Jan 7 2018 Adios Port Canaveral, hello fun

Our Sunshine team: Captain Lorenzo Calogero

Chief Engineer: Sebastian Mangano

Hotel Director: Niksa Pelic

Cruise Director: Lee Mason

Our transfer to the Sunshine ship was short and uneventful. We joined a very long line up outside the cruise terminal which continued as a long lineup inside the building but finally got onboard and we were greeted by a crew member dressed as an astronaut and it was a nice picture taking op. We then found our cabin which was ready for our stay but our luggage hadn’t yet arrived so we took a quick look around and then headed to the Lido buffet for a much needed lunch/brunch. We then walked around checking out the ship, hoping to get it memorized but that’s really too much to expect the first day. Well, ok, it is for me! We found the casino and shopping area which wouldn’t be in operation until after departure. Finally we sailed away and we settled in for the next 13 days.

Later the captain announced that at 8pm the launching of a space shuttle from Port Canaveral was going to be visible on the starboard side of the ship and luckily we were nearby and able to get out there just in time to see it go. It was an awesome sight and a thrill to see it go. It appeared first as a ball of fire and then gradually elongated with a fiery tail as it flew over head and then it disappeared into a small sort of a wispy thin cloud. I watched for it to come out through the other side of the cloud but it never did. I was really puzzled. Suddenly another fiery streak was seen at the point of its origin and I was horrified thinking it had crashed but soon found out that it was the rocket that had returned while the shuttle which was so far away it was invisible now and continuing on its way. It was amazing and an once in a lifetime event for us to witness. My granddaughter Sabrina recorded a video on her phone that turned out to be excellent and an awesome momento of the first night on our cruise.

We then went for dinner and then to the “Welcome to the cruise “ show in the Liquid Lounge with a sampling of the talent onboard and a little fun game thing with two couples from the audience who volunteered. Later we hit the casino for awhile and I made a couple bucks there which stayed on my casino account to play with on another day.