Carnival Dream 2014 - Day 1;Embarkation

Getting to the drop off area to the ship took longer than any previous cruise we have taken from the Port of New Orleans.  It was unclear if it was because there was a Norwegian ship loading at the same time or maybe just disorganization by the port.   Once we handed over our luggage to a porter and entered the embarkation area for Carnival, everything was well organized and quick.

Because we are Platinum with Carnival, our cabin is always immediately available.

 We dropped off our carry-on bags and met our friends for lunch at the buffet.  I had a cheeseburger from the grill and Hubby got something from the Mongolian Wok then we spent the afternoon chatting with friends.

We discovered a great spot in front of the ship on deck 5 for sailaway.  No matter how many times we have watched cruise ships navigate the Mississippi River,we never get bored.  

We were assigned a table for for on the upper level of the Main Dining Room.

It was nice not to be assigned to the usual  table for 10 :)  Hubby and I both chose Beef Brisket and it was delicious.  Dessert was our usual pecan ice cream.

After dinner we played a little in the casino and watched the Super Bowl followed by a game of Adult Pub Quiz with our friends.  We won free drinks.  Next we watched the beginning of SailAway show in the Encore theatre.  The dancers were good but we quickly got bored with all the speeches and announcements by the cruise director.  We had a busy first day after being awake since 5;00am so we returned to the cabin around 11:30 and crashed for the night.