Eastern Mediterranean Cruise: Embarkation From Venice

     I can't believe that after months of planning and looking forward to our family vacation, it's already come and gone! We had a blast on our 7 night cruise through the Mediterranean and I can't wait to share our experiences. I took tons of pictures, so I will do a post for each day like I do for all our vacation trips. 

     On our first day {6/21- Father's Day}, our friend dropped us off at the port in Venice at about 11am. Our check in time wasn't until 1, but we wanted to be there extra early since we had no idea where to go or what to expect. We dropped our luggage off first, and then went to check in. They gave us a priority boarding ticket since we had a small child with us {Thank you Connor!}. We showed our paperwork and passports, took our id pictures, and then went through security. We were done with everything and walking on the ship about 25 minutes after starting the check in process. It was fairly simple and we were so lucky to not have to wait in any long lines.

Our ship! Since we were so close to the ship, I couldn't get a picture of the entire boat.

      Since we were on the boat so early, our rooms weren't ready. We were told there was a buffet lunch for us on level 13, so to take the elevators up. We were shocked by how much food there was. Then, at the end of our lunch we realized there was a whole other side that we missed.

Connor liked the food.

     After a long, filling lunch, we walked around the boat. It was great because there were hardly any people there yet.

After seeing the outside, we explored inside. Connor immediately fell in love with the music that was playing throughout the boat. He is in a phase where he loves watching Little Einsteins, a childrens show that plays all sorts of classical music, and there was plenty of classical music playing. He got so excited when he saw the piano player.

    We figured our room was ready, so at about 1:30 we went to see. Our room steward, Nichola, was in the hall and told us it was. He had already set up a crib in it for Connor, so it was our new home for the next 7 nights.

Top: Our room. Bottom Left: We got these programs every night to tell us about the next day. 

Bottom Right: Checking out our balcony.

We were ready to go swimming, so we changed and swam for a couple hours. The pool was chilly, but the children's pool was much warmer. `

Partial view of the pool from the top deck. There was an adult pool and 2 more jacuzzis on the other side of the stage.

 After swimming and getting sticky from the salt water, we rinsed off and then got dressed again. We wanted to see the ship leave, so we went back to the top deck to watch.

Connor met the MSC mascot on the way. He wasn't a fan, unless he was far away.

While Aaron saved our spot near the railing, Connor and I watched the dancers perform on stage. He was fascinated.

And we're off!!! There were several other cruise ships leaving the same day as us.

The drive through Venice was beautiful.

We were lucky to be standing right in front of the railing, so I was able to get pictures.

     By the time we left, it as already dinner time. We were all hungry, so we went to dinner in the dining room we were assigned to. It was just us, and then 2 other men joined us. They were brothers from Texas and on vacation with one of their grandsons who was about to start college at Baylor. He was busy exploring the ship, so he never showed up at dinner. We ordered our selections for our multiple course meal, and really enjoyed it. Connor acted okay, but showed a few signs that he needed that afternoon nap he missed from all the excitement.

At dinner.

      Dinner was long and we were tired from a busy day, so we went back to our room, showered, and enjoyed our balcony. It was wonderful!!!