Embarkation day is always a most busy one. The first job was dropping off our duffel in the ballroom so it could be brought to the pier. Before the fun and games began, we enjoyed another early morning breakfast at Joe's Café. No waiting to be seated, we were invited to take any booth we wished. Being here for the third day in a row, we were already part of their family. Good food and hot coffee, what more could you want?
Before leaving the shopping center, we tried Ace Hardware to look for the little hand sanitizer, and found just what we wanted. Job done, we headed back to the hotel. We needed the rest of our hand carrys to be filled, then we went down to the lobby to meet with our group at 10:15am. They had two coaches for the sixty of us, although some of our friends "Ubered" to the port to be among the first to board. We were in no hurry, since there was no guarantee our room on the ship would be ready.
The coach ride took all of 10 minutes. The driver got us close to the entrance, where we informed the greeter that we were President's Club members when she asked. With a big smile she directed us to a line that took us to an area where we filled out a form regarding our not-yet-granted Brazilian visa. We were told that there were Brazilian reps onboard to assist folks like us in getting our visas quicker. So far, it is 9:30pm, and we have yet to hear from anyone regarding further info. The good news is that we were not denied boarding, as had been suggested by HAL. There is still a possibility that we might not be able to leave the ship while in Brazil, but that is still a week or more away. At least we are not sitting on the pier twiddling our thumbs while watching the ship leave Port Everglades.
After having our passports scanned, and our photos taken, we were personally greeted by Maja, the nicest guest relations manager we met last year. She led us around the check-in desk, and made sure we had our boarding passes with the skew on them. Handing off our passports for safe-keeping, we were handed receipts to retrieve them later. Maja informed us that the yellow fever requirement had been lifted by Devils Island and Brazil as well for this cruise. In addition, we were not asked to produce our China and India visas at this point. From there, we went up the escalator to the second level.
Finding an area not occupied with a lot of waiting people (Pinnacle and Neptune suite and the few President's Club members, we were offered ice water or lemonade and fresh cookies. Dining room Matre'd Presty spotted us and came over for a chat. We asked if our table # 66 was assigned, and he said he figured we would keep our table from last year. No, we thought we had made that perfectly clear, and we followed up with confirmation from ship services when we got home last spring. We could tell from the look on his face, there was a problem. Pulling out his cell phone, he made some inquiries and said he would get back to us on that. He never did, but we trusted he would clear up the confusion before dinnertime.
At least, the wait was short, and starting with the first row of seats, we were invited to board. We did not notice if the photographers were there, so the process was quick. The cruise director, Kimberly, Captain Frank Van der Hoven, and Henk Mensink, the Hotel Manager greeted us as we entered. Both of us got handshakes and hugs. On the way to the gangway, we were handed new logo pins for the Zuiderdam as well as a welcome card from the Captain. Boarding was as easy as showing our boarding passes.
Michele, the Mariner Manager, greeted us and led us to the side elevator. She said our room was ready, and that was exactly where we headed to unload our heavy hand bags. We were grateful to see our new room with the extra corner space. This Signature Suite will work just fine. On the coffee table, we had two open-face sandwiches and a tray of fancy desserts. Our bed was filled with gift cards and letters along with the daily program. Not all of our amenities had been delivered, but a letter was there saying they would arrive within 5 days. Two bottles of sparkling wine were on ice.
There was no Mariner lunch in the dining room, but there was a welcome aboard "champagne" lunch in the Lido until 4pm. Our luggage began arriving one piece at a time, and we did open the first few. Then we headed for the Lido pool area, but got side-tracked by so many folks we knew. Some were regulars and some we had not seen since 2020. Such a nice reunion. We never did make it to lunch in the Lido, but ended up dining on the fancy food in our room. More luggage arrived, but it was time for the muster check-in on deck three. We went right on down, and completed that job within minutes. So easy these days, all we had to do was run the muster drill on our TV, and we were set.
While stashing our stuff, we had a phone call asking us to come down to deck A to have a bag check. It was there we ran into Shiv, the best-ever Head of Housekeeping. He also gives the best bear hugs. Opening the duffel, we showed security a large can of peanuts and the ice thermos we had brought to serve as our ice bucket. That was all they needed to see, and we were free to go, hauling the duffel with us. They would have delivered it, but we said no thanks.
We did stop unpacking long enough to go to the Seaview Pool deck to the advertised Sail Away Celebration at 4:30pm. It did not happen, the actual sail away or the party. It had been delayed until later in the evening due to last minute deliveries and perhaps late-arriving guests. The ship still had not moved by 7:30pm. We never leave on time here on a long cruise.
So, we did see our table we had reserved, but got into conversations with longtime fellow cruisers. Should we check at the desk first, or just sit down? Well, the head waiter came and said there was a problem, and our table was not available this evening. He called Presty, who showed up and promised he would clear up the confusion tomorrow, so in the meantime, we sat at a different table. We offered to bring our confirmation from last summer for this table, but he said no, it wasn't necessary. Our waiters at this table on the railing were very nice and our food was excellent. Champagne was brought with compliments from Presty. Not the end of the world, we did not see this switch coming. Expect the unexpected, right? And a lovely single stem red rose was handed out to all of the ladies this evening. Nice touch. By the way, the Zuiderdam left the port during dinnertime without any fanfare that we could see.
Visiting with more long-time friends we were glad to turn in after 9pm. It had been another marathon day, and we will deal with the mountain of clothes on the couch tomorrow. Stay tuned……
Bill & Mary Ann
