Up too early (what a surprise!) and had hours to kill before leaving for the ship. Went out to 7-11 to stock up on supplies, then back to breakfast, then still had hours…..finally got downstairs to meet another couple staying at the hotel who agreed to share a taxi with us. Because of the bike races, everyone warned us it would take twice as long to get to the port. So we gave ourselves plenty of time.
As it turned out – didn’t need it. Our driver was the Danish version of Mario Andretti. Smooth! He was in an out of lanes, around slow moving cars, buses, vans, you name it, he got around it. We made it to the port in less than 1/2 an hour. Perfect.
We had also been warned that outside the terminal, on the street, could be very hectic. So we were prepared for chaos. Not so. Smoothest embarkation we’ve ever had. Pulled up, dumped our bags, after a few minutes of sitting on the trolley, they went right through the scanner. Inside, walked right up to the registration desk, handed over our credit card, got our sea passes and were aboard in no time at all. Really smooth.
So first day, the norm, unpacking getting organized. We call this ship the backwards ship – the showroom is at the aft end of the ship, the gym is mid-ship and in a couple of places you can’t get from one end of the ship to the other (and one of the dining rooms is in the “hole” – literally the only thing you can access is this dining room – so if there is a long wait, there’s not even a bar to sit it waiting for your table. Odd!).
But, we get used to it fast. We re-familiarize ourselves (we were last on it in January 2010 around the Horn). And we’re wandering all over as usual. People – well – it’s a Trans-Atlantic, which means the average age is about death minus 2. Not so many scooters – but walkers and canes are the accessories of the day. You really have to watch your toes! 
Food is good – after 2 days – what’s not to like. There are a ton of extra cost dining options – one of which is the Churrascaria which we decided to try on day 2. Oh wow! Meat-palooza. It was incredibly good – meat was all cooked and seasoned to perfection, the salad bar had a fabulous, if superfluous, selection of items. And my only regret is that we couldn’t eat more. It was that good!
There is also the tapas place that has a rotating selection of tapas every night (no charge) and the sports bar which now has a whole menu of pub food (including buffalo chicken wings – and GOOD wings we might add) plus popcorn. So no worries about selection, that’s for sure.
Entertainment isn’t necessarily ringing our bell, but they do have a pretty good band and a great guitar player/singer who we’ve seen before and liked. Otherwise, the show line up is a pianist, string quarter, magician (ugh, they are all the same ), hypnotist (see note about magician) comedian (always a crap shoot there), etc. Will see the production shows, but otherwise, we’re making our own entertainment watching everyone in the “disco” (with the band) and eaves-dropping on comments (like the on guy who said he was leaving the “kids” upstairs dancing – which meant the “kids” who were ballroom dancing in the 12th floor lounge – all of whom were well beyond our definition of kids!)
Ah, Trans-Atlantic ship life!
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