Easy Dream Vacations

They say a good breakfast is the way to start to a good day.  I think we can attest to that as our day became better and better as it went on.  The Courtyard restaurant had a nice breakfast buffet for $13.95. It included an omelet station and the usual breakfast dishes.  After breakfast a quick trip to the local CVS to pick up a few odds and ends, a half hour of sun by the pool and before we knew it was time to load up and head to the port. 

 

Our Florida Transtours shuttle was right on time, we loaded up and headed to the Port of Miami.  As always as soon as the ships were in site there was a sense of excitement aboard the bus.  Our cruise was about to begin!

 

Check in was a snap at the port, our baggage porter was very helpful, we had minimal lines and were on the ship in less than half an hour after arrival.  Kathy and I were surprised as we were quickly led to the VIP room, we are still not sure why.  This may possibly have been because we have lead a number of groups on Carnival. To be honest the rest of the group was checked in just as fast as we were in the VIP room, but the room was a bit cooler, quiet and had a very comfortable look.  Either way we had our photo taken as usual, checked in with our room keys and of course within 30 feet we found most of our group enjoying their first drink of the cruise.    We found our rooms to be ready so we dropped of our carry on bags and headed up to the Lido deck for lunch.

 

  A stroll around the Lido deck found the ship to be just a bit different than our previous Carnival ships, I enjoyed the Valor’s decorating scheme more than others.  The service was very good, we were never without the opportunity to be without a drink. 

 

We found a number of our group to be enjoying the sun, drinks and relaxation.

 

4:00 brought the life boat drill, by 4:30 the ship was free from the dock and we were on our way to sea.  There was a small armada of ships leaving port.  The Carnival Valor and Triumph as well as 2 NCL ships and a Royal Caribbean ship all left port of Miami at about the same time. 

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As we sailed away from Miami there was a beautiful sunset over the city

 

As always we had a great dinner, spent some time in the casino, watched a bit of the show as well as some of the Steelers playoff game on the Lido deck big screen.  The big screen is a nice addition to the Carnival ships.  After that we were off to bed.  Some of the others in the group enjoyed the disco and had some good luck in the casino.  All in all we had a good day and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.