QUEST FOR FIFTEEN

I can't believe that it’s Day 4 already. We got packed up from the apartment well ahead of schedule and headed downstairs to meet our driver. After two days here at the Arenula Apartments, we have figured out the best way to use the "world’s smallest elevator" to our benefit for the checkout process.

Our driver was to arrive at 11:00 a.m. so by 10:30 we were down in front, munching on some croissants with all ten pieces of luggage within easy reach. By 11:15 we started to get worried – no driver and worst of all no cell phone to call. Eureka we found a public telephone and dialed the number – only a voice recording in Italian and lost 2Euro’s in the process. What could we do now, as it’s just not a taxi ride – it means finding a van capable of handling 10 pieces of luggage and 4 adults to take us the one (1) hour drive to the port in Civitavecchia.

Enter Mauro with a big smile and full of apologies for being late – we were back on track again. We loaded the luggage, jumped into his Chrysler van and headed north for the port.

Mauro was a nice guy with pretty good English so we talked about everything under the sun during the trip. Based on some of the driving skills displayed by other drivers, he managed to teach me a new word today – “pazzo” – it means “crazy” in Italian.

Deb and I have traveled extensively on cruise ships over the last 20 years, but we both agreed that this was the slickest boarding process that we’ve ever seen. Not ONE lineup, no delays and we were on the ship – all cruise lines should take note of their process here. On the other side of the coin, it was one of the worst “calls to muster” that we’ve seen. They had one of the ship’s personnel on a clip board calling out stateroom numbers to another guy with a loud speaker – get with technology HAL – swipe the Cruise pass card for “every” passenger and you’ll know who showed and didn’t. In light of what just happened in South Korea you should really review your process here. On the positive side here you didn’t need to bring the life vest to muster – good call here.

Lunch at the buffet was great – HAL has a requirement that they serve the food during the food directly to the passenger for the first two days of the cruise – hopefully this procedure goes along way in helping to reduce the chance of the norvo virus during the incubation period.

This was our first dinner on board tonight (8:15 p.m. – Table #15 for 9 people) – and we had the opportunity to meet Oscar and Annabelle (pronounced Anna-Bell -E). The other two chairs remained unoccupied. It seems that Oscar and Annabelle had flown from Dallas via London into Venice for a pre-cruise trip and then onto Rome. The unfortunate part was that British Airways has lost their entire luggage – Yes – everything as they had NO carry-on – what’s the chance of that happening. While I’d be furious and on the edge of losing it – they seemed to take everything in stride. More on the reasons for their laid back attitude later.

Finishing up at just after 10:00 from dinner (very good first start on food quality) we headed to the BB King Motown review in the Queen’s Lounge. This 9-piece R&B band was exceptional. This is definitely one of the places that we’ll be hanging out at after dinner for a big part of this cruise.

Back to the reason for the title for today’s blog – Quest for 15. The reason that I titled today’s blog this way is due to the “deal” o n a Specialty Beverage Package that we have received as part of our cruise fare. Both Deb and I can consume a total of either thirty (30) – yes thirty alcoholic beverages (under $7.00 per drink) or water, cola’s or whatever each and every day at NO cost to us including tip for twenty-four (24) days. This works out to $2,400.00 in free drinks. Now for those of you who know my wife – she’s definitely not a drinker – which means that I can consume 28 drinks per day. I know…… this is an impossible task unless I want to be crawling along the floor at night as I head back to my cabin each night or I could attend the regular meetings of “The Friends of Bill W” – but my cousin Tom is intending to give this quest his best shot – his total for Day 1 was 6 drinks when I left the two of them at 11:00 p.m. to head off to the casino. I will of course keep you posted on both our progress here should we hit that magic 15 number or in my case 28.

As I close this off at 4:25 a.m. I can feel the ship rolling in the waves as we move on a western track towards Cartagena, Spain with a scheduled arrival for Thursday a.m. The plan for today is a “sea day” – so we’ll explore the ship and see if we can get involved in some of the activities planned here on board.

Oh, one side note for those who continue to follow my blog – the tulips are still safe and going strong in cabin VB4139 just down the hall from us here in VB4133. Jamie you are amazing.