Surprisingly, we sleep straight through until about 5:30 when the ambulance from the fire station next door woke us up. (Ok, so that’s a little bit of a fib – I was out cold, Ed was kept awake by the next door neighbor who stomped around the laminate floor room in heels then blared the TV for over an hour – but other than that….)
We finally drag ourselves up and out around 7:00. Breakfast downstairs is typical buffet with lots of carb-heavy items and some meat and cheeses. I try a croissant but its been glazed with something too sweet for me, while Ed sticks with meat and cheese (smart boy!).
We brave the cold and wind for a morning walk around town, which is quite nice, if not a little bracing. We walk all the way to the train station at the other end of the port, then back through the wide park by the water and along the seaside promenade.
We hit the market again for ship supplies, grab a cappuccino at the hotel and spend some time chatting with another couple who will be on the Jade with us. We retire to the room to do our final packing/sorting and get ready to walk to the shuttle.
Before heading out, we finally get a chance to use the terrace. You can even see the ship from here. Darn! Wish we had more time here! 
Checked out at 10:30 – got the senior discount on the hotel! – then trundled our bags across the street – literally – to the port shuttle. A bus was waiting, stowed the bags, and were on our way less than 15 minutes from checking out.
Boarding was smooth as silk. We have priority since we are Platinum, so we walked up, waited only a few minutes in line, got our keys, handed over our passports and were shown out the door to the dock. It was a bit odd though, there was no one there directing us, and we were walking past all the trucks unloading goods for the cruise, with no real gangway in sight.
We came around a produce truck, and there was a little gangway, which we took, “bing bonged” in – and that was that! It was only a little after 11 and we were on – with no booze checks either. We think we slipped through – and weren’t supposed to board yet or something. We can’t quite figure it out, but we’re not complaining. We dropped our bags in the closet in the room – then went out to explore the ship.
This is the old Pride of Hawaii, so while it’s been re-badged the Jade, it’s not been redecorated since it was built in 2006. It left Hawaii in 
2008, and has been sailing European and other itineraries ever since. The décor is a little bit odd since you’re not in the tropics, the cabin doors all look like lanai doors, with fake shutter slats, the décor leans heavily toward tropical plants, Hawaiian outriggers and flamboyant colors. I love the glass flower ceiling in the atrium and at the elevators though, it’s beautiful and I can see why they don’t want to redo any of that. But, its still weird when you think about it!
We make our rounds, hit the buffet, then wander to get our bearings. The day passes, we get all our luggage, alcohol included, and are all unpacked and ready by the muster drill. We skip the sailaway party in favor of our balcony, next the gym, then dinner. We actually skip the restaurant in lieu of the buffet which was a grilled entrée night. Nice selection of steak, chicken, pork, etc. Plus, eating at the buffet gives us more time to figure out the theater situation and go to the early show.
That worked well, we found seats we liked and the show was really good for an opening night. We retired to the upstairs lounge to listen to one of the singers who was onstage in the show. She and her band were playing there – but we didn’t really think about it – she only sang a song or two, then had to leave again for the late show. Oops. And then the band was high jacked by an Italian couple who wanted to waltz. Well, the upside was the dancers were really, really good so we sat and watched until right before the game show started. Off to bed to catch up on our jet lag sleep!
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