Carnival Spirit - January 7, 2015. Embarkation Day!

Another cruise, another bargain! Happy days! 12 nights on the Carnival Spirit heading to the Pacific Islands and Fiji - YAY!!

This time there are 5 of us and we are all EXCITED!!! Except for the first part of the trip, the overnight train from Wauchope, blah.

Wauchope Station for the 12.41am train

Arrival time at Central Station is 7.00am our check in time for the cruise is 12.30pm but we are able to drop off our luggage at 8.30am. After catching a train to Circular Quay we headed to the closest Maccas and had breakfast and a BIG coffee - it was a long train trip.

Our ship the Carnival Spirit docked at the OPT (Overseas Passenger Terminal)

Brekky time!

We did a bit of exploring around Sydney, saw a few of the people from Sunrise, visited Parliament House and the State Library but all we really wanted to do was get on the ship and have a nap - we were tired! My eyes were playing up as well - that's what I get for wearing my contacts for too long and overnight. They took almost 5 days to get back to normal. I was looking a treat!

Centrepoint Tower

Inside the State Library

From the Opera House forecourt

Check in was smooth, just like last time, and we were in our cabins by 12.45pm. We had 3 twin cabins, inside on deck 8. Two were next to each other and the 3rd was down the hall at the other end of the ship, closer to the front - Starboard side (the right!). The boys (8 and 13) were sharing cabins with me and my sister (I had mister 13) and mum got a cabin to herself as miss 15 wasn't able to make it. (She had better plans!). After freshening up a bit we headed up to the buffet, which was just above us, and had some lunch.

Glorious day with beautiful views - what a wonderful way to start our holiday! We've been on the Spirit before, back in May 2013, so didn't go for too much of a wander around. We were all a bit tired so decided we'd just relax, head back to our rooms and unpack our bags, have a refreshing shower and then head back to Deck 9 (only one floor up!) to the Lido and settle in for sailaway!

We left pretty much on time but about 20 minutes in, we hadn't gotten very far, we had to stop as a passenger was unwell and had to be taken from the ship. Poor thing although we did hear that they rejoined in Noumea so it couldn't have been too serious. Sailing out of Sydney Harbour is so lovely - what a beautiful harbour, we're so lucky!

Our dinner booking was for 7.45pm in the Empire Restaurant - this is the main restaurant on the Spirit. We had this booking every night on Deck 2. Deck 3 is the Anytime diners. 7.45pm couldn't come fast enough for us, we were tired! Our waiters, Wini and friends, were fabulous right from the start! So spoilt - this is one of the (many) reasons we LOVE cruising!

Our empty chair :-( We miss you miss 15.

Chicken Schnitzel - off course!

Warm Chocolate Melting Cake - still as yummy as we remember!

We headed straight for our cabins after dinner, sleep was on the agenda! We had a little friend waiting for us, it ended up being a nightly occurance. We also received our Fun Times and a chocolate!