Glory Cruise - Day 1

I'll try and break this down so that you can see a few photos from each day. Let me just say that this was the best vacation I've taken in my entire life. Don't know if was the actual cruise (which was awesome), the ports of call, or the friends and family I was with - but I can't imagine anything ever topping this. (Actually I can - and that would be Bob going with me next time - we're already planning again for the fall of 2008).

We got out of South Bend just in time - ahead of a huge storm front. The weather was beautiful in Florida - mid 70's and sunny. My brother Frank and sister-in-law Arlette met us at the airport - ready to cruise!!

We spent the night at their home in Melbourne, then it was up bright and early on Saturday morning for our ride to Port Canaveral and the Cruise Terminal. Thanks to Frank and Arlette's friend Jesse for dragging all of us and our tons of luggage to the port.

Here was our first glimpse of The Glory - our home for the next week...

After going through the various lines, getting our Sail and Sign cards and photos taken, we finally set foot on the deck of The Glory. No wonder our smiles are sooooo big!!!

By noon, we were aboard - having our first drink and finding the buffet. We called home - while the calls were still free, explored the ship and found our room.

At 4:00, we were instructed to retrieve our life preservers from our rooms and proceed to the muster station. They take this very seriously and everyone is required to attend. You know us scrapbookers - this was definately a perfect photo opportunity.

Then it was back to our rooms to stow away the life preservers, grab a quick drink and head to the top decks to enjoy the sail away. At this point, we had still not seen our fellow cruisers - Mary Lou, Mitch, Art and Sue. There were 3000 guests on this ship and 2000 employees. How would we ever find them??


All of a sudden - there they were!!!! Drinks and cameras in hand and ready to sail!

We grabbed our phones and made those last minute calls home to tell our loved ones goodbye - before we hit international waters. And then it was so long to Cocoa Beach, Florida and hello to the Atlantic Ocean.