Well, after almost a year of planning, today is the day that we boarded the Viking Neptune for our world cruise – – the last and final one. We had to pack and repack everything to fit all the bridge supplies plus all the other stuff we bought to last for the 4 1/2 months. We have never figured out how to pack light.
We Ubered over to the cruise terminal and boarding was a snap. I don’t believe we’ve ever boarded as fast as we did. Our bags arrived slowly to the room so we were able to unpack without feeling overwhelmed. All I can say, is thank goodness for the magnets. Magnets have made what little storage we have possible.
We met our room steward, who brought us all the extra hangers, padded the bed, and assisted us in whatever we needed. By dinner time we had everything put away. We were absolutely exhausted. However, we met old friends for dinner and had a nice time renewing acquaintances.
After dinner, we went to bed, and I think Michael made a new record by going to sleep in probably two seconds. I took a little bit longer, but had trouble sleeping because I was so sore from all the bending and lifting that we did. It is important that you be organized in such a small space.
Our first sea day happened to be Christmas Eve. If there were no decorations and music, you would never know that it was the Christmas season. Michael and I both went to work today, both of us extremely exhausted and tired, but we got the work done. I have a very enthusiastic group of knitters and Michael got huge crowds for his bridge lessons. We had a duplicate game in the afternoon and I lucked out and got to play with somebody who actually knows how to play bridge and even got some master points.
We have run into so many people and crew that we have met on previous cruises. So it’s almost like old home week. We were really surprised when a former cruise director that we knew on Seabourn showed up. She has been with Viking for several years and now works in the office and is the one that brought us over to Viking. All the staff that we have made friends with over the years were glad to see us and gave us big hugs. Everything is so familiar.
The worst part of a new cruise is where introductions of the enrichment lecturers and hosts are made to the entire passenger compliment. But in this case, not only did we have to do it once, but we had to do it twice. I’m not really shy, but I really do not like getting up in front of an auditorium full of people and stand there, wondering what to do with my hands and how to stand and where to look. Fortunately, everyone was brief and so the pain only lasted for several minutes.
We are in Cozumel tomorrow and I am electing to stay on board and rest. Michael is escorting on an all day excursion that leaves at 8 AM. Glad he’s doing it and that I am not.
