BOARDING DAY

         Unfortunately, there is a FIFA Fan Fest going on in Bayfront Park now.  Although this park is a mile away from the hotel, we could hear the "boom-boom" base noise from their speakers until well after midnight.  NOT a happy camper!!  However, Rebecca fell in love with the hair dryer in our room.  I went down to the Concierge, David, and asked if I could buy it.  He said for us to just take it and he would report I brought it to him and said it was not working, so he took it.  HAPPY camper again!  He knew I am a loyal Hilton diamond member.  He called me by my last name this morning when I walked up.

        We were up by 6:30 raring to go.  Eight cruise ships had arrived in port earlier this morning.  Our Mariner is 4th in line, and very obviously, the smallest.  Looks like the life boat for the larger, monstrous cruise ships.  Mariner is only 700 passenger capacity whereas the others are in the thousands.

        After showering and getting ready for the day, I ran down to the lobby to hit Starbucks for coffees and a breakfast sandwich that we split.  We get $30 credit to use in the hotel and this cost me $32.  I spilled one of the coffees when I got to the room (not good as it was a "grande" and coffee everywhere.  I went back down and she gave me another at no charge.  Guess I looked pathetic!  Sandwich was very big and enough to split.

        We went down to catch our van to the ship at 10:15 for our 11am reservation.  The 10am van was about to leave late and they said we could go on it as lots of room.  He said the traffic was very bad so we hopped on.  Good thing!  There is a tunnel under the bay to get to the port and it was packed.  We got to the terminal at 10:40 and dropped our checked bags with the porters.  We then had to stand outside (in shade at least) as doors were not open yet.  They finally let us enter but could not go through the security for bag xraying so had to stand inside for another hour.  They finally let folks through security and to the check-in counter.  We walked on the ship at noon.

        This does not adequately show how many people were waiting to go through security for an hour.

        We ran into Captain Abhi right after walking on board.  He immediately recognized us and asked me for our suite number.  I expect to be invited to dine with him during the cruise.

        We headed strait for our suite as it has to be ready when we board.  This is one of our Diamond benefits.  Others have to wait for their suites until 2 or 3pm.  Photos of our suite will be on in a day or two.  The ship underwent a major drydock overhaul around 6 months ago.  The suite is brighter with the color scheme but walk-in closet and bathroom are smaller.  (Actually suites were not ready until 2:40 today for others)

        We unpacked our carry on bags and got oriented.  At 1:00 we went down to have the internet manager get us logged into the ship's wifi for our phones and my laptop.  The library is next to it so Rebecca picked up a couple books to read.  We ran into Jennifer, who is the corporate person in charge of Guest Experience and Loyalty.  We have known her for years.  She is just on for today. 

        We then went up to have some lunch and ran into several crew members that we know.  We are now back down in the suite waiting for our checked luggage to arrive.

        Luggage arrived at 3:15 (they do an amazing job handling all the luggage people bring with them).

In less than an hour we had everything put away so I can finish this post. 

        Oh, no!  One of our bags was torn.  Odessa, our stewardess, will be taking it down to the ship's tailor or someone else to see if a temporary repair can be made so we can get home with it.  I see new luggage in our future!

        This is our closet after we got unpacked "for just 16 nights".  This is the world cruise ship so where are people going to put 4 or 5 months worth of clothes!  Not my problem as we are done taking world cruises.  We've done 4.

        My back is killing me now!  It is not because of lifting bags.  Transportation driver put them in van and got them out.  A steward put them up on the bed here in the suite.  It is because of this stool I have to sit on when working on the blog.  

        The ship lost electrical power at 4:25 for a couple minutes.  Lights are back on now but no tv or internet yet.  People are already bitching about the embarkation fiasco and now this.  Just hope the bars are still serving!!  Ok, all back working after 5 minutes.

EVENING PLAN

        At 6pm we'll head down to the Mariner Lounge for cocktails.  We have 7pm reservations to dine in Prime 7, the steak specialty restaurant.  At lunch I ran into Shambu, who I believe is now the maitre'd there.  He recommended we come earlier at 6:30, so we will.

        The show tonight is at 9:30 and featuring "Levent", a magician.  We have seen him before.

        The ship is sailing at 7pm and tomorrow is a day at sea.