I get that Florida isn’t exactly Hawaii. I get that it’s January and it’s an El Nino year and all that. But 3 C with a wind warning? It was warmer than that when we left Kelowna, for cripes sake. (When we got on the ship, one of the Disney crew members greeted us with an ironic, “Merry Christmas!” Holy God, it’s cold out there.)

Speaking of the ship: it’s beautiful. Things are always chaotic on embarkation day, but the boarding process has been the smoothest of any cruise line we’ve ever been on. They even announce your family and applaud as you come aboard, which made the kids feel like rock stars. The original plan was to hit the waterslides first thing, but given the weather I didn’t bother digging out our swim gear. So instead, we went straight for lunch.

As experienced cruisers, we knew enough not to hit the main buffet, where 90% of people congregate after coming on board. So we made our way to the one sit-down restaurant that was open. This meant we got table service AND a chance to sit inside out of the wind (the main buffet is on the freezing cold pool deck). Good stuff.

We actually had a pretty neat experience at dinner last night too. We went to NBC Grill and Brew, which not only had hundreds of TVs showing every sport known to man, but also offered special tables with plexiglass covers over different table games (shuffleboard, in our case). So we could eat and drink and play shuffleboard all at the same time. It was pretty much a dream dining experience for the boys.

After dinner, I had to spend an hour in the hotel laundry room drying out the clothes — and shoes! — that got drenched in yesterday’s rain so I could pack for today. Party on.

They swear it will be much warmer tomorrow. Time will tell…