concerned about climate change and the impact we have on it yet I cruise
a lot. One way I try to deal with the conflict is that I try to put an
extra vehicle on the road just for myself less often. To that end I
boarded an express MTA bus this morning for the 20-mile ride to
Baltimore and connected with another to the port area. I am now at a
local McDonalds hanging out for an hour or so with coffee and free
internet. I'll be walking the remaining 5 blocks or so to the ship in
about a half hour.
I dropped off my bags about 10:30. A very helpful porter took hold of
my pack directly from my back, much easier than taking it off myself. I
walked about a mile to the inner harbor and the Baltimore Symphony Show
House on the inner harbor. The BSO has been sponsoring these events.
It was a good walk and interesting with some very nice decorating ideas
but was quite crowded and turned out not to really be my cup of tea, but
still a nice walk.
I returned to Locust Point Cruise Terminal about 12:45. Security and
embarkation were a total of about 20 minutes. There has been some
discussion of restrictions of things brought on board. With regard to
soft drinks I brought a six pack of diet soda with no problem
whatsoever. I also like to eat an apple sliced up with a paring knife.
Knowing this might be a problem I bought one at a local hardware store
that I was willing to lose(less than $1). The security guards said
nothing to me but I heard them talking among themselves about a 4-inch
blade limit and mine was under 3.
The rooms do not officially open until 2, but when I stopped by the room
the key worked and I left my daypack in the closet. I found the ship a
bit difficult to navigate at first, with deck diagrams and directions
few and far between. I slowly made my way up deck by deck looking for
the Windjammer without much idea where I was going. About 1:30 there
was an announcement that rooms were open and lunch was served on deck
9. I found the WJ at the very front of the ship.
Muster drill was held at 3:30. Muster stations are outside on deck5 by
the boats and we were not required to take our life jackets. As of the
muster drill I had not received my checked bag so I spent most of the
afternoon exploring the ship while checking on the bag periodically.
After the muster I headed up to deck 10 for sailaway. We dropped lines
at 3:50, about 10 minutes ahead of schedule. It was a fairly tight
U-turn to get away from the pier, but we sailed past Ft. Mchenry about
4:20 and under the Key Bridge a half hour later. When I returned to my
room the bag was there so I unpacked for about 45 minutes. My steward,
Friday introduced himself. I left about 5:45 and went on deck for the
sail past the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Annapolis, then down to dinner
in the My Fair Lady dining room. I have a table for 4 with Connie and
Donnie from Bel Air, about a half hour North of Baltimore and Jetty from
Glascow, Scotland. Donnie works for his county government and is about
10 years from retirement. Jetty is mostly retired from a furniture
business now run by his sons. He speaks with quite a thick brogue.
Bento, from Portugal, is our waiter. This is the first time on RCI for
all of us. It seemed like quite a compatible group and we finished
dinner about 7:50.
The Welcome Aboard Show was at 7:45, one show between dinner seatings.
The theater was very crowded and I initially sat on the aisle steps, but
after adjusting to the light I ended up in a seat on the first row.
There was a short presentation by the Royal Caribbean Singers and
Dancers, an introduction to shipboard activities by Cruise Director
Carly Voileau and Activities Manager Paul, and some comedy with Al Katz.
Returning to my room, I confirmed that I had made some technological
blunders for this cruise. I have 2 digital cameras but in final packing
had been unable to locate 1 camera or the charger for the second.
Hoping I had earlier packed the missing components I also took my video
camera which can take stills. After fully unpacking, I found that I had
nothing unexpected. I usually carry a netbook on most cruises. With a
short trip to and from the ship, I took my full sized notebook this
time. I plug my camera memory directly into the netbook but must use an
adapter for the full size laptop and it doesn't support the large memory
cards I am currently using. Fortunately I was able to connect the USB
cable from my scanner to the video camera and download my pictures that
way (I have now placed smaller memory chips in the camera for future
use) but the process was slow. When that was over I was ready for bed.
I normally close each day's post with a "Parting Shot". It could be
anything, related or not to the cruise, the events of the day on or off
the ship or most anything else. For today's parting shot, I have long
wanted to do a cruise from my home port of Baltimore. Fort McHenry is
pretty low to the ground and not a spectacular sight like the Statue of
Liberty but it has such an important place in our history that it was
still a great thrill to sail past it.
Roy
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