Are We Confused Yet?

Months ago I made arrangements with a friend who lives in the Los Angeles area to meet us at the ship and take us to Target or Walmart for supplies. I figured we would know after our first 2 weeks what we might have forgotten or need. We asked the ship if it would be possible for them to come aboard for the day and were given a form. We had to submit their names, dates of birth and passport numbers in advance for approval. Several days later, we were told that they could be on the ship from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., pretty easy. Originally Michelle was going to arrive to meet us at 10, so we decided to do our errands then have lunch on board. Then she had something come up, so needed to be home mid-afternoon, so we changed our plans to breakfast at 9, then errands. The day before we arrived in LA we were informed that everyone had to leave the ship between 9:30 and 10:30 due to some customs regulation. So our plans were changed back to errands first, then lunch. Too funny all the emails going back and forth trying to figure out what would work.

Because of our unlimited laundry "amenity", we both realized that we brought WAY too many clothes! We could have just 3 outfits and be fine! LOL We decided to have Michelle ship some things home for us. I thought it would be one suitcase with a few clothes and purchases. Next thing I knew, Mel had filled one suitcase, so we ended up with 2 full suitcases of things to ship home. We headed off the ship at about 9 to meet up with Michelle and Chris who had been circling out front for a bit already (sorry guys!). We ran into a number of fellow passengers and crew who all said "Where are you going, aren't you staying on the ship?!" since they saw our luggage. We even ran into the ship's Captain on the pier who said the same thing. It was very funny.

Michelle and Chris had done their homework and had Target put into their GPS already. We transferred our clothing into one of the boxes they brought for us in the Target parking lot. I didn't want to let any of our suitcases go! Never can tell what we might be bringing home with us. We bought a lot of drinks and miscellaneous supplies then headed to Fed Ex. We filled another box there and off they went. Sixty pounds out of our stateroom, much better.

Back at the ship, our visitors had to use the crew entrance, but were able to board without a hitch. We took them to our cabin then had lunch at the Lido. We walked around and showed them everything until they had to leave at 1. After all the going back and forth, the scheduling worked out perfectly. Very nice of them to be our chauffeur's for the day!

Our cabin stewards delivered our suitcases to the room. They couldn't figure out why we had luggage when we'd been on the ship for 2 weeks already...and were asking if there were more than those 2?! I guess they remembered the 19 bags we had at the beginning of the trip. We confused them too.

We went to the Sail Away party on the aft deck before dinner. I think the average age of passengers just went up about 15 years! Oh well, I'm sure it will be fine. Our dinner appears to now be at 5:30 instead of 5:45, at least for today and tomorrow. We were curious to meet our new table mates. We had such great conversations with our last ones. We MISS you Roy, Marlene, Trevor and Daisy!! We are at a table for 6. The other 2 couples are from Germany, one speaks NO English! Guess there won't be many great conversations at that table! They are all very nice but it's a lot of work trying to always speak slowly and hope they understand. Not sure how long we'll stay at their table. It's probably hard for them also. The English speaking couple was always having to translate for the other couple. We did have a funny thing happen...they ordered espresso and ended up with espresso chip ice cream. It was the best ice cream so far in the cruise, by the way. :)

Several things we've noticed different (improved) from the last segment (this is the "Official World Cruise" now).....the menu is larger, more options. The ladies were all given a rose at dinner. The dessert menu is also larger, 2 pages. And the room service breakfast menu is 2 pages. Just minor changes, but noticeable. Wonder what else is in store for us?

Four sea days coming up. I'm sure we'll be so busy that they'll fly by.

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