Year 5, Day 95, “Living the Dream”. Sunday, 8/03/2025 DAY 18 of 29 day Florida, Caribbean, SeaWorld and Disney World trip. – Day 1 of 7 night Western Caribbean Cruise on MSC Seashore. Boarding in Port Canaveral at terminal 10. Our boarding time today is 1pm. Quick breakfast, packed up, and departed the Hilton Garden Inn SeaWorld Orlando, Florida around 9:40am
Driving in Central Florida on Route 528 from Orlando to Port Canaveral this morning we spot the dump. The only mountains in Central Florida are dumps.
We stopped at Wawa and energized our car and ourselves (gas and coffee). There were no cashiers in the Wawa. Self check out only?
We spent some time at Macy’s at the Merritt Square Mall. We then headed to Port Canaveral cruise port Terminal 10. The first sighting of our new home. The butterflies are stirring in my stomach.
We are parked in the parking garage at Noon. At the MSC parking garage you pay for parking ahead of time as you pull in. The cost was $145.52 for this 7 night cruise. We parked on the 4th deck of the parking garage. We didn’t drop off our luggage before we parked. We used the garage elevator to go down from the 4th floor. We left our two pieces of luggage with the cruise terminal baggage handlers at the ground level.
We crossed the street and waited in line for a short while outside. It was hot and sunny. The line meandered down the sidewalk, across another street, and up some stairs into the terminal. Once the line started moving it moved very quickly.
Once we were inside the terminal we checked in through the Diamond line very quickly and were on board. The regular boarding line was very long. I put my purse in my backpack. When it went through the security x-ray machine it was flagged. I had to remove my wallet and send it back through the machine. Change shows as a black mass and blocks viewing. I am still learning things. Walking into the ship is like a live techno color world. Everything feels energized where with Royal Caribbean it is lively but homey.
Both cruise lines have the up selling thing going on. I can’t help but compare to our last cruise. It is all in the size of the ship. This ship is larger than our previous ones. We were just on the Adventure of the Seas and the Jewel of the Seas with Royal Caribbean. We found our assembly station. We checked in very quickly. This process is the same on both cruise lines. We were told at our assembly station check in that we could proceed directly to our room. We were allowed to drop off items and use the restroom. However, we were not to stay in the room. You find your keys outside the door.
We are Bella on the ship with a guaranteed balcony stateroom. We were assigned stateroom 10021. This stateroom is on the Port side forward. A few decks over us is the bridge. You are allowed to drop off items, use the bathroom and change if you want. But the rooms were not ready until 3pm. I like that people are not running around banging me with luggage before the rooms opened. I tried to get a quick stateroom video while we dropped off our stuff in the room. Here is a detailed video of balcony stateroom 10021.
Also here is a video of stateroom 10272 from our last stay on Seashore Living the Dream – Year 2, Day 7 – Deestimes – Make every step of the journey count https://share.google/iD4dXm6gopLt1WU1B. Prosecco was waiting in our room.
Nice terminal views from our balcony.
We went to the dining room to check out our main dining seating. We were assigned 7:15pm dinner in the Central Park Restaurant and decided that we really wanted 5:15pm. We requested a change, but we will see tomorrow if it happens.
We headed to the Marketplace buffet. I love how the food is spread out. This buffet restaurant is huge and the assortment of food is great. Pizza and spring rolls were excellent.
Luggage was delivered quickly to our room. I love the way MSC handles your luggage. On a rolling cart and gently. Royal Caribbean tends to just heave and throw it around.
Pulling away sights.
Later in the evening we went and saw a magician perform in the Madison Theatre.
Daily Planner Day 1 – Departing Port Canaveral
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
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