Day 1

We got into Miami on Friday night, where we enjoyed a mingling session with the other Achievers.  I finally got to meet a lot of people I've only heard about for 6 years, and was surprised as to how off I was by what they looked like in my mind.  Turns out Marshall is not a 60+ year old man but a young guy that lives close to Vicki and Tamra from Real Housewives of OC!

Saturday morning, we woke up and made it down to breakfast at 9:00, as the schedule noted.  We also happened to be one of the last couples to breakfast and I learned quickly that we needed to be early for the rest of the trip, not just on time.

At the breakfast, we enjoyed an array of delicious treats but also the talent of a band, who happened to have a lead singer that looked like Huey Lewis.

When we were done, we headed outside of the hotel, where they had a lagoon that supposedly had manatees living it in it.

Lookin' good, my man!

Didn't see a manatee, just a lizard.

The wind was out of control, which threw me off because it was still hot outside.

After walking around for a little bit and getting a chance to call The Lime, we packed our bags and headed onto the bus which took us to our port.

LaVor laughed at me when I took this picture but with so many episodes of "Cops" and "First 48" filmed here, I felt like I had to!

Remember my post about not wearing motorcycle helmets?  It blows my mind!

The view of our ship from down below.

Waiting to get checked into the ship.  The lady that helped us was a real grouch about her pens.

We made it on the ship and immediately went to our room to check things out.  LaVor helped me out with my fear of getting seasick and made sure we had a balcony.

Checking out Miami.

I don't know why I always feel the need to pose for pictures.  Cheesy.

While we were still in the U.S., LaVor finalized a few things while I went buck wild with the self portraits in the mirror.

The director from our group suggested getting something to eat as soon as we got on the ship, to help with any motion sickness.  We never deny someone when they tell us to eat!

I was a frequent visitor to the ice cream station, which is why my jeans hardly fit this morning.

Soon enough, we noticed things moving and put two and two together; we were setting sail.

I believe there were 4 ships total, that left at the same time.

Do you see that huge mass of people on the beach?!  It was nuts!

Since I take a long time getting ready, we had a little free time between taking off and when I had to be back at the room to make myself look cute.  We had a cocktail hour around 7 (which isn't so fun for us) and then enjoyed our first dinner cruise experience.  We took full advantage of being able to order as many food items as we wanted (I might have ordered 4 desserts but didn't finish all of them!) and left the table stuffed to the brim.

The night was still young (not really...we were pooped) so we went back to the cocktail lounge to watch some dancing.

They were pulling people out of the audience to dance with them.  Thankfully, I was not one of them.

This guy was a hoot to watch.

In the elevator, heading back to our room.

Once we got back to our room, LaVor stepped outside to take some shots of the moon, which ended up being a nightly thing.

Our first day at sea was a success; we didn't get sick!  We had to eventually hit the sack, as we had an excursion waiting for us, bright and early the next morning.