Embarkation Day
The room was quiet and we both got some sleep. Looking out the window, I was able to shoot an airplane taking off from FLL.
I went down to the lobby area for breakfast around 7
AM. I had some cornflakes and milk, instant pancakes, some scrambled eggs (reconstituted), a buttermilk biscuit
(the best item on the menu), and part of a sticky bun. After I got back to the
room, Ellen went down for her breakfast.
The breakfast was pretty decent and, when I was there, not that crowded.
Checkout was 11 AM and I could not get late checkout from
the desk.
I called an Uber from the lobby and he was there in less
than five minutes. The ride to Port
Everglades was short (4.19 miles and 14 minutes) and cost $9.03 versus the $30
the hotel was charging for their shuttle.
It took a little while for the driver to find the right
road to the terminal. We handed out bags
to the porter – tipped her $5 – and entered the terminal. There weren’t a lot
of people there yet so after a quick pass through security, we checked in. The health check was crazy brief and the
check in process pretty quick.
The wait to get on board the ship was long – we arrived
around 11:45 AM and were put into Group 8 for boarding. Boarding didn’t begin until 1:45 PM (the
suite guests were Groups 1-7).
We are in Room 4050 (changed from 4066).
Cabin 4050 is
Midships Deck 4 two cabins away from the lobby containing Guest Relations – it
is also very convenient for breakfast as the elevators there take you right to
the Windows Café. It's also a little bigger than the cabins down in the dedicated Deck 3 - so that's a plus.
We dropped our backpacks in our cabin and went up to Deck
9 for a late lunch. I had a Cesar Salad
and some overcooked pizza.
When we got back to the room, we met Chang, our room
steward. We told him we only needed one
cleaning a day (in the morning) and that everything else in the room was
OK.
The letter in the room said that I would be filming a
promo video at 6 PM outside of Guest Relations.
I got my schedule of talks – four talks on the sea days – some in the
afternoon and some in the morning. There
is also a “campfire story telling” evening show that I know nothing about.
We went down to Guest Relations to set up my Wi-Fi and to
put my drink package on my account. When
you order drinks here, the waiter checks your room number on a little i-Pad
device to see which package you have.
Our suitcases arrived so I
could get into the right clothes for the shoot.
The sail away was in the gloaming (a rare occurrence) and we had police boat escorts. Just as we were about to go into open waters, a huge yacht appeared in our path and the police boat used his megaphone to order him to move. It was a near miss and the police boat circled the yacht and few times. Hopefully, the yacht got ticketed or at least warned.
Ellen and I went to the lobby at a little before 6 PM but
there was no one there and no video equipment set up. I looked for Eric and Astrid but no one was
in their office. I met the other
entertainers: Eric Ball (Destination
Speaker); Valerie Rose Hoste (Art Instructor).
Also on this ship is the Bridge Instructor, Debra Pride, and the
Hanukkah Rabbi, Shlomo Geva (we last saw him on one of the Edge Class
Ships).
Eric showed up at 6:45 PM and we filmed our promo. Even though I have sailed with Eric several
times, I’m pretty sure he forgot who I was (in his defense, he does sail with a lot of people).
It came back to him just before we did our filming. The video went OK.
A Note About Dining:
Unless a meal is really outstanding, there won’t be any detail about the
dinners and lunches. There are new
“plant based” options, which generally are not that appetizing. There are theme nights in the evening in the
buffet – so far German Night and Greek Night had nothing for us to eat. The Patio is a good option but it was only
open one night – maybe the rain closed it down.
Lunch items that are still good include the tuna salad, Beyond Burger
(tasted more like an Impossible Burger), and the grilled Tuna Wrap (well done). It is still nice to eat out on the Sunset
Veranda, when it is not raining.
The Welcome Aboard Show was at 9 PM in the Cabaret
Theater. Eric introduced the speakers
and his staff and we all said a few words (I never liked this improv part of
the program but it went OK).
Here’s the staff of the Azamara Onward:
Cruise Director Eric
De Gray
Assistant CD Astrid
Alsphonso (her first assignment)
Captain Carl Smith
(funny guy from UK)
Staff Captain Daniella
Epuras
Signature
Singers and Dancers
Elise Hills (Specialty Dancer)
Adam Dearman (Specialty Dancer)
Amanda Reyngoudt
Annie Wolfert
Nathaniel Given
Antonio Russo
Piano Entertainer Bob Style
The lounge entertainers and the singers did numbers -
Amanda Reyngoudt
Annie Wolfert
East Pearl Party Band
The lead singer can really burn off calories.
The Azamara Onward Dancers and Singers
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and Eric finished it off with a “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from “Carousel”.
The seas are very rocky with 9 foot swells and strong winds – there is a ticking noise outside our cabin that require earplugs. The beds are comfortable and the HVAC system seems to be working.
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