The adventure begins!

Sunday, November 7, 2010.

I wasn't that excited about taking this cruise.
I had only taken one cruise in my life, and that was a Disney cruise.
That was so much better than any of my expectations.
Even though I tried very hard not to,  I kept comparing what I knew...Disney,  with what I didn't know....Carnival.

I knew that once I got going, I'd have a good time.
A chance to get away before the busy holiday season at work and hang out with some of the best performers in magic.

I arrived quite early at the port in Long Beach, California, finding that most of the passengers were still disembarking the Carnival Splendor from the previous cruise.
Holy crap that is one big ship!

The Carnival terminal is housed inside the one time Spruce Goose Dome, and next to the Queen Mary.
Both structures were dwarfed by the Splendor!

Walking around the outside of the terminal, it seemed to be very disorganized, with no signage or indication on where to go or what to do.
I finally found a Carnival representative who informed me that the line to check in was, "That way", pointing in a general direction toward a sea of people.
I walked to the end of the line, which as I recall, ended right around the California/Oregon border.
I was now so far from the ship that I could no longer see it, but I was pretty sure I could see the curvature of the earth.

The line moved very slowly, as one by one, we were checked in.
The Carnival employees all seemed to be quite overwhelmed by all of this.
Their faces wore a look of, "Where are all these people coming from?!?"
The check in process involved showing your proof of citrizenship, a photo ID, and a form of payment for any charges incurred aboard ship.

In exchange for this information, you received your keycard, stateroom assignment, and a laminated card with a group number on it.
My group was number nine.

Oh well, I was now in the system, had my room key, and was assigned a group number.
The worst was behind me.

Now the matter of finding group nine.
The groups were indicated by cardboard signs taped to posts.
There was no sense or any structure to any of it.
One group just kind of overflowed into the next.
Luckily I was able to join my friends Bob Sheets and his wife, Martin Lewis, and Chipper Lowell.

Now that I was in line, with friends, the worst had to be behind us.