Nisheet and I have been married for an entire year! And have been together for 10 years! I don’t know where the time has gone, but I do know that we have had so many fun adventures together and will have many more. To celebrate this milestone, we planned an anniversary cruise for months. I’ve been on almost a dozen cruises, but this was going to be Nisheet’s first. So, I wanted it to be perfect. I spent hours debating which cruise to take and finally decided on Royal Caribbean’s Harmony of the Seas. It is a 7 day cruise leaving out of Port Canaveral and stops at a Coco Cay (private island in the Bahamas), St. Thomas USVI, and St. Martin.  

As the weeks went by and our cruise was almost here, the anticipation and excitement grew. And then the news started showing a tropical depression might hit the port right when we were supposed to leave. Depressions aren’t bad, right? Maybe we would be delayed a couple hours. And then it turned into a hurricane. And then a massive hurricane. The port was going to close for days! Our cruise was shortened to a 4 day cruise. And then shortened again to a 3 day cruise with one stop in Nassau. 

With only a couple days left until the cruise, we needed to think fast and figure out our options. We could a) go on a short cruise b) rebook on a later cruise or c) try to find a cruise out of a different port. I didn’t want to go on a short cruise, and I was determined to be on the cruise during our anniversary. That left option c. The lucky thing is, we live right next to the Tampa cruise port. Nisheet jumped on the phone and found out that Carnival Miracle was leaving that weekend. It was supposed to leave on Sunday, but because of the hurricane and fear of closing the port, they were leaving Saturday night instead. This was unfortunate for a lot of people originally booked on this cruise. If their flights weren’t getting in until Sunday, then they would miss this cruise. This was extremely fortunate for us though because it meant people were cancelling and we scored a room! Wohoo! 

We booked the cruise at 1am on Friday morning, and boarding started at 7pm on Saturday. This didn’t leave us much time to plan anything (shore excursions, etc), but we didn’t care. We were going on a cruise! 

We were at the port right on the dot 7pm, and I’m pretty sure 50% of the passengers were already onboard. This was great because it meant the lines were super short and we were on the ship in no time at all. 

Once onboard, we headed to the dining room. (We couldn’t go to our stateroom yet because the stewards were still cleaning.) This is where Nisheet got his first taste of classic cruise decor. A giant dining room full of brightly lit grapes, metallic silver ceilings, and orange carpet. It took a moment to absorb it all. I must admit, even I was taken by surprise. Newer boats definitely have more mellow designs. But after that brief moment of shock, it started to have a retro charm to it. 

Dinner was delicious, as it always is on a cruise. Nisheet went with a steak (odd, I know), and I went with a squash pie. Mine tasted like a savory pumpkin pie. Mmmm mmm. And then Nisheet got his first taste of Carnival’s famous melting chocolate cake. He was in love at first sight. 

After stuffing ourselves in the traditional cruise way, we headed to our stateroom to unpack. We then found out one of the drawbacks to booking a room at the last minute. Our keycards had someone else’s name on them. We went to the guest services downstairs and there was a huge line of people with the exact same issue. It turns out half the cruise did exactly what we did. Snagged a canceled room on the Carnival Miracle after their original cruise from the east coast was cancelled or shortened. We even met several people from our original boat, Harmony of the Seas. Chatting with the others kept the wait entertaining, and once we finally reached the desk, it only took a couple minutes to correct the problem. And then we finally made it to our stateroom and could unpack. 

Around 11pm the ship was finally leaving Tampa, and it was the oddest departure I’ve ever experienced. Since it was so late, most people had already gone to bed. It was so quiet and eerie walking around the empty ship as we sailed out of Tampa Bay. But we were so excited for this vacation that there was no way we were going to be missing seeing us depart. 

After the Tampa skyline faded into the distance, the last few remaining stragglers on deck headed back to their room. Not us though! I had been on a cruise out of Tampa before and knew something cool was coming up. Going under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. It is an incredible sight. As the ship goes under the bridge, it feels like your could reach up and touch the underside of the bridge. You are so close! 

And then, finally around 3am, we headed off to bed.