First Day at Sea as of 5:40pm Med Time
Monday 3/29 I know, i know. Lost a couple days, but i'll get back to them. Dinner last nite, even before we left the port, filet mignon with pepper sauce au poivre, lobster bisque, creamed spinach, asparagus and a 1/2 bottle of wine. Oh, and a guinness while we waited for retaurant to open.
Sunday 3/28 Embarkation Day Norwegian Jade, Barcelona- My cabinmate Sara and I needed protein (meat) the last morning which turned out to be Palm Sunday and the start of daylight savings time (who knew?)- and remember we got in at 3amish in the morning, and were to be packed up, checked out, and on the bus to the port by noon. So i woke up at what i thought was 9:30 took a shower, got dressed , packed up then woke Sarah up to she could go to breakfast if she chose, and to make sure she didn't miss the bus. She had just arrived on 3/27 checked in , had lunch, took a shower, when we went out for our big nite, so she was a little groggy. She decided to join me at breakfast, pulled on her clothes, and we headed down for the buffet in the basement, which was a really good breakfast buffet (i knew from the day before!). WTF?
The plaza in front of the Cathedral, right outside the door, was packed with people, and the restaurant rope prevented us from entering. Looks like it's closed! Oops, by that time it was actually 11:15 because of daylight savings time. Eeeeeek. So we rushed back up to the room, got our stuff together and down the stairs to check out. NO coffee, NO water, NO food. Bummer. Now we are traveling with Im not sure how many women but somewhere around 50 I think. Can you imagine how much luggage 50 women would bring for a 12 day cruise? Anyway, we were at the back of the line kindof still in a daze from our 5star dinner and our barcelona self designed cava tour, and I spotted a Starbucks across the street - Hey Sara, go get us coffee and anything to drink, I'll make sure our bags get on the bus. So off she went, flying across the crosswalk to Starbucks. In the mean time, the luggage loading reloading restacking, pulling out, take this on the bus, this won't fit, etc etc, room on the other side still, went on for about 1/2 hour (the poor bus driver had a real workout), and we all got on the bus, and i saw Sara just crossing the street with the two coffees and two bags of something to eat and everyone was chattering away and the bus started to move. Phyllis STOP Sara is not on the bus! She finally heard me, we were still moving mind you, and said where is she- and I said right in front of the bus! and we stopped and Sara jumped on. Some of the women grumbled at her, but I said very loudly, we didn't get a wake up call, we haven't had coffee or anything to eat, etc. and the grumbling stopped and we were on our way! Oh forgot to mention that Phyllis had given everyone a gift to carry with us from home that was a gift for some other member of the group. I had realized by Madrid that the one I was supposed to bring was sitting in my spare room at home. And Phyllis had said when I got it from her a few weeks ago- i know these ladies, some of them will forget! (but i didn't think it would be me- oh s x x t! So both Sara and I didnt abide by the rules and protocol right away. But not on purpose. It was just....it was just... too much fun. So i'll get back to the transition from hotel to boat and last night, and move on to today.
Got up and went to breakfast in the free buffet with ten thousand other people. Had strange scrambled eggs (only a bite) 2 little hash brown cakes, 2 slices of baguette with some serrano ham and some sort of soft white cheese, yogurt, berries, granola fruit and coffee.
Wierd thing about the cruise. Water. Here we are on the water, and if you want bottled water you should've bought it at duty free because it's like gold on the boat. We saw it on the ground, a pallet load, but by the time we got into our room and went back down to the dock, they were wiped out by the cruisers in the know. So they told us in the bottle shop we could only bring 2 bottles of wine on board, so I bought 4 and put 2 in my bag and nobody looked twice. Sara bought some Spanada, no that's not it it's Sangria- really sticky sweet stuff. Back in the cabin, we tried to decide if we had to smuggle the extra empty bottles off the boat, or put them in a public trashcan so we wouldn't have to walk the plank, but settled for hiding them on shelves that only I could see.
Then the PA system came on verrrrrry loud in everyones room announcing the required safety drill was happening in 15 minutes. We weren't going to go, and go to the internet cafe instead to see how to accress wifi, but geesh they were closed because of the safety drill (surprise!) so we had to go to the drill. Glad we did because they tracked people down who didn't go, and they had to go today anyway. After the drill we were both a bit peckish so we decide to go to the steak restaurant mentioned above, but since they weren't open yet, we did stop for a drink on the way. By the way, we were still in port, the ship wasn't moving yet. We both felt like we were on our way, even though we hadn't left the dock.
After dinner we went back to the room after figuring out the inet stuff, and talked for a few hours, then Sara went out to see what was going on and i went to bed. I've posted some pics of Barcelona on flickster so look for the Barcelona link !
Today I walked a mile around the deck, had lunch in the buffet, a salad, some cheese and baguette, and a bit of hummus. I planned to go to a teppanyaki cooking demo, but i couldn't find the teppanyaki bar, and by the time i did no one was around. I was then going to the champagne art auction, mostly for the champagne, but ended up buying a painting (eeek) but it wasn't a major purchase, signed print, etc will meet me 10 weeks from now at home. I took a pic of it on the 3/29 First day flickstr link. So had a glass of champagne to celebrate my spending money, went back to the room - and took the phyllis gift that someone gave me and gave it to the person i was supposed to bring it for, a globe guilder Angela. Now sitting in the main mid ship bar, just finished a cappuchino, and now will upload pix. later.
Sunday 3/28 Embarkation Day Norwegian Jade, Barcelona- My cabinmate Sara and I needed protein (meat) the last morning which turned out to be Palm Sunday and the start of daylight savings time (who knew?)- and remember we got in at 3amish in the morning, and were to be packed up, checked out, and on the bus to the port by noon. So i woke up at what i thought was 9:30 took a shower, got dressed , packed up then woke Sarah up to she could go to breakfast if she chose, and to make sure she didn't miss the bus. She had just arrived on 3/27 checked in , had lunch, took a shower, when we went out for our big nite, so she was a little groggy. She decided to join me at breakfast, pulled on her clothes, and we headed down for the buffet in the basement, which was a really good breakfast buffet (i knew from the day before!). WTF?
The plaza in front of the Cathedral, right outside the door, was packed with people, and the restaurant rope prevented us from entering. Looks like it's closed! Oops, by that time it was actually 11:15 because of daylight savings time. Eeeeeek. So we rushed back up to the room, got our stuff together and down the stairs to check out. NO coffee, NO water, NO food. Bummer. Now we are traveling with Im not sure how many women but somewhere around 50 I think. Can you imagine how much luggage 50 women would bring for a 12 day cruise? Anyway, we were at the back of the line kindof still in a daze from our 5star dinner and our barcelona self designed cava tour, and I spotted a Starbucks across the street - Hey Sara, go get us coffee and anything to drink, I'll make sure our bags get on the bus. So off she went, flying across the crosswalk to Starbucks. In the mean time, the luggage loading reloading restacking, pulling out, take this on the bus, this won't fit, etc etc, room on the other side still, went on for about 1/2 hour (the poor bus driver had a real workout), and we all got on the bus, and i saw Sara just crossing the street with the two coffees and two bags of something to eat and everyone was chattering away and the bus started to move. Phyllis STOP Sara is not on the bus! She finally heard me, we were still moving mind you, and said where is she- and I said right in front of the bus! and we stopped and Sara jumped on. Some of the women grumbled at her, but I said very loudly, we didn't get a wake up call, we haven't had coffee or anything to eat, etc. and the grumbling stopped and we were on our way! Oh forgot to mention that Phyllis had given everyone a gift to carry with us from home that was a gift for some other member of the group. I had realized by Madrid that the one I was supposed to bring was sitting in my spare room at home. And Phyllis had said when I got it from her a few weeks ago- i know these ladies, some of them will forget! (but i didn't think it would be me- oh s x x t! So both Sara and I didnt abide by the rules and protocol right away. But not on purpose. It was just....it was just... too much fun. So i'll get back to the transition from hotel to boat and last night, and move on to today.
Got up and went to breakfast in the free buffet with ten thousand other people. Had strange scrambled eggs (only a bite) 2 little hash brown cakes, 2 slices of baguette with some serrano ham and some sort of soft white cheese, yogurt, berries, granola fruit and coffee.
Wierd thing about the cruise. Water. Here we are on the water, and if you want bottled water you should've bought it at duty free because it's like gold on the boat. We saw it on the ground, a pallet load, but by the time we got into our room and went back down to the dock, they were wiped out by the cruisers in the know. So they told us in the bottle shop we could only bring 2 bottles of wine on board, so I bought 4 and put 2 in my bag and nobody looked twice. Sara bought some Spanada, no that's not it it's Sangria- really sticky sweet stuff. Back in the cabin, we tried to decide if we had to smuggle the extra empty bottles off the boat, or put them in a public trashcan so we wouldn't have to walk the plank, but settled for hiding them on shelves that only I could see.
Then the PA system came on verrrrrry loud in everyones room announcing the required safety drill was happening in 15 minutes. We weren't going to go, and go to the internet cafe instead to see how to accress wifi, but geesh they were closed because of the safety drill (surprise!) so we had to go to the drill. Glad we did because they tracked people down who didn't go, and they had to go today anyway. After the drill we were both a bit peckish so we decide to go to the steak restaurant mentioned above, but since they weren't open yet, we did stop for a drink on the way. By the way, we were still in port, the ship wasn't moving yet. We both felt like we were on our way, even though we hadn't left the dock.
After dinner we went back to the room after figuring out the inet stuff, and talked for a few hours, then Sara went out to see what was going on and i went to bed. I've posted some pics of Barcelona on flickster so look for the Barcelona link !
Today I walked a mile around the deck, had lunch in the buffet, a salad, some cheese and baguette, and a bit of hummus. I planned to go to a teppanyaki cooking demo, but i couldn't find the teppanyaki bar, and by the time i did no one was around. I was then going to the champagne art auction, mostly for the champagne, but ended up buying a painting (eeek) but it wasn't a major purchase, signed print, etc will meet me 10 weeks from now at home. I took a pic of it on the 3/29 First day flickstr link. So had a glass of champagne to celebrate my spending money, went back to the room - and took the phyllis gift that someone gave me and gave it to the person i was supposed to bring it for, a globe guilder Angela. Now sitting in the main mid ship bar, just finished a cappuchino, and now will upload pix. later.
Comments
Plus I would have been pissed if I missed my meal!