Cruise Day 1!!!

Sunday morning Tony and I got up at 4am (after me sleeping maybe 2 hours, ouch), showered and headed off to the airport. Our plane left PDX at 7:17 and arrived in LA (Long Beach Airport) about 9:40am.

Long Beach Airport

We caught our shuttle and off we went to the San Pedro World Cruise Terminal! The porters took our luggage and we got the first view of our new home for the next week, The Mariner of the Seas! Wow, she's a beaut!

We went inside a building, got all signed in and then sat in our designated section for about 30 or 40 minutes until our turn to board.


We got on the ship and were in awe. The Mariner is beautiful inside. So many things to look at, so many gorgeous details, art, and views. We couldn't go to our staterooms until 1pm, so we went up to the buffet restaurant, the Windjammer, for lunch. I had a bunch of food - salads, chicken, can't remember what else, but it was good! Then we checked out the spa and made an appointment for a couple's massage the next day, yahoo! (We decided to splurge, as Tony had never had a professional massage.) Then we headed off to check out our room. It was gorgeous as well. Bigger than I thought, and the balcony? Totally awesome!

The bathroom is to Tony's right and to his left is the closet

We unpacked then went back out to check out the ship. We saw the Royal Promenade, which is like a mini mall right in the middle of the ship. It had about 7 or 8 little shops (clothing, jewelry, watch, liquor, etc) and a cafe. Then up to the pool deck where we both got airbrushed tattoos. That was fun!

Royal Promenade

Pools and hot tubs on Deck 11



Ellington's Jazz Bar was up there where the windows are



As it approached our departure time of 5:00 we found a great view on the front port side of the ship. We stood there and watched as we started to head out of San Pedro Harbor. It was exhilarating!

Bye bye America!



The view from our balcony, nothing but ocean!!

After that we went to get dressed for our first dinner on the ship. Our time was 6:00 in the Top Hats and Tails dining room on Deck 4. We sat at Table 443, which ended up being a 6 person table. That night we had just two tablemates, Pat and Barbara, two friends from the San Diego area. They were super sweet and we enjoyed them greatly. We also met our waiter, Mario from the Philippines, and our Assistant Waiter, Joydeep from India.
There were three dining rooms that all opened to the same spot in the middle. It was HUGE and beautiful!

We spent the rest of the evening exploring the ship and went to bed kind of early due to the severe lack of sleep from the night before!