My first cruise!
We drove from Cary, NC to Jacksonville, FL on Friday, 4 Aug. and stayed overnight in and Embassy Suites hotel. The kids had a fun time swimming in the hotel pool in anticipation of a week at their grandparents' house and pool. The next morning we drove to Tampa and met Melissa's parents at the Fla Aquarium parking lot next to the cruise terminals. After some lunch at a mexican restaurant on the docks, we said our goodbyes to the kids and grandparents. The line to get checked in was not very long and we had all our papers ready. It was relatively painless to get onboard the ship. I don't have any reference for comparison, but the M/S Inspiration seemed to be a pretty big boat. It had 13 decks, at least that was highest deck number on the elevator switchboard. I recall the length was around 850 feet from tip to tail. I was just enjoying the experience of walking onto the ship feeling like I was walking onto the TV set of "The Love Boat" half expecting to see Captain Stubing and Julie greeting us. It was actually more like walking onto a hotel with the staff directing us to our cabin.
We dropped our bags in our cabin on deck 5 and found our way to an upper deck for a drink and a table with a view of the bay. Aside from some nagging seagulls trying to convince us to toss some food their way, it was a lovely and relaxing moment prior to the ship disembarking. Our itinerary was to sail at sea overnight and for a day then arrive at Grand Cayman then off to Playa Del Carmen Mexico, another day at sea then back to Tampa for a total of 5 days.
Here are some photos of our day at Grand Cayman:
We took an excursion to Stingray City which is a shallow sandbar in the bay of Grand Cayman.
The rays were huge! Some were at least a meter wide wingtip to wingtip.
Snorkeling around on the sandbar...
We could see beautiful corals and other sealife. This brain coral was a little over a meter in diameter.
The fish were pretty little things.
And here are some shots from Playa Del Carmen:
In Port Calica.
Here we are at a resort near Playa Del Carmen. We snorkeled and walked around on the beach. The sand was so fine, it was like powdered sugar.
Mommy is on the left and Daddy is on the right.
