Away we go!

Away we go!

It has been brought to my attention that I have been quite remiss about updating my blog. I can’t remember what my last post was and I am currently offline so I will have to do fill-ins later. However, right now I am perched at the end of my bed in stateroom #4586 of the Norwegian Dawn on my way to Bermuda.  We left home at noon yesterday and dropped Rocky off at the home of my friend and co-worker, Andrea. I’m figuring he’s settled down and forgotten about us by now. We stopped for a quick lunch at Cody’s Restaurant in New Haven and then took the Merritt Parkway to NY to spend the night at my mother’s apartment. We went out to dinner at London Lenny’s where I had delicious grilled scallops. I brought half of my serving home with me for my snack today. We called my brother in China when we got back from dinner and we called it a night shortly after 8:00.

Today, Sunday, April 18, 2010 we were treated to mom’s famous waffles (the good kind with the whipped egg whites). They’re definitely not on my diet but how could I turn them down? I decided just to enjoy them and not beat myself up over indulging in a waffle. The two strips of bacon might be another story but the fruit was definitely on my eating plan. John made up the Murphy Bed in the guest room while I helped cook up 8 sausages. I did NOT have any sausage and John did not want or need 8 sausages but that’s how many there were so that’s how many we made. After breakfast John and I took a walk to Barnes & Noble to see if he could find something to read on the cruise. I found a Games magazine. John found nothing that interested him.  We browsed around in Rite Aid and then went back to the apartment to get our stuff ready to be picked up by the limo. I was searching for my travel cell phone when it started ringing (narrowing its location to my overnight bag, but I still missed the cal). It was from Kendra, my mentee, so I called her back and wished her a good week next week at Nature’s Classroom. Our limo was ordered for 12:00 but arrived at 11:50.  We got stuck in all sorts of traffic on the way to the pier. In Long Island City we were stopped for a motorcade of motorcycles that went on and on and on. Then in Manhattan we got caught up in road closures due to a parade down 5^th Avenue. Our driver took everything in stride and we were early enough that we weren’t concerned about a delay. As it was, we got to the pier at 12:55 and dropped off our baggage and quickly went through the boarding process. We were on board by 1:25. We could have been processed faster if I had known to go in the line marked “Latitudes”. The first thing I did when we were finally on the ship was to book a hot stone massage for Monday. Then we went up to the 12^th deck for lunch. I had a small piece of chicken, green beans and some jambalaya and a cup of orange herbal tea. It hit the spot. While we were eating an announcement was made that the staterooms were ready so after eating we explored the rest of Deck 12 and 13 and then made our way down to the stateroom. We had made the decision when we booked this cruise that we were not going to spend a lot on our stateroom. We did not anticipate having to climb over the desk to get into bed. We wound up having our cabin steward reconfigure the beds into two twin beds instead of a king size bed. We had a pleasant surprise waiting for us in the stateroom: our travel agent had sent us a bottle of wine and my mother gave us a $100 onboard credit. Later we received a plate of chocolate covered strawberries and chocolates, also from the travel agent. The lifeboat drill was held at 3:30 and was really weird. Our muster station was on level 6 in the Impressions Restaurant. We didn’t have to bring our life vests and I think there were a total of 12 people in our station. We had to look into the next room to watch a crew member show how to put on the life vest and then we were dismissed. Could there really only be 12 people in our lifeboat? The whole drill was over in about 5 minutes. We all left shaking our heads.  I had to go to the guest relations desk to get a power cord (there’s only 1 110 volt outlet in our stateroom) and then we went out on Deck 7 to watch the Sail Away.  I wanted to get pictures of the Statue of Liberty.  We were under way shortly after 4:00 and just as we began moving my camera battery died. I found out just how quickly I could dash down 3 floors to our stateroom, grab my other camera and get back to our spot on the railing.  After standing out in the wind for about an hour we were ready for a cup of coffee/tea. I brought my cup of tea back to the stateroom.  We unpacked in about 5 minutes and then it was time to think about dinner. We opted to eat in one of the main dining rooms. We got up there around 6:00 and literally just walked in and were seated.  The dining room was set up with plenty of tables for 2. I had a Greek salad for a starter and Miso Glazed Tilapia with bok choy and shitake mushrooms and Singapore noodles. It was delicious. The portions are small but I was very satisfied with my meal. John had a NY Strip steak with baked potato, green beans and onion rings. One of our waitresses recommended the Tiramisu for dessert and I had to try it. Again the portion was very small and it was fantastic.  After dinner John joined me at the welcome show in the Stardust Theater. I thought it was very well done and John enjoyed the male vocalist and the comedian, Dave Henner.  We blew some money in the casino and then stopped in Gatsby’s Lounge to listen to Bernie Martini (and have a sombrero).  By 9:30 we were ready to head back down to the stateroom to watch tv and get into bed. We have a lot more room with the beds separated. Tomorrow morning is the Meet & Greet for the Cruise Critic Roll Call group at 10:30 in the Star Bar.