Embarkation–Emerald Princess

There were 6 buses that were used to transfer folks to several ships in port.  After waiting for what seemed like two hours for our transfer to Port Everglades, we finally boarded a bus and left the Embassy Suites around 1pm.  The ride was a little over a mile to our pier #21 which is one of the farthest piers we’ve been to. 

We had to wait on the bus for all the luggage to be removed from the belly of the bus.  Fifteen minutes later, we headed into the Princess building to check in.  The whole process from security to checking in (credit card for OBC and Passport) to Welcome Aboard photo to another photo for our cruise card took a total of 15 minutes.  Really quick and efficient process. 

We found our cabin located on Dolphin deck 9.  It’s a mini-suite located close to mid-ship.  On this voyage, our room is the reverse of what we had two years ago. 

Here is our before and after picture of our closet with a safe:

On the top shelf is our beach towels and our life vests:

Some folks over at Cruisecritic.com had asked a question whether a netbook could fit in the safe.  Yes, a 10.2” netbook will fit.  Also, a DSLR will fit.  I don’t think one would put a heavy camera on top of a netbook.  Here’s the results of my experiment: 

Here’s our balcony:

Our bathroom:

A full bath with a tub:

Our refreshment/storage center.  A fridge is hidden behind the door:

Our desk area that separates the sleeping area from the living area:

Our mini-suite (picture taken from balcony):

We had our Muster Drill at 4:15pm.  At the sound of the emergency alarm, we grabbed our life vests and headed down two decks to our designated muster location.  We reviewed the procedures if there was an emergency and also practiced putting on our life vests.  During this time, one of the crew members scanned most of cruiser’s cruise card.  Given the number of people meeting in one place at one time, it would be hard to scan everyone’s card. 

After our Muster Drill, we headed back to our cabin and shortly thereafter both of our luggage arrived around 5pm. 

We were supposed to leave port at 5pm, but due to the number of ships in port, we were the second to last ship to leave.  I think we counted 8 ships that were in port today. 

So we unpacked.  I was running from closet to balcony to take pictures of some of the ships that were leaving port.  I got a lot of exercise in. 

We finally left around 6pm.  It was quite dark, but I was able to get some cool pictures from my Canon point and shoot camera. 

Here we are backing out of our pier.  Behind us was the Grand Princess and the 17th St Causeway bridge. 

I really enjoy leaving this port.  We pass several condos and houses on our way out.  A lot of Floridians bid us Bon Voyage!  You can hear the cheering.  Our Emerald Princess responds with a long blow of her horn.  Twice.  It’s a beautiful sound to us. 

 

Next stop tomorrow is Princess Cays (Bahamas).