December 30, 2007: Day 2 – Embarkation, woohoo!

Good times....

We were up fairly early today and headed down to the lobby for some SB coffee and a muffin, followed by a 20 minute walk around the lagoon in front of the hotel. Went back to the room to kill some more time, Gary read and I watched the Disney channel!

We caught a cab around 11ish, dropped the luggage, registered and were on the ship within 20 minutes! Very quick operation. Of course this was our first time with Priority Checkin as we’re now Platinum members but it didn’t matter as they were letting people on the ship by the time we got there.

Once on the ship we headed up to the Windjammer for some real food and it was pretty darn good. Sat overlooking the port and enjoyed ourselves and people watched of course. After we did a quickie tour of the decks below us and ended up on Deck 4 (ours) by the time the cabins were opened at 1 pm. Our cabin, 4004, is very very far forward but this is a smaller-sized ship and it doesn’t take long to get from one end to the other. It’s a nice-sized cabin, even has a small sofa. As we headed back out to roam around again we discovered our luggage down the hallway (boy was that quick) so hauled it back to the room and unpacked. After we spent some time on the pool deck but it was a little chilly so we went in for awhile and waited for the muster drill. Once that was done, we grabbed some warmer clothing and headed back up top for sailaway. Unfortunately it was getting dark so we didn’t get to see a lot as we left. We got dressed for dinner (and I swear were practically the only ones!) and found our dining table. We’re at a table of 8, there’s a couple in their 60s, a couple in their later 40s, a couple in their 70s and then us. The other youngish couple also have a 20 year old daughter and he, Roland,is very into computers, how weird! She, Cindy, is very talkative so at least there’s not a dearth of conversation. The oldest couple, didn’t get their names, are quiet, they arrived a little late so we missed introductions. The couple in their 60s, Phil and Linda, are very nice, they have a comedian daughter who writes for HBO. Interesting people you meet.

Our waiter is Rose, from the Phillipines. The asst waiter (will get his name tonite) is from Jamaica. Wow, were they efficient. We were in and out in 1.5 hours. I had the Vidalia Onion Tart, Spinach Salad and Prime Rib, followed by the sugar-free Chantilly Swan. Very good meal. We quickly left there for the Welcome Aboard show which included a comedian who was very funny. The cruise director, John Blair, is the same one when were aboard this ship in May 2006, his wife is the activities director.

After the show we went to the Schooner Bar for a drink and spent some time talking to our waitress who is very nice, we may head back there again. Believe it or not we were back in the cabin by 10:00 and asleep by 11:00. We were somewhat tired and not up to too much. Besides, we have to save our strength to stay up late for New Year’s Eve tomorrow!