Moments D607: Awed by Big Boats

This morning we flew into Miami to meet up with the Norwegian Epic for the Christmas cruise leaving today at 4 pm.  We arrived early.  Not that we needed to.  Our plane was early, arriving in Miami at 5:40 am. Normally this is a good thing, but today, we could have been 2 hours late and had a lot of time to reach the port for our cruise.  It was awfully early!  Amusing on some level I suppose, but it's hard to be amused that early in the morning!  (To give you some perspective, nothing was open in the airport!)

Too early to head to the port to board the ship, EQ and I sat in the dog park, ate our breakfast and soaked up some rays as we waited for the first shuttle of the day (10:30 am!) to leave the airport to the sea port.  A strange way to start our day, but it was relaxing and laid back at least.

And then we arrived to the sea port.  Oh my.  Those are some humongous boats!  I have never cruised before and have never even had the experience of standing beside one of them before.  What can I say?  Wow.  I was speechless.  (shocking, I know!)

As I stood and EQ took my picture in front of the boat (which I have come to learn is a SHIP), I felt so small.

Perspective.  It's everything!  Incredible that something so large and heavy can stay afloat, let alone manage the rolling sea to (hopefully) keep people from getting sea sick.   I was in awe of this beast before me.

• Gross Register Tonnage: 155,873
• Overall Length: 1,081 feet
• Max Beam: 133 feet
• Draft: 28.5 feet
• Passenger Capacity: 4,100 (but I don't think our cruise was sold out)
• Crew: 1,753
• Cruise Speed: 20.2 knots

Here we go - Christmas cruise 2013 on one big 'ol boat.  (ahem...ship.  Right.)  Am I ready?  As ready as I'll ever be!

Moments questioning how something so big can be so sea worthy.

Moments arriving at your destination, looking ahead to the next.