April 29th, embarkment day continued....

We made it to our ship and got settled in our cabin. It was an inside (we're cheap) but was fairly roomy for a cabin since it was a quad. We ate a late lunch at the Mermaid's Grill and then hurried to our cabin to get our life vests. We did the muster drill and then the ship started off, right on time at 4:30. Much of this first night was spent exploring the ship, visiting the shops, going to the Camp Carnival orientation and dinner. We had the late seating for dinner at 8:15 in the Normandie dining room. Our head waiter's name was Benny. The 10:00 show in the Taj Mahal was called the Welcome Aboard show. It was fun and lively. Our cruise director was Jeff Bronson, he was very funny and personable. He joked about how he was from Seattle and one of 5 American crew members.

This ship was a bit startling, especially for those with kids. It has a naked theme throughout the ship. At the top of the glass elevators in the middle of the atrium (I don't know what it's really called) is a huge statue of David naked of course. All the elevators had naked pictures on them, a lot of the walls had huge naked murals, even the Mermaids grill had naked mermaids above our heads, really the ENTIRE ship did. I guess it's supposed to be artsy fartsy. The kids were mortified, especially Micki. Eventually we did all get used to it.

Chad and the kids during our muster drill












I had to get a pic of me in there too. Derek looks kind of freaked out.














Here is Chad and the kids watching as the boat is pulling out of the harbor












Lies, lies, lies! It's all lies! Nope. The kids are NOT like this IRL. It was a pose they did strictly for the camera. Ha ha. We only WISH they could be this sweet and loving towards each other.








All right, here's one of me.














Me and the kids this time. It was really windy so I held my hair back while Chad took a pic.











Here's a pic Chad took of the side of the ship.