Our First Cruise - on the Carnival Splendor

Our first cruise - 7 days of the Mexican Riviera - that we never got to do. We didn't know what we were getting ourselves into...

Ethan and Madeline boarding the ship

Our cabin

The first night

Then unexpectedly at 6 am the first morning, we were woken up by the boat shaking and smoke. We were told to go to the open decks, though we didn't know what was going on. It turned out that there was a fire in the engine room that burned for 3 hours. The captain shut off all power to the ship during the fire. When it was over, the crew could not restart it. So there we were, stick with 4,000 other people in the middle of the ocean. The first day was the worst. There was no electricity or running water. Later that night, the water was restored, which was essential because sanitation was becoming critical. The next day a coast guard ship, a Mexican naval ship arrived. The second day, the first of 5 tugboats arrived, along with the USS Ronald Reagan Aircraft carrier!

Deck cleared for a helicopter from the aircraft carrier to drop off supplies to the ship

Helicopter with supplies

Lines for food. After water was restored food was the major issue. With no power, nothing could be cooked. The crew got very creative. We had almost every kind of sandwich available -- mozerella, hot dog, and even beet sandwhiches.

Amid the ship's breakdown, we did have some fun. Here we are playing mini golf.

The Chihuahua tug that was the first to arrive and help pull the ship back to land.

Shitzu and Rotweiller tugs also helped

After 3 days stuck at sea, we finally see land - San Diego.

Here we are eating our last meal on the ship - breakfast.

Passengers ready to disembark

Almost our turn to leave the ship

View of people leaving the ship. We were lucky and were one of the first groups to leave.

On the bus ready to go to our hotel for the night.

News reporters camped ready to interview people leaving the ship.

We've already booked our free next cruise because of the problems we had with the first one for Jan. 9-16. We wanted to go before the new baby comes. This time we are going to leave from Florida and are stopping by Cayman Islands, Isla Roatan, Belize, and Cozumel, Mexico.