Well the day has finally come. It was a busy weekend for us. We left Thursday night to take Tristan to Halloween Horror nights at Universal in Orlando. Our flight back home was early Sunday morning which meant catching our ride to the airport at 5:30 am. Two days in a row of getting up in the 4 o'clock hours will be tough. I am NOT a morning person... I was hopeful the adrenaline would carry me through.
After saying goodbyes to my family I tried to get a few hours sleep before we had to leave at 4am. After a quick wakeup and last minute packing we were off to the airport.
We arrived at LAX a bit before 11 am west coast time. Everything went smoothly, our luggage (all 9 pieces, yes 9...as I shake my head in almost shame for willfully paying baggage fees for 3 extra pieces) arrived without any issues. We then headed for the shuttle to take us to the ship. We were on the ship my around 1pm.
We headed straight to our room to drop a few things then set out to explore the ship. I have been on many cruises, but never on Holland America. My first impressions were overall very good. While waiting in line to be checked in we were offered water, lemonade and cookies from servers walking through the line. Once on board I noticed (and smelled) fresh flower bouquets all around the ship. It is an older ship, very small compared to those I have been on but well kept. (I will post pictures once I have all my devices set up on the sat. internet). Our ocean view room (2713) is large and will work just fine.
We headed up to grab some lunch and explore the ship. I was very happy to see a sushi station which served a different variety of sushi as well as chunk sashimi (love). I know what I will be living on for lunch the next few months! When we returned to the cabin all of our luggage had been delivered and I started the huge task of unpacking as much as I could before Muster drill. After muster we went up on deck to watch sail away for a bit for which they offered complimentary champagne and a signature fruity drink, nice touch.
We were both feeling the wear of traveling and being up very early and knew we would not make our 8pm dining time. Instead we chose to grab diner up on lido deck where they were offering a poolside BBQ with beef kabobs, cedar plank salmon, chicken, cod, and all the BBQ salads, veggies and accompaniments you could want. We ate then headed back to the cabin. It was now about 7:30 and we both were ready for bed so called it a day and passed out within 10 minutes. The down side to that is I am now up and wide awake at 5:30 am (8:30 east coast time). Enjoying a very good cup of coffee. I don't think I've ever seen this hour willingly.
We have several sea days until we reach Hawaii on Sat. Seas are pretty rough this morning and the sky is overcast but starting to burn off. Looks like it will be a nice day.
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