Let the cruise begin!

Kelly was up very early getting a face tan from the glow of her iPhone....  she was watching the arrival of the Explorer of the Seas via the harbor web cam. There were also lots of Facebook posts from fellow cruiser who also could not sleep! Excited perhaps?

We walked over to Salt Tapas and Wine Grill for our morning flat white coffees then our usual walk along the beachfront. The weather is fantastic today so there is lots of activity with surfers, swimmers, beach volleyball, yoga and dog walkers galore! We grabbed a spot to sit and just soak in the sun and overall ambiance.

Our coffee/dinner place!

Great coffee spot.

Beach action.

Our walk took us to the Blue Water Cafe for our breakfast this morning....  Eggs Benny with bacon!

Breakfast!

 It was now time to head back for showers and to start packing our gear .  I took a picture of the Tribute Flags for the Anzac Celebration that will happen in the early hours of the 25th. It is similar to Veterans Day in the USA and Remembrance Day in Canada & Britain.

Flags

With our load of bags we (the royal we) decided to grab a cab over to the manly wharf for the 11:45 ferry to the Quay. Just before 11:00 I ordered the cab and then received a text message a couple minutes later saying it's on the way and to get the bags curbside. OK bags loaded and in four minutes we were at the wharf. Hey there is a ferry at the dock... quick check of the app and there was a 11:10 ferry! We walked down through the building and walked right behind a huge queue of passengers onto the ferry. Doesn't get much better than that! I must say our experiences with the transportation system have been phenomenal.

A beautiful site!

Cabin location. We put out our Canadian Flag once onboard!

Fueling up... it's a long way!

 Off the ferry and a short 5 minute walk to the cruise port. We arrived at 11:58, dropped our bags and checked in at 12:10. Through immigration at 12:23 and through security at 12:40 and on we went.

Met up with Cathy & Bryan and some FB friends in the Cafe Promenade and then headed to our rooms. First we checked out their 6th floor balcony suite located on the starboard side right in the center "hump" which gave them a nice view down the entire ships length.

Next was a stop at our rear balcony on the 8th floor. This is the first time we have had such a location so it was a bit exciting. The room is pretty generic in size but the balcony was large and it will do nicely. Jury is out on the ride though as we are at the rear port side.

This will do!

 We had a bite to eat at the Windjammer Buffet and then afterwards, found our bags in the hall outside our room and got things all unpacked for the 23 days ahead.  Next was the safety drill and our briefing on life jacket location & operation and muster station rally point for our deck.

 Drink time as we all headed upstairs to the Pool Bar for a meet & greet. The ships horn blasted and at 17:30 we left the dock and slowly worked our way out to the head of the harbor inlet.

Yep... another pic as we set sail.

Bridge behind the ship.

We met up with the Orr's and had a beverage before wandering back inside and then off to prepare for dinner. Tonight we went to Chops Grill and I enjoyed a rack of lamb dinner that was fantastic.

Feeling stuffed we then walked through the casino and Kelly had a good turn at the roulette wheel. She left very happy so we called it a night for our first evening. Watched a bit of karaoke then back to blog and then hit the rack.