For along time it seemed to be far in the future, then suddenly it was here and we had scramble to get ready.  Tina ubered us to DFW and we caught a flight to San Diego the day before the cruise.  I guess I am a little paranoid, but I have this vision of us trying to get there the day of the departure, a late flight, and us standing on the pier watching our ship sail away without us.  With some research, I found a hotel in San Diego across the street from the pier that had a shuttle from the airport – perfect!  We made our flight, shuttled to the hotel, and saw the empty pier waiting for the Zandaam (our ship) across the street.

In the morning, after breakfast, we toted our luggage across the street and boarded the ship. This is the ship, from our hotel room.

After settling in, we roamed around the ship – this our hotel from the ship.

The ship sailed about 5pm and made its way out of San Diego harbor among dozens of US Navy ships – headed west for 6 days at sea. Next stop Kona, Hawaii.