January 4 and 5: Day 1 On Board! Excitement and Panic!

January 4 was just as cold and blustery as it had been the 3rd when we flew in, so we took a cab to Walgreens to get our "stuff" and returned to the hotel. The night before we had a welcome dinner put on by our travel agency where we met many previous world cruisers...only 1 newbie like us! But they were all friendly and welcoming with plenty of information about where we are going and what to see. We felt comfortable with all of them (over 250 were at the dinner!)

About 10:30 we boarded busses they provided and headed for Holland America's beautiful "Amsterdam." Once on board we quickly ate knowing we had a big job ahead of unpacking our 4 bags. The bags came at good intervals so all went quite well. We are quite organized thanks to tips from other cruisers. Off to dinner (prime rib and stir fry veggies), then get ready for sailaway party at 7:30....but....oops...in all the unpacking I realized I didn't see any of my medications! Searched and searched the cabin...pulled all the suitcases out from under the bed, and searched again. Now total panic for me! Finally called my home neighbor and they went to the house and searched as I told them where I had been...nothing. Called the hotel and they were kind enough to check the room again too...nothing. So, I was resigned to have the ship doctor help me deal with it. But, while I was reading last night, I all of a sudden remembered I had put all of them in a purse I packed! They were there! The only thing I hadn't double-checked! WHEW! So, the first night ended on a happy note! Light rocking and rolling, the kind I like that puts you to sleep!
This morning is grey and cool with light seas. A good sea day. Lots going on today so we have to make priorities. Mine are the knit group organizational meeting 10-11, and then Cruise Critic's Meet and Greet 11-12. Cruise Critic is an absolute must for anyone who Cruises. It's an online community where you find out virtually anything and everything about cruising. The best feature is always the Roll Call where you sign up according to what ship and date you are on, so you can find others there to share tours with, etc. Several of our tours have been set up this way for this trip so it will be nice to meet in person. One woman put together an entire book about this World Cruise which included photos and bios of members going on it, itinerary, books to read, fancy dinner schedules etc. It's a PDF file we downloaded. Met some fellow RV travelers last night because I recognized them from the book.
Chris is off to get his usual sudoku that he does each morning on ship and I am doing this.
Our cabin is lovely and it's fun to see quite a few Lido stewards here from our past cruises. The Captain is one we've liked very much (rumor is that this is his final cruise.) And...we start off on a great note...ABBA FAB is the entertainment tonight! One of the best entertainment groups on board or anywhere! The piano bar is all Billy Joel and Elton John tonight, too, which means that Terry, from ABBA FAB will be banging on the keys too...close your eyes and he's Elton and Billy! Great music!
I shall post this tomorrow when we are in Grand Cayman. Thanks for coming along!


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Webcams along the way!...

For some people who have time and interest, here is a link to webcams that are in various ports along the way. It's usually fun to see us going through the Panama Canal (January 9)...the Miraflores lock (last one we go through) offers the best view of the ships...usually we are going through that lock late afternoon, but it's dependent on traffic through the locks.

http://www.cruisin.me/cruise-port-webcams/

Clothes packed! And...Gone!

Love "cubes" to pack in. 5 medium, 3 small, 1 large holds everything but a long gown. (I have mostly EBags cubes.) Shoes and loads of miscellaneous will be packed in and around all our cubes. This is looking doable!  Small cubes hold 2 bathing suits and coverup, socks, and underwear. Medium cubes hold 9 tops, 8 dressy outfits, 3 long sleeve tops with long skirt and dressy jacket and lightweight scarves, 3 long pants and 4 capris. Large cubes holds Safari jacket, travel vest, 3 tops, 1 sweater, 3 Safari/travel pants.

This is what it all looked like as Fedex picked up our 4 bags this morning...hopefully we'll see them next in our cabin!

What's Wrong with Picture? And...I didn't need this!

The guest bed is getting loaded with "stuff" to make sure to pack...but no clothes in sight! All this is just for our "comfort" and "in case we need it" on board. Keeping in mind that our current flu shots aren't very effective, I've added our "preferred" cold/flu remedies since ship supplies are very limited. I think I can open a shop to sell mosquito repellent and sun screen too! Real books are just being taken because we have them here to read and will leave them on board to trade if we want. Wire hangers are needed to allow more room in the closets from the wooden ones that are provided...they'll be left also. Of course my yarn goes to take advantage of some knitting classes on board and some projects to work on...and finish?  Many "consumables" will be added from the Walgreen's in Ft. Lauderdale across from our overnight hotel...convenient.

However, a tooth that became a problem this week has caused me to have a crown replaced, so a few trips to the dentist that weren't on the schedule...but at least I was able to have my own dentist deal with the problem and not have to find something mid-cruise!

Merry Christmas!

To those who are just receiving the link to this blog, Welcome!
If you'd like to receive email that indicates a new post (so you can follow us on our adventure!), just scroll to the bottom of the main page and you will see a place to insert your email. That's all you need to do! Then, whenever I update this (hopefully with photos, too!) you'll get it in your email!

Also, please know that we look forward to reading comments you may have, or questions you may want us to answer. If some of you have visited ports we will be visiting and have ideas of places we need to see, etc. PLEASE let us know ahead of time!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We were able to spend a wonderful Thanksgiving with our "Mountain McNeills" in CO and continue our Gingerbread House tradition with them as a start to the Christmas Season.

I'm still experimenting with how I'll work this blog with limited internet ability so this is being done on my IPhone that has Tmobile so I will usually be able to use it in the ports. I'm hoping some photos will upload ok from my iPhone.

We've already been notified of one port change: no Mozambique due to the plague there. They'll substitute Reunion Island, a small island east of it which also looks quite interesting.

Now that we are back from CO, the planning/packing begins in earnest. 39 Days!

Upsell!

We are very happy cruisers now after accepting a very nice "upsell" to a verandah cabin identical to the cabin we were very pleased with on our recent AK cruise. Much more room than our ocean-view and a verandah that will be useful sometimes on this warm-weather world cruise. (An upsell is when the cruise company juggles rooms around and finds that they can offer higher category cabins to those already booked on the cruise for a reasonable additional payment...that's all relative to each person. We decided to go for it.). Chris loves having a full size couch and I love the larger desk with 9 drawers! (The cabin we were booked in had only 3.). Perfect...except that in rough weather, I'll probably have to take my Meclizine...more movement up on the higher decks and I can get seasick sometimes.

Otherwise, we continue to prepare...had our Yellow Fever vaccinations (both of us did have more reaction to it than any other vaccination, but we are now done!) Luggage delivery has been arranged for mid-December by Fedex (they'll ship 4 bags free...next time we see them will be in our cabin!...we hope!). Two large plastic bins are accumulating "stuff" that I know I want to pack...desk items, books, hangers,  Command Strip hangers, binoculars, flashlights, batteries, etc.

(If you go back to the photo of the ship, our "new" cabin is located above the middle of the 4th lifeboat that you see.)

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