no airplane expert, but this plane was old. It reminded me of the plane the Cleveland Indians get in Major League.

We transferred to a nicer plane in North Carolina, and I managed to find a comfortable upright position in my seat to fall asleep. I was out for about 15 minutes when Megan nudged me awake for the drink cart. Now I had slept for an hour and 15 minutes total. I thought the flight attendant was Jm J. Bullock. You know, Monroe from Too Close For Comfort? He was also a staple on Hollywood Squares. When was the last time you heard anything about Jm J. Bullock? I don't remember either. That's because he's a flight attendant now. I didn't see a name tag, but if I had it probably would have said Jm. 

We landed in Houston and Royal Caribbean had a shuttle that took us to the port where our ship, Navigator of the Seas, waited. We checked in at the port with our passports that we got for the trip. (My first passport) We got our plastic Sea Pass cards that is your life line on the ship. The only time cash is ever exchanged on board is in the casino. Everything else (excursions, drinks, specialty dining, etc) is charged to the Sea Pass card and charged to a credit card at the end. You don't even need your passport again, but you need your Sea Pass card to get back on board from a port. 

Our ports were Falmouth, Jamaica, Georgetown, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel, Mexico. After 12 hours of travel, we were finally on board, and on VACATION! 

Next I'll detail Day 1.