From the start this was going to be a cruise like no other. I will be with 21 family members and friends for a 8 day cruise on the Sky Princess. Since booking the itinerary of this cruise has totally changed at least twice. Originally scheduled for the Western Caribbean, we are now headed to the eastern Caribbean. A month or so ago they changed the ports of call, and most recently, just within the past few weeks they have changed port times.
Needless to say this has caused chaos for those that had made plans at any of the ports. fortunately for me I did not get caught up with any scheduling issues like some of my fellow passengers.
A couple of days before sailing I get a notice from Princess that boarding will not start until 1 PM because of additional clearance and inpections required because the Sky Princess was coming from a foreign country. At least they told us ahead of time. OK for me as I just stayed home untl after 11, in fact I didn't even start packing my suitcase until Sunday morning. The drive to off site parking was uneventful. The lot was very busy with 5 ships leaving Port Canaveral today. Our luggage is loaded and we are off to the terminal.
The line for security is long, winding back and forth outside the building, across the street, and up and down the sidewalk. Even though it is long, it does move, slowly. There is equipment for about 5 lines through security, only two are functional, probably another result of the ineffectiveness of our federal government. Once past security, it takes a few minutes to get checked in and to have ship security check our photos. It is basically just a walk onto the ship once past security in the terminal. All in all from parking the car to entering our cabin was just over 2 hours.
In addition to the dozens and dozens of pallets of provisions, there are another 2 dozen loaded with christmas trees and other holiday decorations. Our scheduled departure time comes and goes. The captain tells us we will be leaving about an hour late. It actually is closer to 3 hours late. Loading the ship was the issue, again a process primarily controlled by the host port not the cruise ship.
No changing clothes for dinner tonight. No one has luggage yet. How bad can I be? Everyone understands, we are all in the same boat, literally.
Our group has 2 large tables in the dining room. Service is slow, but that is to be expected on the first night. We finish in time for the 9:30 show. A juggler, Charles Peachock, from Orlando. Very talented, an excellent show.
We will spend the next 2 days at sea with our first port of call St. Thomas, that is unless Princess changes it again.
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