Feb 1 - At Sea (Western N. Atlantic)

SANDY SHORE : Getting ready for a 7 week adventure actually takes more than 7 weeks to plan. The 'adventurers' are unpacked and geared up, but racked out as we get caught up on sleep and rest on this first day at sea. ~ss

DONNA KAY PHILLIPS : We are approx 700 miles from Ft Lauderdale now in the West Northern Atlantic where temps are warmer and days longer; a welcome condition coming from chilly Monterey Bay. We are officially underway to summer on the under side of the globe aboard Carnival's newest and largest ship in the fleet, the Carnival Splendor.

The ship features a mind-blowing array of ammenities which we will feature in the Days At Sea portion of our log. She was recently delivered from the Fincantieri ship yard in Italy where she sailed around the Baltic before she made the North Atlantice Crossing to the U.S. She is to be permanently positioned to do weekly trips to Mexico from Long Beach, CA but with 2900 passengers, 1500 crew members and 113,300 lbs of gross tonnage, the Splendor is simply too large to pass through the Panama Canal.

Hence the repositioning cruise around South America. The trip will be done in 3 legs (denoted by the colored nav buttons to the left) starting in Ft Lauderdale FLA and ending in San Francisco, CA.

Having sailed on ships since 1 year of age, I am quite at home living at sea and have always wanted to stay onboard for extended periods of time, something the typical 7 day trips do not allow. I had always wanted to work onboard cruise ships, but my father, a veteran of the industry, steered me away from this lifestyle and towards graphic design, citing that ships were no place for a young woman.

Much time has passed and now woman are working in almost every facet of the cruise industry. This extended trip of 49 days at sea, is a life-long dream of mine and I am grateful that my father, step-mother and the gracious Carnival staff, have helped Sandy and I to make this trip a reality. Unlike the old days of being onboard while my father worked, I look forward to spending time with him relaxing and exploring all of these new ports of call. -dkp