Bon Voyage!

We woke up in Tampa the first day of our trip to a very chilly 59 degrees. At the suggestion of our concierge, we had breakfast at Samaria Cafe which was a short walk from the hotel. It was typical diner fare, so of course Brad loved it! After breakfast and getting our stuff together we hailed a cab outside the hotel and headed to the port. The cab was 3 dollars per person because we were only about a mile away. We pulled into the terminal and were amazed how many people were getting on the boat. Four lanes of taxis and cars dropping people off. We tipped the porter 10 dollars in hopes that our bags (and our smuggled liquor) would make it to the ship safe and sound.

The check in process was relatively painless. We showed our passports and fun pass paperwork and got in line. The line snaked around the terminal and up a escalator where we continued to wait while they x-rayed the carry-on bags. Then we moved onto customs. They checked our passports again and gave us our sail and sign cards. Mine was gold because I am return guest, and Brad's was blue (we found out later that the gold card sometimes gives you extra discounts for raffles and bingo). All in all, I would say the process took about 45 minutes to an hour.





Once we got on the Carnival Legend, Brad was impressed with the sheer size of the lobby. The closest thing I can describe the decor is that it looked like a Vegas hotel. We wandered around and checked out the ship, got into our balcony cabin (#8111-much smaller and older-looking than I expected), and headed to the Lido for lunch. The food at the buffet was "OK". There are a lot of choices and everything looked good but it was just kind of standard ho hum lunch fare. Brad had a few drinks of the day and I had a Malibu and Pineapple juice (a change from the usual martini but I was feeling tropical). We were summoned for muster at around 3:30. Basically you gather at your muster area and stand there crammed in like sardines for about 10 minutes as they test the sirens and go over lifeboat and jacket procedures.









At sail-away, we went to the back unicorn deck bar to meet some people from cruisecritic.com, a message board I am a member of. It was nice to finally put faces with names and everyone was SO nice. Here is a short panorama video as we leave Tampa.



We waited on deck until the boat passed under the Tampa Bay Bridge, which the boat just clears by about 10 feet.



The Super Bowl was on, so we headed to Follies Lounge to watch it on the big screen. The visibility is not great in there, especially on the ground floor, lots of pillars and the balcony jutting out on either side. Brad watched the game and I read a book, they had some tailgating snacks out like hot dogs and chicken fingers. At 8:15 we headed to the main dining room for our late seating dinner. Our table mates must have stayed to watch the game, because we dined alone. Our waiter Raymudo, was very nice and although he seemed to think it was weird I did not want an entree, he was very accommodating. We finished the evening with chocolate melting cake, which really is THE BOMB dessert. At this point the boat was really rocking and we were having trouble walking straight. We took some more motion sickness pills and headed to bed.

Tampa!

We got to Tampa yesterday around 1 in preparation for our Carnival Cruise that leaves tomorrow (the Legend). The weather up north was not cooperating and we sat on the runway for 2 hours waiting for them to "unfreeze" the engines and de-ice the plane. Trey was very good, reading the emergency instructions to Brad as only an almost 3 year old could, by describing the activity in the pictures. While listening to him talk about going down the slide and wearing cups on your faces, I realized I was not doing so good. Friday night I had a birthday gathering for myself, sushi and karaoke. I promised myself (and the hubs) I was going to monitor my drinking but all my generous friends supplied me with shots and drinks all night, which of course I graciously accepted. LOL! Still being drunk at 6:30 am was more than I could handle. Brad had to take care of T and load the car. The worse thing about waking up drunk? Being completely aware when the mother of all hangovers starts to kick in and then being stuck on a tiny tube for 4 hours. Ugh.

When we got to Tampa, my mom and my aunt picked us up at the airport. T was exhausted and passed out in the car. I wanted to do that too, but I was concentrating on not throwing up. Because of our late arrival, we skipped our planned lunch and they dropped Brad and I off at the hotel (Hyatt Regency Tampa). We were officially on vacation! We checked in (by the way, I got this hotel off of priceline.com for just 50 dollars, if you have never bid for travel, you should try it for your next trip!) and took a short walk to find CVS to get some things I forgot to pack. It was about 60 degrees and very windy which felt refreshing compared to the 20s and blizzard-ing going on in Ohio but was still chilly for Florida. We stopped at the concierge to ask about transportation to the restaurant we had reservations at that night (The Columbia) and he told us Ybor was having their version of Mardi Gras that night, the Sant'Yago Knight Illuminated Parade.

We took a cab to the Columbia for just 10 dollars and the food was really good. It is huge and is very well maintained for a historical building (est. in 1905). Brad had La Completa Cubana (A Cuban feast of Roast Pork, Boliche, Empanada de Picadillo, platanos, yuca, black beans and yellow rice) and a glass of sangria. I had Mar y Tierra (A char-grilled churrasco tenderloin of beef served with chimichuri sauce and three Panamanian prawns grilled and dressed with “1905” sauce. Served with “Good Rice” and vegetables) and ice tea, of course. (Even Sunday morning as I am writing this I STILL don't think I could drink.)







After dinner we hit the streets to check out the parade. Lots of people were dressed as pirates! It was very cool and was definitely a fun thing to stumble into. We stopped in a Cuban coffee/cigar store for some Cafe con Leche (a favorite of mine from Key West days) and left reeking of smoke. Thank God for Febreze and Ohio's anti-smoking laws! As what seemed like Ybor City's sober-ist guests, we managed to find a cab back to the hotel and actually crashed out at 10:30. Here is a short video of the parade.









This morning I am hoping to get some breakfast, iron some things, and head over to the ship around noon. Bon Voyage!