May 2, 2022 – Today we are headed into Port canaveral for a four night cruise on Independence of the Seas. It is an easy one hour drive from the Hilton Garden Inn in Lake Buena Vista where we spent last night. It is always exciting to get the first sight of your ship. It is truly amazing how huge these ships are.
The excitement grows the closer we get to the ship.
Port Canaveral is a busy port, but very easy to navigate and park in the parking garage. There are people directing us where to drop off our luggage. Everyone is very friendly. Our luggage is dropped off very quickly. Excellent service and so friendly. This is one of the nicest ports to sail out of.
We then drive up the ramp in the parking garage. You do have to pay in advance by credit card. It is $85.00 for four nights.
We are parked and ready in no time.
It is super humid and hot at 10:30am. Our check in time is 11am. Things are going so smoothly. It is an easy walk to enter the cruise terminal with no crowds.
There are tables set up on the ground floor of the parking garage for covid testing.
In no time we are checked in, but we have to wait till 11am to board. We had to show our negative covid test results and our covid vaccine records twice. They also looked at our passports and set sail pass. We had uploaded our pictures in the Royal app in advance, but they didn’t like mine. So I had a new picture taken.
We are on board by 11am. That is the quickest boarding I have ever done. I think it is because you cannot come to the port earlier than your appointed time. Before covid, everyone would jam up the terminal at 10am no matter what time their boarding time was. This is so much better.
This is our first Royal Caribbean Cruise since March 13, 2020. The Windjammer buffet is really quiet.
I liked being served better on the MSC Divina in February, 2022. Royal Caribbean is back to a self serve buffet. Everyone touching the same utensils. YUK, YUK, YUK!!!
Sitting at lunch time, we watch the Space x landing pad being towed out of port. Look at the burnt area on the Shortfall of Gravitas. How exciting to see that. The pad is 282 feet in diameter. I am not sure why it was being towed since it is a drone ship.
Also, while we are eating lunch Justin met the hvac inspector. Woohoo we passed the final hvac inspection.
Only one more inspection to go. Plumbing and we move in. At 1:30 pm we head to our balcony state room 8230. Here’s a video of that stateroom.
Sitting on our balcony in the afternoon looking at a huge lot of lumber. Trucks kept pulling in and loading up. Lots of money sitting in that lot. Can you imagine how many houses are sitting there.
To view the complete daily diary click here: https://deestimes.com/living-the-dream-year-2-may-1-2022-april-30-2023/
Today’s product recommendations are traveling essentials. 1) Luggage hand cart – we love this cart for easy rolling for easy cruise carry-on bags. Even when you can’t go to your room right away this is so easy to walk around the ship with. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3s37EOw
2) This large toiletry bag is the best. Steve has the black and I have the pink. We both absolutely love them. Here’s the link https://amzn.to/3v1p6ok and picture
