Spirit of Discovery blog

Well the day has come for me to relive my childhood holiday to Florida and to visit the Kennedy Space Centre – super excited, along with many of our guests and crew. We picked up our pilot at 6:30am this morning, a little bit windy outside, but the harbour master assured me it was up to 20kts inside which is more than doable in this mighty ship.

We came port side alongside bow into the Carnival Terminal there, which has recently been refurbished and looking very nice. Tours were not only going to the Space Centre today but they were also going to the Epcot Centre near Orlando and also Airboat tours were on offer – great fun.

It was an amazing day in the Kennedy Space Centre, seeing all the different sites, the massive VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building) and the vehicle on tracks which delivers the shuttle from the assembly building to the launch pad. Took some great photos. Also the Atlantis Shuttle Display building is amazing. I think every young kid would like to be an Astronaut and I was no exception, so it was like being a 10 year old boy again. Having been Captain for some time now and being in a senior role for over 12 years it was nice to have a break and to be a kid again and being taken in by the magic of it all – I genuinely had a great day, and the bridge has a new Shuttle mascot.

Our Chief Engineer took some fuel today at the ‘Gas’ station for the ship so we were able to fully refuel in New York and at 5pm it was time to leave on Christmas Eve.

At 9:30pm we have our cast Christmas Show in the Playhouse along with our traditional Midnight Mass for Christmas which I know will be greatly attended and enjoyed.

Happy Christmas tomorrow and I know our Saganauts who have been today Astronauts will have a great sea day tomorrow for Christmas Day on our way upto Norfolk, Virginia.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Captain Nick Sunderland