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Published: March 28th 2018
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The alarm sounds promptly at 8am. I didn't finish the blog until 1am last night and finally fell asleep at 3. Fortunately we didn't unpack much of anything so getting out of here should be easy. Today may be the last day I will enjoy fast and free WiFi until we hit San Diego three weeks from now so information regarding our travels may be a bit sketchy, especially pictures. Reading last nights blog I noticed that, after copying and pasting the text from Gmail to Travelblog, I lost all my paragraphing and my writing all ran together in one giant paragraph. While I can fix this on Travelblog when online, it will be one more task to complete using the ship WiFi system.
Keeping everything in the suitcases undisturbed helped with the process of leaving our hotel. I hate to leave the fast & free WiFi offered here at the hotel but I reluctantly sign off for the last time. With all our bags ready to go, we walk up front to the restaurant to take advantage of our free breakfast. The buffet is busy since the sold out Ramada Inn is completely full of cruisers, most leaving today
on various ships. Although they offer "make-your-own" waffles and toast we keep it simple, opting for eggs, one sausage, juice, cereal and coffee. Anything that's easy to prepare. Like last year it's pretty good and the price even better. I think I mentioned "free". At 10am we return to our room one last time to retrieve our luggage and meet the shuttle out front at 10:15. Waiting for our ride, we meet several travelers cruising with us on the Nieuw Amsterdam. With our luggage loaded and all aboard the bus, we're off to the cruise port, a journey taking 30 minutes.
Our ship is located at pier 29' accompanied by 5 other cruise ships: Celebrity Summit, Veendam, Harmony of the Seas, Freedom of the Seas and Carnival Conquest. The shuttle pulls up to the pier and all our luggage is unloaded before we even leave the bus. A short walk brings us to the registration desks where we receive a boarding pass #16 and our ship key cards. The waiting area to board is full with no seats and we are greeted by security who notes our passes and corrects the previous directions with, "Oh, you're 4 Star Mariners.
Right this way please" and directs us to the VIP lounge upstairs. The escalator quickly whisks us up to the second floor while all those less fortunate sit below, watching us rise high above them like angels through the clouds. Meanwhile, the loudspeaker bellows "Group 3, please. Group 3 may now board". Oh, the humanity. It's almost inhumane the treatment of those poor souls. Almost.
Our pictures are taken and we roll straight to our stateroom 8148, a balcony room on the port side. Our luggage won't be here for a few hours so we relax, checking out our new digs. We are invited, because of our status, to a welcome reception complete with free wine and Mamosas. Yes, free. Of course we go, followed by the lifeboat drill at 3pm and the Sailaway Party topside at 4. We decide to skip the party and celebrate on our own balcony. Actually, I do all the celebrating while Karen unpacks our stuff. She joins me outside as we exit the cruise harbor and head out to sea toward the Bahamas.
After finding the lunch buffet in the Lido overly crowded this afternoon, we decide to dine in the main
dining room. We sat with two other couples, one from Arkansas and the other Seattle. We had an enjoyable conversation. For dinner, I had beef briquette, soup and apple pie. Mom had chicken with Brussels sprouts, farmer salad and sugar free lemon tort. After dinner we walked a little around the ship, visiting the Explorer's Cafe and some shops. Of course, Karen found some perfume in the on board stores, Daisy Dream, that she liked. It seems late, even at 9:00pm so we return to our room where I find myself writing of the day's activities while Karen finishes unpacking. It's cool outside, about 70F and we skim across the glass-like Caribbean on our way to our first stop, Half Moon Cay.
Note: I received confirmation that the computer I purchased arrived from Costco at our home yesterday, the day after we left. Oh well.
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