Wednesday,
May 1, 2013
Those
of you who don't cruise, will probably find much of this boring, but
those who do cruise will appreciate the detail. Take what you like
and leave the rest.
Sail
away day has finally arrived! We left the hotel on the 11:00
shuttle, arrived at the port around 11:10, and were on board by
11:30. Longest wait was to wait for the shuttle driver to unload all
the luggage from the shuttle van! We lucked out and got Terminal 18,
which is way more efficient than Terminal 25. Also, Celebrity had
sent e-mails out to lots of people telling them not to arrive before
12:30. Since I didn't get the e-mail, we went earlier. Those who
arrived at 12:30 reported lines.
We
checked right in and had just sat down in the suite lounge area when
they announced they were boarding suites. At check in, we had both
been given a long stemmed red rose and told that all sorts of
wonderful things would happen on board because of these roses. Not.
Officer at the top of the gangway did not direct us to the special
lounge for the holders of said roses. I asked and was told, yes,
that's where we should go. Had I not known about this “perk” for
penthouse and royal suite guests, we would have missed out.
Had a
great bartender in Michael's, José
from Brazil, who kept us well supplied with champagne and orange
juice until the cabins were ready. He is a waiter in one of the
specialty restaurants, so we will probably see him again when we have
dinner there.
We
then proceeded to our first royal suite (due to a very reasonably
priced upgrade). The suite is quite spacious—large living and
dining area, good size bedroom, good bath with a Jacuzzi and a
separate shower. Walk-in closet with not much hanging space (but
there's another closet in the living room). TONS of cupboards and
shelves throughout the cabin, but only 3 drawers in the closet.
Strange. I'm just keeping my things I would normally put in drawers
in their packing cubes on shelves. We also have a large veranda with
another Jacuzzi, 2 loungers, and a table and 4 chairs. If the
weather improves, we may spend some time out there.
No
sign of the butler or cabin attendant. First time I've ever arrived
on a Celebrity ship without being greeted by the cabin attendant
within a few minutes of arrival.
Butler
finally arrived shortly before muster drill. We have the head
butler. Can't say I'm terribly impressed. He seems nice enough, but
I get the impression that he feels our requests are an imposition.
Luggage arrived just before muster drill, not good for suite
“priority.”
Following
muster drill, we went to the Sunset Bar for our sailaway party. By
now, it's pouring rain, so that wasn't the greatest place to be
because it's only partly covered, but we had arranged for a sailaway
wave with the Ft. Lauderdale webcam folks and that was where we had
told them we would be. In our pink boas and fedoras. By the time we
actually sailed, the rain had pretty much stopped. So, not sure how
the video turned out, but no doubt the friends and family who were
watching will let us know. And we can see it when we get someplace
with decent internet service. At sea with satellite service is not
the place. Have been unable to connect yet.
Had a
nice first night dinner with our friends Marilyn & J and then
came back, unpacked, and crashed.
Thursday,
May 2, 2013
Woke
up about 8:00 (we lost the first of the 6 hours we will lose on the
crossing last night), took a quick shower, and headed up to breakfast
in Blu. Met Mary who was on her own, so asked if she wanted to share
a table. We were seated next to Tom and Phyllis from Greenville, SC.
He's old Navy, so we shared memories of previous crossing on MSTS
ships, a quite different experience.
And
who should appear but Domnik, our wonderful waiter from the Alaska
Girlfriends' Cruise! We had asked the maitre d' in the main dining
room whether he was on the ship last night, but he said no.
Different group, apparently. Anyway, was happy to see him. We had a
lot of good laughs with him on that previous cruise. Mary says that
you're not allowed to laugh in the dining room on Cunard cruises, so
I guess that's not the cruise line for me! We like to have fun on
our cruises. Plus you have to dress for dinner every night.
The
Cruise Critic Connections party was at 11:00 a.m. No nametags. A
few officers showed, but they weren't introduced. None of them were
senior officers. Very different from other parties I've been to
where all the senior officers show up, get introduced, and interact
with the guests. This was the first cruise I hadn't brought along my
own nametag—big mistake. Those really help.
Had
lunch with Marilyn, J, Peggy, and Carolyn. Relaxed for the rest of
the afternoon. Tonight was the first formal night. Had a good
dinner in spite of our waiter's getting the orders mixed up. Went to
the show iBroadway—very high energy and good cast. Too loud as
usual, but I guess that will never change.
Need
to head to bed because tomorrow is a busy day. Fortunately, we do
not lose an hour tonight.
Friday,
May 3, 2013
Started
off with a phone call at 7:30 a.m. informing us that our coffee was
on the way. Except that we hadn't ordered any coffee. That was an
effective alarm clock. Went to Blu and had breakfast with our
favorite waiter, Domnik, Carolyn, and Jennifer & Don Furlong.
They're going hiking in Spain after this cruise. They're from
Seattle. I like having breakfast in Blu. You get a table for 2
right next to another table for 2 and it's a great way to meet other
cruisers.
We had
the cabin crawl at 10:00 a.m. For you non cruisers, that's when
people volunteer to show their cabins so others can get an idea of
what the different categories of cabins look like. They ended up in
our cabin since that was the highest category on offer. Everybody
thinks we should have a hot tub party on our veranda. Problem is, on
a good day, our hot tub will only hold two people! Then we all went
to lunch together in the main dining room.
This
afternoon was the slot pull. We all put in $15 and got 5 pulls on a
slot machine. We actually broke even, so we got our money back. Of
course the group thinks we should do it again!
Now
back in the cabin getting ready for dinner and trying to access the
internet. To date, it has been nonfunctional on this cruise. While
it's up (?), will try to post to the blog with one entry. Will see
if that works.
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