Well, first of all, Happy Birthday to me! We were up very early, before 6am, as is normal on turnaround day, and G remembered my birthday before he even had his eyes opened. He's come a long way, baby!! When I opened the cabin door to go down to breakfast, our cabin steward Raymond was standing there with a big smile on his face to wish me a happy day, and already had my birthday banner on the door (and on a busy turnaround day morning!). I love it here!
I went down to the Botticelli Dining Room (where turnaround day breakfast is offered) but G wasn't there yet. He soon showed up, as did a stack of four pancakes with a candle in them and four waiters, including Darko, to sing to me. And G has brought me a USA Today from the Elite disembarkation lounge. It was just after 7am, and the day was already feeling celebratory.
I really don't get this kind of treatment at home!
We still hadn't looked outside but started hearing rumblings from passengers dining nearby that it was raining hard. Oh joy, but what an appropriate disembarkation day for a cruise for which miserable weather was the rule rather than the exception.
When we retuned to our cabin for that 9am pill taking activity (held at 7:30am this morning) we peeked out the door at the end of our corridor. Yes, it was pouring. It was also chilly and very windy, and not a morning to be walking down to Great Clips for a haircut and Publix or Walgreens for some shopping. It was a hive of activity in the corridor as it always is on turnaround day, as our cabin steward and his deck attendant assistants were readying the cabins around ours. I made our beds and emptied our trash and exchanged our wet towels for dry ones (it keeps me in practice for D Day (Disembarkation Day)), and then we headed up to Skywalkers to watch the rain and make calls and Internet and basically get out of everyone's way.
Announcements were being made that disembarkation was falling behind schedule due to immigration delays in the terminal, first an hour and then two hours. The in transit passengers were supposed to meet at 10:30am in the DaVinci Dining Room to go through immigration together, but we were told not to gather there until further notice. It was after noon before we finally showed our passports to an immigration agent, and about 12:45pm before we reboarded the ship. Well, I reboarded. G stayed in the terminal to wait with friends Jim and Marcia while they went through the boarding process.
It was almost 1:30pm before we all met up for lunch in the DaVinci Dining Room. It was wonderful to see them again! We know Jim and Marcia only from cruising; for two winters they were seated at the table for two next to ours. The first year it was just by happenstance, and that is how we first met, but last year it was by design, and again this year we're seated next to each other for dinner. Two tables for two allow us to start and finish dinner on our own schedules, but there's always a lot of overlap and chatter.
By then it was 2:30pm, and the rain had slowed to a mist, so G and I decided to make a Walgreens run. We had to be back on the ship by 3:30, so there was no time for a haircut today. But at least we restocked the Sudafed, got some tissues that don't hurt, two more bottles of that Barefoot Bubbly, and a few other items. The rain was a bit more intense as we walked back to the ship, and thank God I was wearing my fleece pullover and actual shoes and socks, because it was especially cool once I was soaked by the rain.
Returning to our cabin during muster drill is easy, as everyone is at their muster stations and the elevators and corridors were clear. And such goodies awaited us in the cabin! This cruise is being recognized as our 50th Princess cruise (it was really the Christmas cruise, but we asked to postpone it until after the holidays). We received the same personalized stationary that suite passengers receive, a beautiful tropical flower arrangement, a bottle of good champagne and chocolate covered strawberries.
We had also chosen to receive, in lieu of our minibar setup, two coffee cards for 15 free specialty coffee drinks each. As I've mentioned, our cabin is being overrun with minibar items. G discontinued getting the soda sticker last cruise just to start to work his way through cans of sodas and beers, not to mention the many, many minibottles of gin. We simply aren't that good at this drinking thing, but I'm very good at drinking cappuccinos and frozen white chocolate mochas (too good at the latter).
We had also received a phone call from the Passenger Services Desk that a package of mail had arrived on board for us (thank you Martha!). And folded up in our mail slot was the local Sunday paper from back home. I knew exactly what that meant, and ran down two cabins to check out the name tag. Sure enough, Anita, who lives about two hours away from us and with whom we've cruised for years is back on board. Just like us, she stays in the same cabin every year. I knocked on her door, she was there, big hugs, and I'll stretch that paper to make it last all cruise.
An abundance of riches, all on one day.
Sailaway was a definite bust with all the rain (the sailaway party was held in Club Fusion). Although today wasn't quite as cold, it reminded me a great deal of sailaway on the same day in either 2008 or 2009 when it was raining and 45 degrees in Fort Lauderdale and actually sunny and warmer at home. We got ready for the evening and went up to the Elite Lounge in Skywalkers to see if we recognized anyone, and immediately spotted Claudette and Ross, whom we cruised with last January. We love these first two cruises in January. We've done them for years, even when G still worked, and the same people do these same cruises every year. It's a lot of fun to see them again.
We took our bottle of champagne to dinner and celebrated my birthday after dinner. It reminded us that, after our finaldinner with Jim and Marcia last January, we had had an early celebration of their 50th anniversary with cake and champagne. It was only fitting that we kicked off the next 20 days in the same way.
But, after almost half a bottle of champagne and an early wake up, I'm done for the day. We move clocks back an hour tonight, so it will be after 10:30pm AST time when I get this published. G is already asleep, and I'll be soon.
I guess I can handle birthdays when they're like this one. :-)