I should first explain why our anniversary cruise (scheduled on December 5th) was delayed 3 months. We were booked on the Carnival Splendor, which had an engine room fire and left the ship dead in the water for 2 days while it was towed back to San Diego. (Read more here from a news post from the incident.) The ship was out of service for 3 months for repairs and resumed sailing on February 20th.

Day 2: Monday morning Patrick woke up right on time! For him, that’s 6am… The sun was peaking through the curtains in our room so we were up headed across the Lido deck (our room was also on deck 9, the Lido deck, but we were in front and the food was in back) for a snack. Kevin went up to the gym (directly 2 decks above us) to work out then we all went to a nice sit-down breakfast in the dining room. 

The ship felt VERY crowded. It was full and, because the weather was still cool as we headed south, everyone was clustered in a few areas: The promenade (deck 5) and the Lido deck (9). No one new quite were to go yet.

We tried the “Camp Carnival” room for 2-5 year olds drop-off… Patrick lasted about 1/2 hour when we got a phone call (worked only on ship-to-ship calls) that he was crying. He avoided the Camp like the plague for the rest of the week! Oh well, maybe next year when he’s 3! 

Lunch at noon at the Lido restaurant… we discovered a seating area and a rotisserie chicken/baked potato station on deck 10, above the rest of the restaurant. Excellent place to eat as it was never crowded up there!

Patrick fell asleep at 2pm after walking the boring halls of deck 6 & 7 (cabins only) in the stroller… the stroller nap worked almost all week… excellent to have a well-rested boy in the afternoon! Kevin also dozed wile I went shopping. While packing, I remembered everything for both Kevin & Patrick, but forgot my short!!!! yikes, we’re going to 80 deg beaches! Found 2 pairs at the Carnival gear shop. :)

It was formal night so we dressed for dinner early and headed down to the lobby (deck 3, forward) for a drink with our friends Chelsea and Aaron. We had a very good photographer and got a great shot!

After another nice dinner with dessert, we met our friends for a dip in one of the many hot tubs on the ship… it was empty so we were able to swim Patrick around. He had a great time and Patrick was ready for bed. He fell asleep at 10pm again.

I did discover the only downside to our cabin location: it was near the lobby area. The Splendor (in fact, most ships) have a bank of clear elevators and an open area from the lobby level up to the upper decks. There was a very loud 3-piece jazz band playing and the sound traveled up floors from 3 up to 9 and pounded on our door! ugh! good thing I brought earplugs. Kevin and Patrick didn’t notice! :)