At 11:30 we started the Ship Boarding Process...no chaos whatsoever, these Aussie’s are very organized, friendly and fast...we were onboard within 45 minutes and they had a nice lunch waiting for us...our luggage showed up at 2:30 so we were completely settled in by 3:15.
Because we are traveling for months and months I think we have quite a bit of luggage, not even close, you should see what people consider is essential for 11 days...I’m talking massive suitcases that would carry more than what we have put together...and they have more than 1...it was funny watching these little porter’s struggling under the weight...god only know what it cost these people for extra airline luggage fees.
School holidays just started so there are a lot of kids...the ship has space for about 2500 people and it looked to be at capacity...at 5pm we mustered for our evacuation drill and finally set sail at 6:30.
We aren’t sure how many meals we’ll take in the main dining room but decided to try it our first night so we could meet our table mates...we are assigned to a table of 6, and all 4 of the other guest are from Australia...2 nice ladies traveling together from Adelaide named Caroline and Ann, maybe mid 60’s, sassy and with keen wit...quite charming people that are well traveled and interesting. The other couple live in a small town 3 hours south of Sydney (missed the name), Rod and his wife of a couple years, Chen...she is chinese and if I perceived correctly has a very small english vocabulary...nice people, Rod is an interesting guy whose daughter lives in Seattle and his son is a pilot in the Aussie Naval service. He was extremely attentive to his wife almost to distraction. All in all a good group. The highlight and lowlight to our first meal together was our waitress Maria...she is a real character and our first impression of her was she is a funny, sing-song speaker who was just there to help....by the end of the meal I found her more obnoxious and a little rude...she had memorized 4 or 5 funny phrases for situations and used them over and over and over and over...her timing in interrupting conversation couldn’t have been worse and her sing song voice was more agitating than charming. Not sure I can take her every night, she will drive me crazy.
We enjoyed a nice Pina Colada on deck while listening to a Reggae band, took in part of the “welcome aboard show” and then settled into our 138 sq. ft. of living space...all in all, an excellent day...life is good.
No comments:
Post a Comment