Embarkation Day

Last night they had a dinner for all those passengers who are doing the entire trip around South America. We started with an hour cocktail party where we first met Mark Conroy who is the President of Regent. We also met several of the entertainment staff who will be getting on the ship with us. They like to put the best of the best on these long cruises. At dinner we sat with two other couples, one from California and the other from Maryland. Plus the assistant cruise director, Elsia, and Michael who is the Vice President of Entertainment for both Regent and Oceania. He used to be the cruise director years ago and now is land based. Dinner was good and for our entertainment, The Platters sang. Boy, talk about bringing back old memories. Had us old folks up and dancing. What a fun night.

Today we had breakfast with a couple from Mass., one from New Zealand, a lady from Arizona who did the world cruise last year, and a lady from North Carolina. All interesing and delightful. Now to pack our overnight bags and head to the ship where I will continue telling about embarkation. Regent is moving the embarkation and disembarkation to Miami in the future. I guess this makes sense since their headquarters are there.

We checked out of the hotel and sat in the lobby to wait for the bus to take us to the ship.  We were in the 10:30 group and after a wait, the buses arrived and we got on.  They drove us to the pier and left us off but not at the door where we were to enter.  We do not have a problem walking but some of the passengers do.  Well it seems we entered where the staff enters.  The lady at the desk was overwhelmed but she checked our names and we headed upstairs to really check in.  Once on board we were taken to the dining room where we had a wonderful lunch.  Bob walked around the ship to take some pictures and then we headed to our cabin.

We are in a Penthouse suite and there seems to be enough space.  Our luggage has not arrived yet so we don't know if we overpacked or not.  Time will tell.  The muster drill is at 5:15 and we sail at 6pm.