We woke up excited to be boarding Journey today. The breakfast room came first, however.
My breakfast main was another feta and spinach omelette. Alice went for 1 egg over hard. She had to send it back for the hard. Then it was fine. The usual cheeses, meats, and breads served us well. As we were leaving we thanked the waiter for his kind service. This opened a very nice conversation. He does not get much in the way of thanks.
The cough medicine is working. We are coughing much less. We packed our bags and I updated pictures for most of the blog.
At 11:30 we went to the lobby to wait for our noon transfer to the port. Checkout is 12:00. Our boarding pass is for 3:00 but we thought we might catch a break. A lady Alice spoke to in the lobby was going to the same cruise and thought 3:00 was the earliest they would start boarding. Her transfer was not until later.
Our driver arrived on time. I told him that Azamara told. Us Journey would be at Terminal A Gate 11. He said he knew. He did. When we got to the port he passed Terminal A and went well past it to Gate 12 in Terminal C. There was Journey in the same slip where we left Oosterdam in August. It would have been a long way to get here if we had been dropped at Gate 11.
We were greeted by Azamara folks. One took our bags and said we would see them in our stateroom. The other agent directed us to the checkin line. We walked right up and were greeted immediately. No waiting. Because I had checked us in online he scanned our vaccination records in wallet on my iPhone. Then he scanned our passports. Finally he scanned our boarding passes. This all took less than 10 minutes. He informed us that our boarding time was 1:15 and told us where we could find a cafe.
We were familiar with the area from our time here on Oosterdam. We found the cafe with no trouble. It was just 12:45. Many passengers were camped out here with coffees and beers. We found a table and joined the company.
This was not without incident. Our table had one chair of Normal height and one barstool that had my knees above the table. I noticed a stack of 2 chairs nearby and went to get one. When I placed it at our table I discovered that it had only 3 legs. One had been broken off. I replaced it and stood. Soon another passenger who was getting ready to leave brought me his chair. Having white hair paid off again.
Alice had a hot chocolate and I ordered a beer. The waitress brought these and the bill. An hour and 15 minutes later we paid her. What a nice time this was.
We walked back to the terminal and joined the security line. In no time we were walking to our stateroom when we were directed to muster station A. There we were given a quick safety briefing and dismissed. At 2:20 we were in our room. What a good experience this all had been.
A short time later Maricris, our stateroom attendant, came to introduce herself. She also explained that a 1liter bottle of spirits came with the veranda plus stateroom. She showed us the list and I selected Dewars. She would order it for us.
We now went to the Living Room on deck 10 for a ship’s tour. This is what Holland America’s Crows Nest was like before they turned it into a coffee bar and game room. On Journey it is a lovely lounge at the front of the ship with windows all around and excellent seating.
The tour was a good reminder of where things are. That was very helpful since it has been 2 and 1/2 years since we last sailed on Azamara. After the tour we returned to our stateroom.
A short time later Maricris returned with our luggage. We unpacked and stored our things with room to spare. We are very happy with our stateroom.
Now it was dinner time. I enjoyed a delicious seafood meal while Alice was good and had only French onion soup. We were both satisfied.
We adjourned to the cabaret for the captain’s toast. He introduced the ship’s officers and welcomed us. He is very personable. A short show followed to introduce the singers and dancers. This was all quite good. Now it was bedtime.
We talked about how much we liked the ship. We had no trouble falling asleep.
What a fine day.
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