GeorgiaPeach51

@UUNetBill I really do hope we get to meet someday and can discuss our years in the Air Force.,,,we seem to have a lot in common. Thank you for your service too. It does not come without sacrifice. Joanie

We got a call from Destination Services re our comments about the Fort Sumter tour. They said they were passing it along to their manager. Very prompt response. a comment from another friend….he mentioned to…hmmm, someone in CR (the chef? Can’t remember) that their cheese was being served cold rather than room temp, and they both agreed that this was egregious. Next day in his suite was a lovely array of special cheeses as a surprise and apology. Classy response! Wine luncheon today. Lovely. Thoroughly enjoyed both the food and wine. Emiliano did a nice job and the chef came out. It was fun. However, the ship is rolling and swaying a little and I am weaving a little, after all that wine. Such a lightweight. 🙄 That sway and weave combo has my husband once more clutching at me as I ricochet off the walls. He knows better than to let me out of his sight and out of his grasp, having learned from experience that I will be found curled up on a couch somewhere if he turns me loose. I fear for Trivia this afternoon, 2/3 of our team, or four out of six attended the wine luncheon. I’ll let you know how it goes. Capital of the USA? No clue…. We are currently in the coffee bar having a cappuccino with an extra shot. The weather is overcast and the temps have dropped. When we hit Canada the high will be 55-ish, so shirts are gradually giving way to long pants for passengers and most of us are in long sleeved tees, sweaters or cardigans. A few hardy souls are still trotting around in shorts and tees and if I ask they will be bound to be from the far North country somewhere and this weather is positively balmy for them. I remember being in Iceland and the wind was just howling and we were all bundled up with every article of clothing brought in our suitcases and being frozen from the inside out. Our tour guide, named Bessie, a man, was in shorts. There are some of those people on board. They will be happy campers in Canada for sure. During the wine lunch the Captain announced that we will not be going to Cornerbrook because of ice in the water….not sure he actually used the term icebergs. They are substituting Charlotte Town, PEI instead. The poor folks in Destination Services. I feel for them. My husband, being the CT boy he is, used to fish up in that area when he was a boy and he had previously wondered how a ship could go to Cornerbrook in May because it was known for ice floes in the water. So, new excursions to peruse and try to get. Tonight is the Seven Seas Society cocktail function, which means miso sea bass in Compass Rose! Yay! My favorite! here are the photos of the luncheon today.

Morning. Well, remember the perfect night last night? It had a definite downturn for sure. When we went to bed a band cranked up outside….and because we are on the side docked against the downtown of Hamilton, it felt and sounded like the band was parked right on our balcony. Bass and drums were apparently mainstays of their repertoire and we listened to the thump thump thump until I think around 1:30 a.m. We flipped and flopped like two mackerel, both with earplugs that proved totally and disappointingly unequal to the task, even with pillows atop heads rather than under them. Ugh. Feeling my age plus at least an additional decade this morning. As I struggled to find sleep I realized that we would be jarred awake at 5 a.m. or so by the much greater thump, thump, thump of the little Navigator as she shimmied away from the dock on the way to St. George’s. But we woke to the same view this morning. Hamilton rather than St. George’s. Hmmm. I was wondering if we were now in the cruise version of Groundhog Day, and we were going to stay till we got it right…but the Captain and Ray took turns announcing that we were here due to weather or channels or wind or waves…some maritime thing…I was in too much of a fog to get ears and brain to connect speedily enough to totally process the information. I did hear Ray announce that all tours but one were still going, but that was disproven by the telephone call from the beleaguered Destination Services telling us that our walking tour of St. George’s was cancelled. I assume that they had no way to get us over there since it was a walking tour and there was no transport but our own two feet. I, for one, am happy to not have to walk to SG in order to walk about SG, so there we are! Another ship day! We have been here so many times we will not miss anything by remaining on the ship, but I’m sorry for those who are disappointed. This is not a mysterious cancellation at least, and none of us will win an argument against Mother Nature or the importance of safety for us all. Out of My Realm of Influence, so let’s commence to making lemonade. That brings me to an important topic I have neglected. Cronuts. I never knew such culinary heaven existed prior to the first encounter on the Explorer. Wow. But I have to report that they are somewhat scarce on this ship. Two appear, are quickly snapped up and then often not replaced. My sweet husband has made a deal with staff in the coffee bar and she hides one away for me each morning. But don’t tell. Thing is, some days they are great but other days they are….greasy, a condition I did not know was possible for cronuts. In my experience that is due to frying in oil that is not hot enough, but having never made a cronut I cannot swear to that assertion. Anyway, the quality is hit and miss, to my disappointment. Here is this morning’s sample, which was greasy, I regret to report. It does save calories though, since greasy Cronuts are not the best thing you could possibly eat. There is a nap in my future…

@cAPS lOCK oN and @DeepFreeze63 Well, hurray! Looking forward to meeting you! We can all look forward to it together! Joanie

We had such a great night that I am writing to you while it is fresh on my mind. First, the ship stopped wobbling around and we all did, too. Yay! That was super nice. Things instantly got easier. We sat and talked with new friends, had some time to work on and puzzle over the Mensa quiz for tomorrow, and went about 6:45 to the International Buffet and it was just wonderful. They have it on the pool deck and in The Veranda so you can choose according to weather and if you want the outside music. We opted for inside, but the food served in both locations is the same. let’s see…..the usual big yummy shrimp. scallops. Lobster tails. Nicely grilled and as many as you want. My husband was in heaven, and I don’t mean maybe. Roast suckling pig, excuse the editorial comment, but poor little thing! Some sort of steak. Sushi. Salads galore. Tortilla chips and salsa and guacamole. Grilled vegetables. I saw a soup but can’t remember what it was. And the usual suspects for desserts….all that I tasted looked great and tasted the same. It was just wonderful. Don’t miss it. I will post photos below but they fall far short of the real thing. After eating we had after dinner drinks with friends then went to the Abba dance party, which thrilled our souls. Once upon a time 46 years ago he was a young USAF officer and I was a DOD teacher and we met in Germany. The dance in clubs at that time was a German three step. He taught that dance to me and we fell in love dancing to Abba, so tonight my head was full of sweet memories of that young couple as we danced the same dance to the same music. Sometimes in life you get little bits of perfection, and they are so rare that we instantly recognize them for what they are and treasure them. This was one of those nights for us. Thank you, Regent. ❤️

We went to see the comedian last night, whose name escapes me but I will try to post later. He was a hoot. Truly funny and so clever! We missed him the first time, which we regret. Last night we donated to the casino but had fun doing it, and saw one big winner, so cruise ship casino wins are not a figment of our collective imaginations. Boy, she was rocking and rolling last night. We waged a losing war with the bathroom door, trying to stuff towels underneath to keep it from squeaking because when it’s rough, it makes a noise that wakes us when we close it and have to open it during the night if either of us gets up. And today has been a repeat as we sashayed our way into Hamilton. I warned my other half to keep hold of me no matter what, lest I disappear suddenly down a staircase, and he has done so successfully, to the point that one arm of my sweater now reaches my knees. The Captain warned that we might not make it into the narrow channel due to winds, and might have to skip the stop, but we are here in Hamilton and docking under sunny skies. It’s a little nippy outside, about 67 but the wind has raised its’ hand wanting to be noticed. I would think it will be fairly chilly tonight on the deck where we are supposed to be entertained by an outside International buffet and dancing to Abba music….but I think we will attempt it. I’ll let you know. In general, since I’m cold even in summer, I tend to avoid eating outside in cool weather unless it involves a fire and s’mores. We went to a tea for the first time today, choosing wisely, since this was the BROWNIE tea. Below you will find some photos to torture yourself. Let me note that my plate held one brownie, not three. Just saying’.

@briar14 You will not find a soul LESS concerned with anyone who wants to post on this report than me! Truly. I welcome any and all posters since it helps us all. So many of you have hundred and hundreds more day on R than I do. I think star gazing while on a ship is just inspired and love that you and others shared the suggestion. 🥰

@ON cruiser Thanks so much for adding your experiences. Please keep doing so! BTW, we are currently 70 and 72, but will be 73 and 75 when we take the big cruise. I like seeing what other people think of the same experience…and I think it really helps those who are struggling with decisions or questioning their decisions. I appreciate everyone who took the time to give their perspective on long cruises…it helped me not feel quite so anxious, once we had decided to go for it. Now I’m excited about it, but my feelings will probably change as time gets closer and payments come due! Regardless, we both want to go and do while we can and not have regrets. @NCCruzQueen Thanks for posting the wine list! Helpful for everyone. I meant to go but forgot it….and when I sip more than two wines they start to all taste the same to me so my wine discernment skills are pretty much nada. if you have not figured it out we highly prize and treasure sea days. As @forgap said sometimes you just really, really need to have a lay around day, in our early cruising days we opted for Med cruises that had us blasting off the ship for all day tours and falling back on board half dead from the summer heat and exhaustion. That was back in my teaching days so it was summer or never. Now, forget that! Today they had a slot tournament, a blackjack tournament and Bingo. I have tried all day to answer a palindrome question on the Mensa sheet for today and I am feeling positively hostile as that question remains blank and I have almost erased holes in the paper. Aaaauuuugh. a few words about our suite. It’s in good repair except for the outside table, which is definitely not luxury cruise certified. For us, there is plenty of storage space. We generally like two sinks but we are doing fine with one. The vanity area is pretty much unusable as a vanity because the drawer is small to start with, and opens only halfway. Guarantees that you will be fishing around in a jumbled mess to find your makeup items so I didn’t attempt it and moved over to the area under the tv. It could be improved by having a light switch accessible from where you sit rather than having to get up to switch it on. But it’s ok. More to come.

Remember Goldilocks and the three bears? She kept trying different spots to find something just right…and I am doing the same as I wander the ship searching for a comfortable spot to plop and read or write to you. Haven’t found it yet. When we were on the new Celebrity Edge we were dumbfounded by the number of stylish chairs and couches that beckoned you to come sit then laughed at you as you squirmed around. And let’s not talk about the artisan that creates an object to sit upon that positively resists the occupant leaving that object with grace, so low does it sit, or so angled does it recline, and always, the worst offenders have no arms to assist in the struggle. I’m finding the soft furnishings in this ship to be pretty much not soft though they advertise that they will be soft or at least slightly cushy as they beguile you into coming over but many are more in the bench family…as in park bench. I discovered a rather odd sitting area adjacent to the casino. So adjacent as to be part of the casino. Interesting placement. On sea days you can read and attempt Mensa to the sound of bells and whistles and BUFFALO…those who enjoy the slots will know the machine I reference. So I abandoned that area in favor of the library where I am joining 10 other people, leaving 6 seats free. We are close enough that I can easily turn the pages for the newspaper reader adjacent to me, should they need an assist. 😘 I was going to take photos today of the ship but am finding it a challenge due to all the people, and I try to take photos without people since I don’t have their permission. But I’ll slip them in as I can. my thoughts on the Navigator so far are that she is charming but petite. For instance, I find the very small coffee bar to be visually just a mishmash of chairs with the IT desk squished into the already crowded corner. There is a bar across the hall that handles overflow, and it is needed, on sea days like this. I haven’t been on the pool deck yet but it is quite cooler today, to me at least, and I suspect there are fewer people on the deck and more inside. This is the first time for this combination of sea day and cooler weather, so this is the first time the ship seems slightly crowded to me. The serving area of The Veranda can be congested at times. Rather than the different stations found on Splendor and Explorer, you enter and go down a hallway that also doubles as the food station line, with food choices lining both sides of the hallway, So that hall does double service as the food area and the entry and exit, resulting in a combination of people coming in, people going out and people searching for the butter or a cookie. It’s not unpleasant, just requires a titch more of patience and maneuverability. Here is the casino seating area.

A friend related this lovely service oriented tidbit. He and his wife were at dinner and she was commenting that there was not enough of a particular ingredient in her entree. She mentioned this only to him but it was overheard by their server, apparently, because a chef came personally to their table to inquire about her concern. 🥰 this little tidbit appeared in the daily a few days ago. DECK CHAIRS & POOLSIDE ETIQUETTE Complimentary chaise lounges and extra-large towels are provided for the use and enjoyment of all guests on board and are available on a first come, first served basis. As a courtesy to your fellow guests, we kindly request that you refrain from the practice of reserving chaise lounges and day beds with personal items. If your personal items are left unattended for an extended period of time they will be sent to Reception for you to collect at your leisure. We are rarely around the pool but I saw plenty of empty chairs yesterday even though it was hot and sunny. Not sure if there were any empty in the shade but I will try to look today. It is definitely cooler today. I find the halls really chilly and have started carrying around a light sweater. here are some photos from lunch yesterday. Rolf’s profiterole. My plate…didn’t love the quiche, and my salad. The ice cream station at the pool stays busy. The wonderful Sonny is on board and as charming as ever. Delighted to see his smiling face.

Sorry for the delay in reporting. I guess I kind of fell into a hole of doing not a whole lot but taking a long time to do it. No idea where time went. I really appreciate all the responses about the lengthy cruise. I also got input from my intrepid friend, Beth, who is a big fan of long cruises. When I asked her about taking a long one her face absolutely lit up as she gave suggestions. We decided to go for it. I’d rather try it and reflect afterwards that it was either pure magic or pure torture than to be much older and wish I had….we will be 75 and 73 then and possibly starting to push the envelope with health…who knows? So we will be on the January 10, 2026 Explorer cruise that starts in Auckland and ends in Tokyo. Waaaahhhhhooo! I last posted about Port Canaveral, and that was followed by Jacksonville. We stayed on the ship and had a nice, relaxing day. I talked to a few people who enjoyed their Jax tours. Next port was lovely Charleston and while the town was charming, our tour was not. It was puzzling. We promptly boarded a nice bus that was about half full, and the tour guide gave a narrative of places as we passed, all of us twisting and turning to peer at bits and pieces. I got enough of an impression to know that I really wished to be off the bus and wandering around as we rolled past. Here comes the puzzling part. We pulled away from the ship at 9:05. Arrived at an area where the USS Yorktown was berthed, after about 30 minutes and there we stayed. And stayed. We waited until 11:00 to board the boats to Fort Sumter. Almost an hour and a half! There was a gift shop to browse, but that was it. Really, not a good situation. I was told by another passenger who filled me in on the reason. Apparently his guide, who was the lead bus, had encountered a traffic situation on a prior day that messed up the flow of the tour. So he opted to go straight to Fort Sumter and skip the town tour part and do that later. But the boat schedule did not work into that new flow, and there we all stood waiting for the boat to arrive. By the time we loaded the entirely full boat, travelled to the Fort and allowing time for the return, there was only one hour at the Fort and we boarded the bus and came back to the ship. So it was a whole lot of hurry up and wait for too little in return, IMO. The tour took from 9-1:30 and only an hour of it was seeing something. Our tour guide mentioned pluff, the deep, dark, pungent marsh mud that he said contains three of his hats….if it blows off and lands in the pluff you can kiss it goodbye and you dare not go in to retrieve it. I wish we could have had the two hours back that we lost, in order to wander the town. It is so charming, like Savannah, both good representatives of Southern charm. It’s rare to find towns or cities with their own unique flavor so they stand out as unique. Charleston, for sure, is one. back in a minute…

@1982CruzStart exactly! That is why the dithering….partly concerned I might begin to exhibit some wild eyed behavior being on a ship that long…or develop a twitch that people might regard with horrified glances, or start talking to myself for longer periods than is socially acceptable. If anyone else has been on a long cruise I’d love to hear how you handled it…and did you just ease into it by taking gradually longer cruises? Here are the promised photos from Sette Mari last night, and pre-dinner drinks in Galileo, a Mai-tai and margarita on the rocks. Forgot to mention the limoncello and chocolate dessert. Sinful.

Easy to get the bus back. Arrived on the ship feeling my age! We played trivia with our intrepid group and came in first! Shocking. Then we stayed for a lovely, brief church service conducted by the amazing Ray. We ate in Sette Mari for the first time on this cruise and had a wonderful meal. If you haven’t ordered their nightly steak special, you are missing one of the best steaks ever. Perfect Gorgonzola filet. The service was perfect, and they had limoncello which thrilled my other half. It was a speedier meal than the previous night in CR, which we are trying again tonight. We met a lovely couple from Germany in Sette Mari and went down our German memory road from when we met, and subsequent assignments there, so we are dining with them tonight. One of the best things about cruising….so many nice, interesting people to meet. My phone is charging and it contains a few food photos that I will post later. We are in Jacksonville today and staying on the ship since we have been there and done that. We are contemplating taking a 61 night cruise in 2026, part of the world cruise. If we follow through that will be a huge commitment of time and money, whew, whew, whew. Gives me heart palpitations. Our longest cruise is three weeks so I’m finding it hard to visualize two whole months. We had a B2B booked but began to waffle on that because it repeated ports and with time and money both so precious, we decided that was wasteful. So, color me a little stressed trying to make these decisions. The 2026 would be an early celebration of our 50th anniversary so that’s pretty special, right? food photos to come.

The space shuttle. Wow. Took the photos of the bottom so you could see the tiles. The last two are Mars rovers!

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@ON cruiser nice to meet you both. Thanks for adding your take on things. The more who add on the better overview for those who read about our experiences. So, yesterday. Port Canaveral was fabulous. Everyone had to exit the ship yesterday, so they called the tours first so they could get us out of their hair. We remained in our suite and they called us and we went straight to the bus. It was a nice PC bus, and the fabric on the seats was interplanetary looking, and the floors were moonscape. The child in me was delighted. I have not heard how the rest of the disembarkation went for the remaining passengers but hope someone will chime in. Someone we spoke with during the day said that passengers were lined up sitting on the stairs and probably in everyone’s way in order to be RIGHT THERE so they could escape the ship. I don’t get it. You only have to walk a few feet no matter where you are on this little ship. The teacher in me wants to give them the teacher look designed to freeze them in place as I suggest they listen carefully and look at me as I repeat that guests are asked to remain in their cabins. Sheesh. You may remember that last cruise we had to all leave the ship for immigration or customs, whatever it was, and the whole ship was kept waiting while they searched and searched for a missing couple who finally traipsed drunkenly down the gangplank to a chorus of loud boos. I hope everyone just did what they were doggoned asked to do. My husband calls it, “shut up and color”. Just do it! It won’t kill ya. Bsck to PC. Short bus ride to the entrance…about 15 minutes or so. They suggest that you first go to the Apollo section, which is another 15 minute ride on a different bus. We did that and were glad we did. For me, it was the most fascinating area. When it is time for the bus back to the ship you don’t want to be on the wrong bus…the one coming back from the Apollo area, as the bus to the ship is leaving. Doing that part first lets you gauge how much time to spend in the main area. We spoke to one couple who never did get to the Apollo area, but then there were some things in the main area we missed. All of it is so well done. Two comments…..there is precious little seating in almost every area. There are multiple standing movie areas with only one bench in the back. In the display areas there is almost no seating. So take that into account if you need to rest frequently. There is plenty of outside seating for snacking or eating lunch. The other thing I noticed is that every presentation was in English only. I didn’t see anyone with translation headphones on, so it pains me that POSSIBLY there is no accommodation for non English speakers. People surely come from all over the world to see this one of a kind amazing facility. I will attach plenty of photos if Wi-Fi helps. One area I found touching was the memorial section to all the space heroes who lost their lives. So many. There was a display for each, with personal and heart tugging personal objects like their coffee mug, bible, binoculars for bird watching. All this families without them, and the kids with no Mom or Dad. the bus! 😀…first two photos

Below are photos of Galileo’s Bar and our Voyagers. These drinks were perfect. An earlier try in the theater during trivia was way too sweet…..so there is variation with how drinks are made on this ship. We were hoping to find the consistency we found on the Explorer, but not so much, so far. We loved Ray’s show! Wonderful voice, entertaining and funny. Thoroughly recommend. I know many of you have seen him a kajillion times, but we were charmed. Dinner in Compass Rose. Whew. Long, drawn out affair. Not sure why. The room was busy for sure. Not sure if the logjam was due to the kitchen or the staff, who were evidently working as hard as they could. So this is a stating of facts, rather than a complaint. It’s not like we had anywhere we needed to be, so we just waited it out, which was not hard since I love the company I am with. Start to finish was just short of 2.5 hours. We arrived at 6:35 and left a little before 9. When people are clearly doing their best, it doesn’t help to fuss at them. Our waiter apologized multiple times for the long waits, so it was what it was. I had yummy risotto as an appetizer….they do risottos so well, no matter what kind it is. Rolf had his previously tried and true lobster bisque with a lobster tail cut up and added. There was a communication gap and the bisque arrived sans tail and a wait ensued as our flustered waiter tried to put the two pieces together. All ended well and he was a happy camper. BTW, if I suddenly stop this it is because we have been summoned to exit for our Port Canaveral tour… Back to bisque….when we left CR we had the pleasure of meeting Steve Q and Denise, and due my earlier trip report that mentioned the bisque/lobster tail combo, she ordered the exact same thing last night, end enjoyed it. Both mentioned that it is filling, so be warned. It took almost 30 minutes to be approached for food orders, but the wine service was excellent. I had Dover Sole, baked potato and spinach. It was good enough but had obviously suffered from heat lamp storage. Rolf tried the redfish entree, which he didn’t love. He said it was different than the description. All in all, I’d give it a C- meal. Dessert was chocolate mousse and a vanilla cream something with a squishy berry filling. Tasted good, but if squishy is not a texture you enjoy, I’d give that one a pass!

We departed Freeport and she is swaying along slowly. We stuck doggedly to our agenda today, which was blank save our 4:30 appointment to play trivia. Lots of reading, a little dozing, We had lunch at the pool bar, which was nice, with a sweet breeze. We both had salad, with a few fries snuck onto the plate, and split a Cuban sandwich. I had a margarita which was a little bland, but ok. We only got 10 right out of 15 at trivia, so not our best showing. Elton John is older than King Charles and Hilary Clinton. Who knew? We are sitting in the Galileo bar having a pre-show drink. It will be our first Ray Solare show, so we are looking forward to seeing him. So, the show at 6, then our first dinner in Compass Rose. Tomorrow we have an early tour to Cape Canaveral, so it will be an earlier night for sure. I keep being startled by how few people played trivia, and how few attend tea, etc., because I’m not used to the much smaller passenger count. I am enjoying the little shimmy in the back of the ship, and the very slight tinkle of the bottles behind the bar rubbing shoulders. Something about it is charming to me. I might feel differently if our suite was low and in the back and I was trying to put contacts in or something. Or sleep. I’ll let you know more about the shimmy as we progress. It’s definitely there, but I don’t know....I just like that she’s not a cookie cutter ship. So far.

Forgot to congratulate our British friends on the coronation of their new king! We lived in England during the Cold War, 1981-1984, when my husband flew A-10’s and was stationed at RAF Bentwaters. I remember that all the wives in the squadron got together to watch Charles and Diana marry…it was a big day! Fond memories of England.

After our lovely meal, we discovered it was already 10 p.m.! We wandered into the casino and hopped around on slot machines, finding one that liked us, to our utter astonishment. We started with $100, got as high as $330, and ran for the hills with $200. Such a rare occurrence. We certainly are not big gamblers or high rollers by any stretch. We may get brave and play roulette later. I’ll let you know. We are now in Freeport and do not intend to get off the ship. We have been here many times and are really enthused about a day of doing a whole lotta nuthin. We did pick up the Mensa quiz this morning and plan to play trivia and that will be about as much energy expenditure as we will do. I will take photos of the little Navigator spaces today. Because she is little, with lots of people on board it is harder to get photos without getting people, too. She definitely does not seem crowded, I just try not to include people without their permission. Breakfast, BTW, was nice, in The Veranda. Love the tablecloths. It was not crowded when we got there around 9. I had my first cronut of the cruise, but it was the only one I saw in both the Veranda and the coffee bar, so that is worrisome. I will be sorely disappointed if cronuts are not readily available every morning. I am also a fan of sticky buns, but the ones they had looked dry and crunchy, therefore masquerading as sticky buns but impostors thru and thru. Here’s breakfast and the area at the back of the ship and Freeport. Uploading is fairly slow even though we are in port.

@WNcruiser thanks for the kind words. My way to pay back for all the lovely people who share info so we all can have more fun, not miss something great, save money, whatever. I hope we do meet someday! That’s one of the big benefits of writing about a trip…you just automatically meet wonderful new people. When we last communicated I was sitting on the balcony. Our luggage came quickly after that and we got down to it and got it over with, successfully hiding all things of importance from ourselves in nooks and crannies. Subsequent days are guaranteed to find me muttering to myself as I search high and low for object x only to find, aha!, objects y and a. Guaranteed that x will not show itself until we pack to go home, we went to the Seven Seas lounge for pre dinner drinks last night, and had the lovely surprise of again meeting Ray and Katrina, friends from our very first R cruise. So, that was fun, and after getting an update on Ray’s recent adventures, we came away with renewed gratitude for health and life and the chance to travel and enjoy being on this little planet. Gosh, what a blessing! Grateful for reminders so we don’t take it for granted. We both had the Voyager cocktail and part of a second one and they were consistently made, which was nice. On Splendor last cruise we had some spirits adventures where ingredients were maybe a little too enthusiastically poured with the result that some would cause your eyes to pour tears and lungs to momentarily cease to operate. Requests for a do over were always gracious and brought more consistent results. We had dinner in Prime 7 with friends. Wonderful meal. Service was good, if a little scattered, with food being delivered to the wrong person at the table a few times but that was quickly fixed. Everyone enjoyed their choices. Food was really excellent. I did not take photos because I didn’t want to be that person in front of dining companions, but I will always take photos when it is just the two of us. I had the chowder and smoked salmon, which I had never tried due to the name. I’m not of fan of smoked salmon, gravlax…this is not that! The salmon arrives with a dome and when it is lifted there is a lovely smoke that wafts out from under and there is a yummy salmon of the kind you think of as a dinner entree. My husband had the lobster, which he, picky Connecticut boy that he is, loved. He said it was cooked perfectly, and I was so glad because he always sends tough lobster back. Our friends had chicken and the veal chop. The chop was perfect and very tender, so success all around. I couldn’t resist the popcorn sundae and since this is our only reservation in Prime 7 this cruise, so far, I wasn’t going to let the chance pass. More in a minute. We are on the back of the ship in a windy area and are relocating.

Continuing the trend, lucky us, embarkation was simple and smooth. Remember the Sheet they gave us yesterday with details about checking out, breakfast, etc.? In the upper right hand corner was a blue dot. I’m not sure what other colors there were, but they called the buses by color, two of them, I believe. So off we went, an orderly line of little ducks, boarded the coach with I’m guessing about 50 people for about a ten minute ride to the terminal. They had not started check in yet, but did so within about 5 minutes of our arrival. They very appropriately called the named suites first, then Diamonds, and I’m sure they must have called some other levels, but I was talking and didn’t hear the specifics. Check in was super quick…they took our passports, BTW. That was a first. Got a chance to hug Beth and Crystal, friends from a previous cruise, and it made me happy to see them. We are all excited to be on a ship again. It has been a minute for all of us. When you get off the bus at the terminal, I suggest that you have passport and boarding pass in hand. The person is RIGHT THERE inside the door and you don’t want to have to scramble around haphazardly as we did, getting in each others’ way, trying to find said items as people line up behind you. We had anticipated an escalator ride or something similar to get ourselves arranged, so now, after our experience, you can be like the Boy Scouts or whoever they are that are Always Prepared. First impressions of the Navigator. She’s charming! Cozy and seems functionally laid out. We had lunch in La Veranda with friends, more people we are so happy to see again, and that was a great way to start the cruise. Someone said the little Navigator is kind of like a country club, and I would agree….except some of my favorite people are people who cruise, and I’ve met a few fearsome people at country clubs. 🤪. One thing I really like about this little ship is that when you forget something and have to go back to your cabin it’s pretty much practically right there close somewhere. I can remember being on a big Celebrity ship and realizing I had left something in the cabin and dropping my head and thinking I would rather dig a ditch in the sun than have to trudge all the way back to that cabin in a round trip that is at least the length of seven football fields. Whatever I forget on this one, it will be easy-peasy. here are photos of our cabin, 724, before we mess it up. No luggage yet, at 2:45. I’m on the balcony, amusing myself by writing to you and watching boats full of young folks blasting past with music I don’t recognize blaring, excited for a day in the sun with probably a year’s worth of beer in coolers somewhere. Whew, so glad not to be you on the way home tonight…