Transition.
A busy day, interspersed with periods of waiting, and growing anticipation.
We had to have our bags ready for the porters at 8:30 am. Then the buses came for us at 11:30 for a half hour ride to the port. We stood in line outside of the terminal for only a few minutes. Once inside we had to fill out a recent health survey (so they can quarantine the already sick) and a form indicating what visas we had already procured (since they won’t let you board without the required visas). Then into a line to check in. Since you can now register online and print a boarding pass, all they had to do in person was verify our information, take a picture of each of our faces, and issue our ship cards, which are our ID, cabin key, and charge card for the cruise. Each time we board or leave the ship, they scan the bar code on the face of the ship card and our picture is displayed on their computer so they can verify our identity.
Then onto the first photo by the cruise photographer and on to the ship.
Our first order of business was to queue up to have our dinner reservations changed. We had requested—through a flurry of emails to Cruise Specialists a month or more ago—to be seated with Jinny and Noel, two of our table mates from the last world cruise, for the early seating. We were assigned to a table by ourselves at the late (8 pm) seating. The line was benignly brief, but we were told that there were 150 other people waiting for early seating. While were waiting, they announced that the cabins were open. Ordinarily you are directed to the cafeteria on the Lido deck for a champagne lunch and the cabins aren’t ready until mid-afternoon.
Service in the Lido has been modified for the first two days, to try to minimize the spread of illness. Rather than self-service, the staff does all the food handling. A nice precaution. While we were eating lunch, one of our big questions abut the cruise was answered—the Tai Chi instructors are the same as two years ago. We had such fun learning a couple of routines last year, that we hoped Robert and Bronwyn would return.
The rest of the day was spent getting acquainted with the ship, getting my ship card reprogrammed so that it would unlock our cabin door, running into friends from the ’09 cruise, and unpacking. The ship, the Amsterdam, is a sister ship to the Rotterdam we were on two years ago. So the layout is almost identical. But with a different decor.
About 4 pm the Sail Away party started with more champagne, rum punch, and just about any other beverage you might want. The Amsterdam orchestra played. (Same director/piano player and sax player as two years ago. Different keyboardist, percussionist, guitar, and bass guitar players.) We sat at a table with a couple of Aussies who had flown to Fort Lauderdale to sail to Auckland, from where they would fly home to Melbourne. They’d done the Auckland to Sydney trip once, so they are going to skip that part this time.
The gangway was pulled on time, but sailing was delayed for an hour or so while they finished loading luggage and supplies on to the ship. In contrast to two years ago when we sailed at 70% capacity, the ship this year starts full. We later heard that about 900 passengers will make the whole trip.
We had dinner in the Lido about 6 pm, resumed our unpacking, then went to the show, which was an introduction to the cruise director’s staff, the class instructors (Tai Chi, bridge, creative writing, watercolor, crafts, computer, and ballroom dancing), and the religious staff (a priest, a rabbi, and a protestant minister—no, that’s not the beginning of a joke).
Finally to bed with the gently rocking and mildly vibrating ship to lull us to sleep.