Sunday morning dawned a gray, rainy day, with a hint of sun peeking through the clouds.

But first, we had to get here.

The DFW - Ft. Lauderdale flight was the usual pack 'em in a metal tube at point A and get 'em to point B experience, but with turbulence! we've had worse. Between the Dramamine and the ginger chews Julie managed to avert disaster.

We booked a room at a Hampton Inn near the port, and the real adventure of the day was in getting to the hotel. Just getting a shuttle was a challenge, and when it finally arrived they proceeded to load a cruise group. Oh, us? Yeah, if you don't mind squeezing in to one of the two shuttles. So we did, and they promptly took us to the other Hampton Inn, at which point we disembarked and waited for half of the group to get their gear unloaded. We (and our luggage) got into the shuttle with the rest and were whisked to the other hotel.

We did end up in a suite (it may be an all-suite hotel), though it was fairly basic. It did give us room to repack for embarkation the next day. Then it was time to grab a Lyft for dinner at a packed sports bar. Hey, it was food.

After a sleep and recharging the gear we grabbed another Lyft to the cruise terminal. What a madhouse! There's a bunch of construction going on at the terminal, and the place was full of security from sheriffs to police officers to private contractors. Our app said to embark at Terminal 25. They'd moved it to 29, so confusion ensued. We finally made it. Kudos to the driver.

Embarkation was a snap. There was a bit of security theater where they scanned our luggage and took photos for facial recognition. We found our cabin and were able to drop off our luggage even though it wasn't ready. That was a pleasant change from our previous cruise, meaning we got to explore the ship unencumbered by a backpack or tote with enough stuff to get is through the day in case the luggage got to the cabin late.

Our first stop was the Martini Bar, where we enjoyed a refreshing libation. Then it was off to the buffet for a snack, to the Mast Bar for another refresher, then off to explore the ship!

The Reflection is an older ship in the Celebrity line. It's had a recent refresh, but the rooms can use some updating. Still, it's a lovely ship. Take a look at the pictures above.

We hung around for part of the sail away party, then relocated ourselves to the quiet of the outdoor part of the Oceanvie Cafe (buffet) to watch the ship sail into the open water.

Dinner was at the Tuscan Grill, one of the premium restaurants. The food was good, but there was a lot of it. If there was any theme for the cruise, that was it. We decided that since this was a celebration vacation, our weight loss goals were going to get tossed overboard. Fortunately, they're virtual, so no harm was done to the ocean. Since it was a bit early to head back to the cabin we found a nice spot called The Hideaway where we each claimed an evil villian chair and relaxed to read. The only problem with that spot was that it overlooked the Atrium, so when the evening entertainment set up four decks below (with a badly overdriven amp), we moved on to bide our time until the late show in the theater. That was a stand-up comic doing an entire routine about getting older. We were not amused, though the rest of the audience seemed to be.

Tomorrow is a sea day.

(Go to the next day)