Out with the old - in with the new. We are sailing completely full with an almost all new passenger complement on this itinerary.
I, on the other hand, am an "continuing" passenger so there is a lot happening for me today, both on board and at home.
Last night I set an alarm on my phone (first time ever) for 5:45 AM so I could call Ellen at 5:00 AM (yes 5:00 AM) to make sure she was up on time for her early flight to MIA. I beat my alarm by an hour. I had enough time to shave and shower before making the call. She was already up and ready to go.
My breakfast – Special K with milk plus pancakes and eggs
– arrived on time and was OK.
The plan today is that ongoing passengers are going to
meet at 9:30 AM in the Cabaret Lounge
from where they will be escorted to Immigration for the face to face. Then, they would be escorted back to the ship
around 10:00 AM. I called Guest
Relations and asked them what happens between now – around 7:30 AM and the
meeting. He told me to stay in the
cabin. I knew that didn’t seem right and
within a minute he called me back and said I had to get out so that the room
could be cleaned for the next passenger.
While I was at Immigration, my stuff would be moved to my new room. I grabbed my super heavy backpack and went to
the Mosaic Café and ordered an iced
Americano.
Ellen’s flight from ORD is delayed to visibility issues
with snow. She also left her phone in
the cab but Dova made some calls and found out who the cabbie was and where he lived (yes) and will pick it up
later. I am just hoping now that the
plane gets to MIA in time to catch the ship because the next stop in Cartagena
Colombia.
Up to date – 9:12 EST.
I was up in the Cabaret
Lounge at the designated time. We left as a group and entered the terminal
where a single Immigration Officer was waiting. He wasn’t by his computer and
our passports were not scanned. He just briefly – very briefly – looked at our
passports and then we headed back to the ship.
We scanned and back in with our old key cards.
I was tracking Ellen’s Flight UA2090 and the overall delay was about a half hour. She had been emailing me from her Kindle (when she had Wi-Fi) so I had a rough idea what was going on. United was also sending messages via the UA app so I was up on all the delays and progress.
I hung out on the open deck, some of which was closed to allow bunkering for our long voyage to San Diego. I stretched out and enjoyed another Iced Americano, while enjoying the Miami skyline.
I was a picture perfect day in Miami and I got a lot of nice pictures – I even captured an airliner landing at MIA.
The ship was bunkering for the next cruise (panorama) and the big picture.
I stopped by Guest Relations and Kathja (Devi has also been a very helpful agent) told me that Cabin 3025 was ready so I dropped off my backpack – my suitcase was there so I unpacked and put everything in the drawers and bathroom. A big job taken care of. It looked like my Wi-Fi was still working but it would quit and I needed to set it up again for the next cruise. My upgraded drink package was still in the system.
I got a notification that Ellen’s plane had landed and she
told me was going to take the Azamara Shuttle (for passengers arriving day of)
to the ship. I told her I was in the Mosaic Café and then the cabin. It was moot since she didn’t have a phone. We
actually connected in the room. A long
day that ended OK. It could have been a lot worse – Ellen could have been on
her way to Cartagena Colombia, our next stop.
Ellen’s bag made it to the room.
Ellen and I connected in the Window's Cafe - finally.
There was something wrong with the thermostat in the room – the dial didn’t change the temp – it was an old thermostat – maybe original equipment. We had a maintenance guy come and he checked all sorts of stuff on the unit. Eventually, the thermostat was swapped out for different version – newer than the one we had but standard equipment in the other state rooms.
We had dinner in the Discoveries Restaurant. Ellen had the trout without the treif. I had the Lemon Risotto with mushroom, which I didn’t like so I asked for the classic baked salmon (well done) and that was pretty good. We asked to see tomorrow’s menu and asked if we could get the fettuccini pesto without the bacon and one of the suits put that in as a special request.
Can’t hang around a wait for coffee (which I don’t trust to be decaf) and dessert so we went to the Mosaic Café for coffee and the chocolate candies or petit fours. I stepped outside and got the first sunset shot of the second cruise.
We wen to the “Welcome Aboard Show” at 9:15 PM. Darren went through the demographics on the ship – over 400 Americans and another couple of hundred Canadians and UK folks with small number of other countries for full ship of 753 passengers (the table says 659 - not sure why they are different). Based on the difficulty in finding seats in the Windows Cafe at lunch, I would go with the larger number.
Lee introduced the entertainers and guest speakers on
this ship. Chuck Richardson will once
again be on and narrating the Panama Canal Transit; Dr. Peter Ranelli is an
oceanographer; Dr. Carolyn Harris is a historian. We have a rabbi (Gary Gans) on board (for Chanukah) and a
priest on board (for Christmas and masses). Darren started off with “One in a
Lifetime” and Bob Styles did “ Walking in Memphis”. The Signature Singers and Dancers did a
little bit of “Amped Up” and the party group, “Fantastic Beats”, played some
noisy song, which was our cue to exit.
It’s late – everybody’s tired – so to the room.
I'm happy that Ellen made it here OK - it was a complicated day for her.
The good news is that the room temperatures seems to be under control.
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