DAY ONE - Monday, Sep 29: As in the brief post from our stay in San Diego, we are on the
ship. We have a few welcome gifts waiting in our cabin. One was a tote bag; the
other was a reusable 12 oz. cup. They want you to use the cup for “to go”
drinks, nice thought on saving waste. After dropping our small suitcase in the
cabin, we ventured out to see the ship and have lunch. We chose Dive In for a
burger by the Lido Pool. They have expanded their small menu with a few more
options both in burgers and fries. One can get cheesy fries and Buffalo fries
in addition to the standard ones offered before. Service was a bit slow, flavor
was good. I was disappointed in my lettuce “wrapped” burger as the lettuce was
falling off. However, I could eat it with a knife and fork.
4:45 was Sail Away at the Sea View pool. Tasty drinks, a few nice snacks, and Cruise Director Claire introduced some of the Dancers for a brief performance. She continued with some dancing for cruisers after the brief show. We appreciated views of San Diego upon departure. We chose Lido Market for dinner. It was so-so.
Dinner was followed by the daily show featuring Erwin Urbi, from Hawaii. The show was called “Home in the Islands” with many traditional Hawaiian songs. A casino stop was next. I broke even on the slot machine so I was done for now. Not sure how Stuart did with Black Jack or Craps. From there we went to the Mix Piano Lounge. We met the piano player, James. He is from Scotland. He was personable and a I am sure we will enjoy many hours there listening to him perform. Long and tiring day. We have not fully unpacked the big suitcase that arrived in the afternoon. That will be a chore for tomorrow.
Ps:
I forgot to mention we did not have a refrigerator in our cabin. We were
surprised as we have never been on a ship that didn’t have one in our cabin. On
this ship, only suite guests have them. We have a window cabin. There are no
balcony cabins on this ship either. If you want a balcony one must splurge for
a suite. We were told to inquire at Guest Service. We were told we could rent
one for the cruise and it would be $60 for the entire trip. However, we were
told there are none available. They hope to get more in Hawaii; they are on
order. When we got back to our cabin, we now have a refrigerator! They put it below
the desk, so now the chair doesn’t fit there anymore. This is an older ship. It
has been refurbished and looks nice enough but there are these small things
missing that larger ships have. Another missing feature is outlets, but we can
deal with that.
DAY
TWO – Sep 30: Today we slept in late. We are still feeing tired from yesterday.
We had breakfast delivered along with coffee. After that we stayed in the cabin
for some time working on our laptops and catching up on a few other things. In
the afternoon it was Rummikub by the Sea View Pool and a few snacks to hold us
over for dinner. It was a lovely day. The water looks like glass but there are
swells and it has been challenging for me to walk. The pool even sloshed over
the seating area. We went to dinner about 6p and that was a big mistake. It was
very crowded. We were told the busiest time was 6p-7p so we will adjust our
timing from now on. We skipped the violin show tonight and spent time in the
casino and the Ocean Bar. There is a nice band in there, somewhat like the
Rolling Stone lounge on other ships.
