Flying from Denver to Tampa Bay

After a very exhausting four hour flight from Denver to Miami that started at midnight, we arrive. There's seven of us on this trip: Jeremiah, Zelda, Norman, Bethany, Zackary, Kyle, and myself. Norman, Bethany, and Zackary are all several rows ahead of us and get off of the plane first. Kyle, Jeremiah, Zelda, and I get off not too far behind them. The layover is only one hour, so we all walk briskly to our next gate. The flight from Miami to Tampa Bay is nice and short, and we are relieved to be done with flying. We have a little over an hour until our shuttle is supposed to arrive according to our travel documents provided by the Norwegian Air Team. We all get our checked luggage and find a spot to let the Zackary and Zelda run around. They have a blast in an empty luggage carousel area. Brittany and I keep watch over them while the men all go and get us coffees and breakfast.

The Shuttle Over

It's now time to catch our shuttle according to what the Norwegian Air Team told us on our paperwork. We find an employee of Norwegian Cruise Line and they tell us where to go wait, informing us that the shuttle should be here in about thirty minutes. It doesn't arrive until over an hour later. We are all tired, and this delay is annoying. We get on an aged coach bus. It still has the original upholstery from the 90s with the VCR player, worn fabrics, broken seats, and cracked windows. It's not a great start. We sit on the bus for a while before the driver finally starts to depart, but we drive in a loop and end up right back where we started. Time for Take Number Two! The driver takes off again, and we shuttle over to the port.

The Port

The group of us get off of the bus. Our checked luggage is all tagged to be put on the ship and brought to our staterooms, so we get in the line for security with just our carry ons. We are relieved that we are at the final step before getting on the ship and starting vacation. Zackary is restless, Zelda is hangry, and all of us adults are running on mere minutes of sleep, and a lot of caffeine. The line starts outside of the building, but it flows smoothly. We are quickly inside, and just a few rows of people away from security. Then the power goes out.

There's zero communication from any of the security officers, Norwegian Cruise Line Agents, or anybody else working the port for over an hour. We are all just standing in line wondering what the next steps are. There's a line of people just stuck outside, and it is very windy and chilly out. I feel terribly for them, but thankful that we are inside with our kiddos. After an hour passes, the security agents tell us that anybody in line with no bags can come through and get patted down. Jeremiah and I make the decision to send him and Zelda on board so that she can get food. We barely have any snacks left, and they just are not doing the trick of tiding her over with these delays. He takes off, and I am now responsible for my bags, her diaper bag, and Jeremy's checked bag.

Norwegian Dawn

Ten whole minutes later, the power comes back on. There are cheers from the crowd of people in line that have all been standing and waiting for over an hour. I get split up from the group as we make our way through security. I am assuming, and hoping, that Jeremiah and Zelda went to the buffet, and I'm glad to find that they did. I find them easily, setting all the bags down and rolling my shoulders. The rest of the group finds us soon after, and we all get to finally eat a proper meal.

After the meal, Jeremiah, Zelda, and I head down to the Java Bar so that the two adults can get more coffee. We also decide to check on our shore excursions at the help desk. I've never booked my own shore excursions before, so I just ask them how we get our tickets. The tickets will be delivered to our stateroom. Perfect.

We need to do our Muster Check, so we head over there next. We get checked off of a list. We turn away and are about to just start exploring when an overhead announcement says that our stateroom is ready. Thank goodness. We head down to the room and put Zelda in the playpen provided by the cruise line. She immediately falls asleep. Jeremiah and I unpack our clothes and items we brought with, shower, and plan the evening out.

Zelda wakes up and she's extremely hungry. We go have dinner in the buffet, and then go exploring. I buy a charm bracelet for $5, and receive a bronze pin since this is my second Norwegian Cruise. We spend quite a bit of time in the library, where Norman reads the kiddos a Winnie the Pooh book. We walk around a bit more before calling it a day and retiring to our staterooms for some much needed sleep.