Day 1 Embarkation

The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.

~ Emily Dickinson

Over 200 days of dreaming and planning and it's finally here. Even though I can look out our window in the Crowne Plaza and see the Pacific Princess tied up at the pier, I still hardly dare believe it. We'll be boarding this petite little lady around noon today. By cruise ship standards, she is quite small. While some of the big ships wallowing in the Caribbean carry 6000 passengers and half that many crew members, the PP will hold 684 passengers and 350 crew. This is the small floating village that will take us all the way around the world. 

I love her already.

This morning, I'm nearly giddy with excitement, so ready for our journey to begin. I've longed for a trip like this for years.

Travel is in my blood. Has been since I was quite small. When I was very young, my parents took me to visit a kind elderly lady named Mrs. Maxim. She didn't have any toys for me to play with, but she did have a marketing brochure for Disney Land for me to pore over. I was drawn into the pictures of the Tiki Room and the Jungle Ride and most especially Cinderella's Castle. It seemed a place filled with wonder and my childish heart dearly wanted to visit there.

It wasn't until I had children of my own that I made the trip. And when I first caught a glimpse of that magical castle, I began to cry. My DH  and daughters were alarmed, wondering what could be wrong. There was nothing wrong, I told them. I was just living a dream I'd almost forgotten I'd had and it was so beautiful, the pent-up happiness leaked out my eyes. 

I'm feeling like that again today. My soul stands ajar. I'm ready for an ecstatic experience.

Let the adventure begin...

~~~

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May 7, 2018--I'm home now and I'm "enhancing" my blog entries with more photos and remembrances. All newer info will be in Green and in a different font. 

Yes, that's the DH behind that moveable mountain of baggage. Next time we take a world cruise we've promised each other we'll pare down our packing to one large suitcase, and one carry-on a piece. (Yeah,  right...)

We had no idea we'd meet two couples who would become very important to us over the next few months on the shuttle bus that took us to the pier! Believe it or not, we first encountered Kristy & David, and Shirley & David (I swear every other man on the Pacific Princess was named David!) before we even left the Crowne Plaza Hotel! 


Kristy and David, pictured above, became our trivia partners, fellow star-gazers (David is the expert! He knows where all  the constellations are.) fellow choir member (Kristi) and all-round best buds!

Shirley and David, right, were our table mates at Table 60. That very first night, Shirley said she just had to find this blogger she'd been following since they booked the cruise, only she'd lost the site of the blog on her computer. It turns out, she was looking for ME! 

The friends we made on this trip are a wonderful blessing. 

Anyway, for those of you who read travel blogs to learn about the ins and outs of cruising, our embarkation was quick and painless and before we knew it, we were on board the lovely little ship that would be our home for the next three months. We went immediately to the Club dining room for lunch. Some cruisers think the buffet is the only option on embarkation day, but it's always worthwhile to check the main dining venue to see if your pampering can begin early!

We enjoyed the sail-away from our own starboard balcony, cruising past the USS Iowa on our way out of the harbor. If we had arrived in LA around 1PM, as we were supposed to before the flight got changed, we'd have gone to visit this decommissioned battleship. Note to self: Next time, try to plan to arrive early enough in our embarkation port to take in some of the sights!