Sunday. November 12, 2023
Well here we are on board the ship! How did we get here? The morning started with me over-sleeping by an hour! Luckily I still have plenty of time anyway, although I set a record for washing my face and brushing my teeth so I would be out of Ginger and Nick’s way when they woke up! Our lovely hostess brings us the breakfast we requested last night and it’s even more than we requested. Look at the picture of the mound of goodness!
Our taxi (Uber?) arrives promptly at 9:30 and he even carries my big bag downstairs for me. We pile into his big Mercedes SUV and we’re off to the port, about half an hour away. He’s an intelligent and loquacious, good looking Italian and he and Nick chat all the way, with occasional comments from the back seat, about everything from football (both American and European) to ancient Roman civilization to the Hell’s Angels, of which he is a member!!
We have signed up for early boarding and there is almost no one in the terminal! Boarding is a breeze and we make our way to the dining room where the buffet is opening up. It’s kind of early for lunch, since we had such a generous continental breakfast, so we chat and people watch until Nick breaks the ice and brings back a plate of goodies. Ginger and I agree that it’s time and we go off, too.
There isn’t any reason to vacate our table by the water and so we remain in place. Nick gets us set up on a shipboard system that allows us to communicate with each other anywhere on the ship, even though only two of us can be on line at a time. (That “only two” thing will take some practice and coordination, but we’ll work it out. Adding a third person would have been about five hundred dollars!!)
The announcement finally comes that we can go to our stateroom, so we head down the stairs (so virtuous!) and two of our three suitcases are awaiting us. Nick and I unpack and there’s still plenty of room for Ginger’s things. We decide to go exploring about the time that Ginger’s bag shows up, so she unpacks while I type this in Text Edit, now that I know that will work.
Now we can go exploring! …
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| This is Shanghai which we'll sample another day! |
Well it’s almost eleven in the evening, so here’s a brief summary of the rest of the day! We explored virtually all of the ship that isn’t staterooms and found a place to get a drink and watch the sea pass by. We have a drinks package! I didn’t realize that and it’s a pleasant surprise! I have a bushwhacker and Ginger and Nick have a Mango Meltdown.
It’s getting chilly so we go down to get another layer and continue exploring and looking for a dinner option. We settle on the Savor, which is one of the two satellite dining rooms from the main one. There’s a half hour wait so we check out the shops and also the entertainment options for this evening.
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| That's the Batman ferry!! |
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| We went on the spa tour; they have everything. Nick has bought the unlimited package and uses it nearly everyday for his back. |
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| I thought they'd show outdoor movies. Instead they just run a slide show and block half the view of the water! |
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| Start the cruise right! |
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| This changes colors all the time. |
Our buzzer goes off and we are shown to a table for four and meet our waiter, who just flew into Rome yesterday! We decide that they must have a new crew for this voyage beginning their Caribbean season. We peruse the menu and I choose cream of cauliflower soup and chicken piccata. I’m sure my tummy would like a salad, but there’s just no room for that! I can’t even finish the chicken, even though it is good. I pass on the desserts; but Nick and Ginger order two things to share and three spoons and it would have been impolite to turn that down, right? Warm chocolate lava cake and salted-caramel chocolate tart - who could resist at least a taste?! Oh, and there was a glass of Lindeman’s shiraz along the way, too!
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| Shannon, JR, and Tim |
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| When I asked if I could take her picture, she took down her astounding hair! |
We were going to go straight to the cabin, ‘cause we’re beat; but then we thought maybe we could stop and check out Howl at the Moon for a minute. We stayed a bit more than two hours! The trio was just that good. Although it’s billed as dueling pianos, there are actually three people, all of whom play both piano and drums and one also plays guitar! And they’re all good! Interestingly, the one female in the group is the best drummer in addition to playing a mean piano and having a great voice!
We have to leave the ship in the morning by 8:30, so getting to bed is a pretty good idea! I still haven’t figured out quite how to deal with the photos (there really hasn’t been a free moment to play) so this will have to go up naked! Sorry!
(Sure am grateful to be able to post at all!!)
