I didn’t sleep well, had just nodded off when a loud woman passed our room on the phone and decided to hang around nearby. Then some music started going over the road.
We had to be at the boat for 11, so planned to leave at 10. Woke up around 8, down to breakfast at 9, I popped over the road for a coffee then back to the room to cool down before heading down to get a taxi to the dock.
It only took about 15 minutes, but better to get there early, or so I thought – the check in was outside, under cover – but I was surprised, I thought we’d be in a nice air conditioned hall. It was already very busy, but we managed to get a seat by a fan and just had to wait, hopefully not too long before we could get on board.
Sat in the heat for about 45 minutes, wasn’t too bad, then went through various check points and eventually got into the room. Because this is our first overseas holiday for 4 and a half years, we decided to push the boat out (see what I did there?) and booked a suite. We booked late, so the cost was about the same as a normal room if booked early. To be honest I was a bit disappointed in the size of the room, it was about the same size as the normal room we had when we went to Alaska. However, we also got some perks like priority boarding, free WiFi, access to private areas and a drinks package that otherwise cost about $125 per person per day – that’s a lot of booze you’d have to drink to get your money’s worth.
Had a shower and then went for lunch at the restaurant that was for suite people only.
We both ordered prawn ceviche to start, then I had a burger and Song had lobster roll. For dessert I had a pear thing with ice cream, Song ordered a chocolate thing but the idea was to share. Song had an alcohol free champagne and I had a gin and tonic which was included in the package. I’m going to ask every time because I don’t want to pay for anything extra, there’s no need. The food was actually a bit disappointing – my burger was ok but Song’s roll was small and she didn’t like the bread.
We finished up and headed to the buffet so Song could have something else plus get a tea and coffee.
Did a tour of the boat, checking out all the lounges and restaurants, then went back to the room. The boat still hadn’t left, about 2 hours later than scheduled but it didn’t matter.
Dinner time came around but I wasn’t hungry so instead of going to the sit down restaurant we went to the buffet. Song had a salad and fruit, I wasn’t hungry but managed a bowl of mushroom soup and some dips.
I went for a wander, came across a crowd of people going into a lounge, asked one of the crew what was happening and it was a free liquor tasting event. Kept going, then came across another crowd outside a shop, some guy called out a ticket number. Once the number was announced, the crowd dissipated and people left. The same thing happened with another shop – large crowd, number called out, everyone left.
It seems a lot of these cruise people are desperate for a freebie.
Went back to the restaurant for a while to sit down, then went back to the room to watch TV.