Time to go cruising! This morning we got up early and checked out of the hotel. Then, along with John and Randy, we made a quick doughnut run before making our way over to Port Everglades to board the ship. This year we sailed with Princess Cruise Lines aboard the Crown Princess. After sailing with a couple of other cruise lines, I think Princess is definitely our favorite.

Upon boarding the ship we headed up to our cabin to drop our stuff off. We were in cabin D606 (deck 9, close to midship). This year we opted for a mini suite to get some more room and a full sized bathtub and shower. After dropping our stuff off it was off to the buffets (deck 15 aft) for lunch. Afterwards we wandered the ship a bit and took some pictures. We noticed that Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Sea (largest cruise ship in the world) was docked so we got some pics of it, especially when it left port and headed out to sea. Once we left port we headed down to Club Fusion (deck 7 aft) for a welcoming party and open bar. That evening we had dinner in the Botticelli dining room (deck 5 aft). Almost the entire dining room was filled with bears!

And this year we sailed with 489 bears! It would have been 491, except two friends of ours (Ben and Matt) could not make it at the last moment due to a medical emergency. The GREAT news is that Matt recovered and is fine!