Sailing from Dover

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Well finally live from the Prinsendam. Both Mom and I got a few hours sleep then were wide awake at midnight for a few hours while it was raining quite hard with some thunder. Even tried playing Rhythm Heaven but scores on that a 1 am were not good. We finally got back to sleep and work up just in time for our 6 am wake-up call since we had to have the luggage out by 7. The hotel had a nice breakfast buffet (though seeing a big bowl of baked beans seemed strange to me). We were on the 2nd shuttle to the ship which loaded up about 10 and arrived in Dover about 12:30. Check-in was pretty easy with the only real wait being for the XRay machine. It was very windy when we arrived so everyone’s pictures should be interesting with the wind-blown styles.

As expected the cabins weren’t ready so we headed up to the Lido for lunch. It was extremely crowded and took us quite a while to find a table where we could park our carry-ons. A couple from Nevada was looking for a table so joined us. When a couple of us were up getting food they had to save our seats a couple of times from others looking for somewhere to sit. The rooms were ready about 1:45 (I think) so once we finished eating we headed down. One of my mother’s bags was already there and her other one arrived shortly thereafter but mine were nowhere to be seen. Our cabin is small but well laid out with a very large walk in closet.

I called Erin’s cabin a few times and finally got them. They had arrived around 2 after flying in from Denver thru Dulles last night. Their cards indicated they had fixed dining but ours showed Open Seating so we met her at the Dining Room to check on it. Ended up our cards were wrong and they did have us at the same table.

We then checked out their Suite before heading down to the cabin to get ready for the lifeboat drill. It was a bit chilly outside with the wind so once the roll was taken and the CD made the normal announcements the captain released us saying he’d follow-up on the drill when everyone was back inside because of the weather. One of my suitcases had arrived so I got it unpacked and then we headed up for sail away.

We were due to sail at 5 but were delayed because a squall was approaching so they wanted to wait till that was past. The sail away party had been moved from the Lido Pool to the Ocean Bar and it was crowded in there so Mom and I sat in the Half Moon Room and watched the view. Once the rain passed we went outside to get a few pictures of the “white cliffs”. Ok I’ve always heard of the White Cliffs but don’t think I’ve ever seen a picture so not sure what I was expecting. There are definitely some cliffs and they are white (except when the squall is over them dumping rain and then they are gray or black) but I think I was expecting them to be much higher.

It was now time for dinner so we headed in and found our table. A round table for 8 but only 6 of us tonight. The other couple is from Maryland and they were also on board for the previous 2 week cruise of Ireland/Scotland. We had a very nice dinner (most of us had Prime Rib but Erin had ……Chicken (imagine that ))

Well that’s it for the first day on the Prinsendam. Tomorrow is a sea day so hoping to get the closet straightened out a bit (I brought way too many clothes) and see the rest of the ship.

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