Early morning flight went really well. And thanks to Jim's inner "travel-gnome", he led us directly to the shuttle bus to take us to the cruise ship. You know how they say "there is one in every crowd"? Well, in this case there were 5... a group of 5 woman from Turkey that were ummm, shall we say... OBNOXIOUS! The lines were seperated by the level of your cabin, but apperantly they were not happy to be in the lower level line so the just ripped apart the rope and lined up behind us. Something tells me that even on this massive floating "city" of thousands, we will probably come across this group again.
Our stateroom is on the 9th level and as this is a special trip, we went for a bit of extravagance and got the largest stateroom with a full balcony. Afterall, this is a 10 day cruise and as much as we love being together, a bit of space becomes a valuably commodity after a while. After taking care of a few scheduling details we made our way to the dining room for a quick lunch buffet. If you have ever been on a cruise ship, you know about the food. If not, what you have heard is probably accurate. The array of different choices is incredile, the presentation is out-of-this-world, the taste is amazing and the quantity is ENDLESS! So after lunch we stored all our luggage, took a quick nap, and attended the manadtory safety training then we set about exploring the ship. Jim arranged for our internet service so we can still feel "conected" but it is still very limited. It is truly like a small city with bars, restaurants, casino, ball rooms, stores, cafes, gaming rooms, rock climing walls, bowling alleys, movie theatres etc etc etc. I think the only issue we will have in hte next week and a half is making up our minds as to WHICH activity we want to do! But for today, we were just about getting settled.
Dinner was of course, a gourmet experience. Instead of doing the scheduled seating in hte formal main dining room, we opted this cruise for the "Dine your way" plan which allows the flexibility to choose when we eat and whether or not we dine alone or at a table with other passengers. This way, we are not always with the same group so we get to meet a lot more folks. Our table companions tonight were Edgar, originally from Boston but now lives in the Azures. He was an older man traveling alone and kept asking hte waiter to seat a woman next to him so he could have a girlfriend. He complained about being charged $5 for a glass of beer and I said to him "if you think $5 for beer was high, imagine what the girlfriend will cost you!" Another couple, Inid and Yuri were from Moscow but currently live in Boston. He is a history professor at Boston University. There was also a couple of young men from Russia that did not speak English and a couple from India that appeared to be on their honeymoon. They did not join in any conversation but I do not know if it was a language thing or just becasue they were too busy eating. Between the two of them they ate 3 appitizer courses, 3 main entree courses and 2 desserts! They must have needed a lot of energy :) Jim had the Tortilla Soup and Wild Mushroom Fettucini for his dinner and the peach and blueberry cobbler for dessert. I had a cold watermelon, strawberry and celery soup which was fantastic and the Cauliflower Curry with Onion Pancakes. For dessert I had a Strawberry Pavlova which I think is my new favorite thing in this world! There were a couple shows we thought about going to but that big ole comfy bed was calling us. Laying there looking out at the ocean and listening to the waves was just the perfect ending to this day. Tomorrow is a shore excursion into Palma de Mallorca so until then.....