Preparations went smoothly, disregarding the little problem with the water pump in the car and the DSL modem that decided to logoff permanently in the last week. And not to mention that I didn't get the house cleaned. Left the house at 5:45 and made great time. Check-in was without incident. Good thing I wasn't traveling on Friday when we had a real tempest of a storm batter the area at precisely this time. Starting to get excited, now that I'm here at the airport.

Pulled out a few minutes early, and were in the air at 8 sharp. Flew over the San Jacinto monument and the ship channel, and entered the gulf at the tip of the Bolivar peninsula.

Crossed the Florida coast at 9:30, er, 10:30 local, and landed 12 minutes later. Tampa airport reminds me a lot of Orlando: satellite concourses connected by electric tram. Of course, the big question is whether the luggage went on a different vacation, like on my last cruise. But no, both bags arrived together. Shot off a few emails while waiting for the bus to the pier (the Tampa airport has free wi-fi!), and figured that after the bus ride, the long wait would be over.

My first glimpse of the Veendam from the airport bus as we approach the Tampa cruise ship pier.

Well, not quite. At the pier, the bus had to wait for a while for the previous bus to clear out of the way, while myriad taxis and shuttle buses dropped off their cruise passengers. Eventually we got off the bus and made our way through checkpoints into the check-in lines.

Checking in. The line moved fairly quickly, but I need not have been in that line at all. There was another, shorter check-in line for suite passengers, but I didn't see the sign.

I think we missed the worst part of it, because the line moved quickly, and was never as long as it was when the bus arrived. Checking in on line and filling out forms on the internet helped. So, with a little patience, I find myself on board. A quick tour of the crowded Lido restaurant shows the rest of family is not there, so I head up to the Crow's Nest, our agreed-upon rendezvous place. Sure enough, they're waiting for me.

Dad, Jill and Mom wait in the Crow's Nest. They'd caught the earliest bus from the hotel to the ship, and were among the very first to board.

A brief chat about our travels, and then Jill and I head to the Lido for a much needed lunch. Afterwards, back to the suite to unpack. Then it's time for the obligatory lifeboat drill. At least it's quick, even if we take the wrong route to our boat station.

Spent the rest of the afternoon in the Crow's Nest, getting acquainted with our waiter. Had a few noshes, then back to the room to watch us sail under the Skyway Bridge.

After downloading about 16 pictures from day 0, I decided the best of the lot was this one taken by Jill just as we approached the Skyway Bridge (do I have the name right?) in Tampa Bay on our way to the Gulf of Mexico, a few minutes before 7:30 p.m. local time.

At which point it was time to attend the special welcome in the Neptune Bar (which literally is about 5 feet from our door), where we sampled a couple more appetizer creations and had some champagne. By then, of course, it's dinner time. We have a table for four at the stern, overlooking our wake. We enjoyed a leisurely dinner, and decided to forego any late evening activities, as we were all tired from our travels.