All Aboard in Venice

Time for the next phase of this odyssey!  I took a quick (and super-early) flight from Paris on Saturday morning to Venice, Italy where I joined my bff, Brandee!  Just a few months ago when this trip was still a bunch of crazy ideas swarming around in my head, I called her up and posed the question about joining me on a Mediterranean cruise.  Luckily, her answer was an enthusiastic "yes!"  B and I have been friends for a rather long time, when you consider we've been buds since kindergarten.  We lived about three houses away from each other on Juliana Street for many, many years and then did a couple of years of college together before I wandered off on my Air Force path. We don't get to see each other nearly enough, so jamming ourselves into a tiny cabin for a week is apparently the right way to keep our connection lively!  haaaaaaa

The early flight over to Italy allowed for some amazing views of the sun rising over the Alps.  I think this was Switzerland (according to the crew's announcements).

B and I somehow managed to schedule flights that arrived in Venice within minutes--and they actually did.  We found each other amidst the luggage carousels with our extraordinarily heavy suitcases.  We then managed to manipulate and manhandle the bags out to the waterbus station to catch the Alilaguna bus over to the cruise ship terminal.  Since we had a few hours til boarding, the two-hour ride around the isles of Venice seemed like a reasonable option.

Plus, it was a gorgeous sunny day so we got to see a different view of the city skyline.

The boat's windows were filthy, so there's a bit of a natural filter on all our pics, but with all the bus's stops, we got up close to several ports.  

Then, we finally got to the terminal and got the unique opportunity to manipulate heavy-ass luggage up a bouncing platform and up onto the walkway to the actual port.  It was like a bad carnival game but we both came out winners with only mild bruising and soreness.

We made it through the check-in process and got ourselves on-board this behemoth of a vessel, the Splendour of the Seas.  Just a day before the cruise, there was an email notification from Royal Caribbean that there was a possibility of a delay due to some routine maintenance at the port.  For whatever reason that prompted me to go to the Google and look up "Splendour of the Seas." Lo' and behold, there was an engine fire on the ship just a day prior.  Nice.  There haven't been any issues and there's no smell of smoke in here anywhere that we've wandered, so I think we're good to go.  They had a great emergency muster prior to leaving port, so I'm actually pretty impressed with their emergency communication plan (says the officer in me.)

We departed from Venice that evening and the upper decks were jammed with people enjoying the view and taking pictures...including me.  Italian music in the background and a cool breeze blowing as we took off.  It was lovely.

Since we aren't experienced cruisers (this is a first for both of us), we didn't realize the whole meal situation needed to be dealt with early.  Alas, we don't have our dinner seating until 8:30 p.m.  Since this is right about the time I want to go to bed, it is going to be interesting.  The first night, B was just took crushed from the flight and needed a nappity-nap and that ended up lasting through the evening. So, I ventured out to dinner in the big dining room on my own.  Fancy Table 54 is our assignment and, apparently, all the other guests assigned that table went off to somewhere else, too, since I sat there alone!  haaaaaaa  Nice.  I probably could've moved over to another table and joined some other folks, but a) I don't know the cruise etiquette for taking someone else's chair...what if they show up late?  and b) the waiters took extra special care of me and I had my food and wine well before all the other tables.  It gave me a chance to just relax and unwind and reflect on the awesome that is my life.

All while I enjoyed this awesome piece of horseradish-crusted salmon, of course.

Cruise Day 1 in the books.  Docking in Croatia on Day 2!