Boarding the ship, 1st day on the cruise

 

Our day of arriving at the cruise ship finally came!  On Monday, April 25th we took a shuttle from our hotel in Fort Lauderdale down to the port of Miami, which took about 35-40 minutes.  

Zero days left!  A pretty flower outside our hotel and another lizard.  

Hudson trying to push grandma Joann in her wheelchair.

Dave outside the hotel walking w/ Hudson.  Finally on our way in the shuttle.  

Thankfully Hudson took a nap on the way down. 

After getting off the shuttle, we dropped off some of our luggage to go to our staterooms, then checked in for our cruise.  We then all had to get tested for Covid.

Waiting in line for our turn to get Covid tested.

Once we were tested we had to wait.  Thankfully they switched from PCR test to Rapid Antigen, so it only took 15 minutes, but the 15 minutes lasted a while ;)  Thankfully we all passed and were cleared to board the ship and sail!!!

Getting onto the ship.  The boys got to meet Captain American also.

Welcome the McGraths!

To say we were excited to board is an understatement!  It was such a relief after all the months of being careful and cautious wearing our masks, especially the boys at school.  We were all so thrilled to finally be on board the ship and start our cruise vacation!!!

While our staterooms were getting ready, we got a bite to eat and explored the ship.

The boys were excited to get an ice cream cone and go swimming especially!  They also just started bringing back the Sail-A-Wave deck parties again after stopping them due to Covid.  Our staterooms were ready about this time, so Dave volunteered to take Hudson back to the stateroom for a nap. 

We finally made it and were sailing away!

Saying goodbye to Miami and hello vacation at sea!  Carter going down the slide at the kids pool area.

That night we had dinner at Rapunzel's Table.  The food was great and of course the boys had more ice cream, specifically Mikey ice cream bars for dessert!

After dinner, Steve stayed at the stateroom w/ Hudson so he could go to bed.  The rest of us went to a show, Rapunzel the musical.  It was awesome.  The boys loved it too!  I liked it better than to movie.

Nyles and Carter w/ a cute towel animal they made for us before going to bed.  Hudson loved to play w/ the remote and phone any chance he could, so we unplugged the phone.

It was an awesome day!  We were so excited for the days ahead of us!