Monday, February 4
Today was
the big day, we boarded the ship to start our cruise. We weren’t planning on leaving for the cruise
port until around 11:00 AM so there was no big rush to get up and get going, but
we did get up at 8:00 so we could get breakfast before we left. The Embassy Suites has a very good breakfast
buffet including made to order eggs and many stations of both hot and
cold food. After breakfast, it was back
to the room for our final packing and then killing time until it was time to
leave.
Finally it
was time and we made our way down to the lobby to catch the shuttle. It was not nearly as crowded this morning and
after checking out we immediately got on the shuttle and were on our way to the
port. Our ship was the Holland America
Veendam and we were dropped off at the terminal and quickly made our way
through security and check-in, but they weren’t boarding the ship yet so we
settled in for a short wait until we could board.
Boarding
time finally arrived and we made our way onto the ship. Most of the rooms weren’t ready yet, but
luckily ours was and we were quickly in our room and started our
unpacking. We carried on all of our
luggage except the large pieces we had shipped, which hadn’t arrived yet.
We once
again booked a Neptune Suite so we made our way to the Neptune Lounge,
introduced ourselves to the concierge and had some snacks as we were both
getting hungry. We took a walk around
the ship, which was very familiar to us as it is the same ship we were on for
our trip to the Mediterranean in 2017.
We returned to our room hoping our luggage had arrive so we could
complete our unpacking, but no such luck.
I had received an e-mail from Luggage Forward saying that our
luggage had been delivered to the ship so we knew it was just a matter of
time. My suitcase arrived around 2:30
and I finished my unpacking and was set to go, but Val’s still hadn’t arrived.
At 3:30
there was the mandatory muster drill where everyone must report to their lifeboat
station to become familiar with what to do in an emergency situation. No one really likes to do these, but they are
necessary and important. After the
muster drill, there was a meeting in the Crow’s Nest of people in our Cruise
Critic Roll Call who were interested in independent travel (travel not ship
sponsored). We attended that and
although over 90 people signed up to attend, there was probably only about 20,
but it was the first day of the cruise.
After that meeting, it was back to our room where Val found her suitcase
waiting. Although not really worried,
she was relieved she finally got it. Now
it was her time to get everything put away while I watched.
Val likes
to play trivia and I don’t, but I agreed to do the evening trivia with her
again this cruise. Our dining time is
8:00, and trivia is at 7:00 in the Ocean Bar so it was soon time to get
ready. We made our way up to the Ocean
Bar and were shocked to see a familiar face sitting there. Roy, who was on our trivia team on our
Mediterranean cruise, was there waiting for trivia to start. Small world! Roy was as surprised as we were, and all of us
were happy to see a familiar face.
Gabriella, Roy's wife, who likes trivia about as much as I do, didn’t join us until
after trivia was over and was shocked when she walked in and saw
us. We had gotten along well and liked
Roy and Gabriella, so this turned out great. Roy and Gabriella are both very sharp trivia players so that's always a real bonus for a trivia team. Another couple, Wally and Nancy, a couple from Iowa, filled out our trivia team to the maximum of six. We actually did quite well, but not quite
good enough to win.
After
trivia it was off to dinner where we met our dining stewards Dolly and Airy and had an excellent meal. On our last cruise on the Veendam the food
started out very good, but deteriorated as the cruise went on so hopefully that
won’t happen on this cruise. As anyone
who reads this blog knows, on a cruise we usually spend our after dinner time
in the casino and tonight was not an exception.
I actually broke even which counts as a win for me as I usually don’t do
well, but Val didn’t do very well. After
the casino, it was back to the room and almost right to bed as embarkation day
is usually a bit stressful and tiring.
Tomorrow we will be in Key West, Florida.
 |
| The sun sets as we sail south along the Florida coast. |
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