First Full Day Aboard

Day 2
We awake bright eyed and ready for our next adventure. We have breakfast at the hotel. It is a little expensive at $25.00 each but we are on vacation and we don't have to pay for another meal for the next 7 days. We are leaving the hotel early so that we can board the ship earlier and beat the rush.
After checking out, our doorman Brian had a ride scheduled to the cruise port for us. The cruise port is in Galveston which is about an hour and ten minutes away. Our ride today is a black Lexus SUV. It is nice to travel comfortably. Our luggage is stored, doors are opened for us and we are making our way to the port. Our driver is from Jordan and he is a great conversationalist. We start with the price of gas. It is currently about $2.39 a gallon in Houston. When I left Hamilton, Ontario it was about $1.50 a liter, if we do the math and include the exchange rate that makes our gas about $8.00 a gallon. He is astounded. The next topic is what is the difference between Canadians and Americans. The best thing that we can come up with is that with is that Canadians are more tolerant of race, religion, gender, etc. We also are not as quick to get riled up. However, once riled we will stand our ground. Our driver could not believe that there is no fence at the border between our two countries. He said that in Jordan, there is a fence around the entire country. If you try to enter illegally you get shot. Remind me to check my visas when I go to Jordan. This is not an awkward or uncomfortable conversation just an exchange of customs.

We get to the cruise port and our luggage is whisked away at the curb. We find Ken a wheelchair and get priority check-in. They even have a shortcut to get on the ship if you are in a wheelchair. Once onboard, we head to find a place for Ken to have a cigarette and we find a drink. The weather is overcast and very windy. The Galveston port is not that scenic. There is a lot of commercial traffic and not many cruise ships. It is a smaller port than Miami, which makes it easier to get to your ship. We are on board the Norwegian Prima. I have sailed this ship before with Laura (my daughter) last June. You can check out that blog here on Find Penguins as well.

We soon hear that our cabins are ready and we head down to check them out. When booking, Gabi and I had to go into the balcony room and Ken had a solo inside cabin. We head down to Guest Services to change this so they can have the balcony and I can have the solo cabin. I wanted to try out this cabin since it is made for one guest and they don't charge you the double occupancy fee. This cabin is compact but has plenty of room for all my stuff. I have extra room in the closet, an extra drawer and an extra shelf in the bathroom. The bed is a large single, almost a ¾ size bed. I have plenty of mirrors and great lighting. The only thing missing is a fridge. There is no window, since it is an inside cabin but that is okay with me.Read more