This week, I’ll be continuing my Cruise Chronicles. It is amazing how time can fly. I just realized that it has  been over 2 years since my last post 😱. Thankfully I have very detailed drafts that were left unpublished to continue on, as I’ve almost forgotten everything (haha). I’ve also discovered that as of November 2020, Carnival Fascination has been sold to Century Cruises and is now called Century Harmony. 

If you haven’t already, please check out The Cruise Chronicles: The Beginning.

Continued..

After arriving at the port, we waited some time before being able to enter the cruise terminal. We previously  did an online check-in at the hotel prior to arriving at the terminal, which I believe made the check-in process quicker. It was similar to that of an airport and we stood in line and waited our turn to show our tickets and identification before going through the security check and having our luggage x-rayed. At one point I was separated from my family and had my picture taken and was given a cruise card. This was to be used to make purchases while on the ship, as well as a room key and a boarding pass to re-enter the ship after exiting at each port. So, I made sure to keep it in a secure spot.

The terminal was nicely decorated. At the time, Christmas was only a few days away, so there were plenty of Christmas decorations to pair with the already colorful Caribbean color scheme.

Once we officially boarded the ship, we took some time to walk around and familiarize ourselves with the layout (To watch a short video of us boarding the ship, click here). We made our way up to the Lido deck, which was at the very top. The view from the smaller seating area was beautiful, so I stopped to have a mini photoshoot.

 

We then made our way to our room, where our luggages were waiting outside the door for us. Our room was a pretty good size with a nice window view. At first when walking in, there appeared to only be two beds, which with there being three of us put us into survival mode. But after examining closer, I noticed a latch on the wall which turned out to be holding up the third bed. 

Of course, I drew the short straw and  had no choice but to sleep on the top bunk. Which turned out fine because I was able to get a good view of the waves before falling asleep every night. 

Just when I started to get settled in and relax, we had a mandatory safety meeting. For a quick second I contemplated skipping it, but then thought of the potential consequences. Boy am I glad I didn’t, because there were in fact consequences for those who did decide to skip it.

After the meeting, we all took some time to explore the ship and familiarize ourselves with the layout. We were still a bit tired from all of the traveling and called it an early night.

My first night went well. I was rocked to sleep by the swaying from the waves and slept like a baby.

The following morning, I woke up to find that we reached our first destination. St Thomas, USVI. I was so excited to get off the ship and explore.

I spent some time admiring the view before getting ready and joining everyone else for breakfast before venturing off on the island.