The limo ride from Sarasota to the hotel in Miami was a piece of cake. 3-1/2 hours door to door with a good driver and a comfortable ride.
We are on board, passports were delivered to the ship as promised and apparently all outstanding issues have been resolved. Our cabin is awash in lovely flowers and forbidden sweets. Many familiar faces among both the crew and fellow passengers. We have our favorite table 7 by the window for the whole cruise.
The overnight stay at the Four Seasons was an experience in luxury and the bon voyage gala party was superb, albeit a bit noisy with a 12 piece band that wouldn’t stop playing. Just a bit too much interference to be able to carry on a conversation. TSA shut down the ship for a couple hours while they played their game but we were on board in time for a nice salad lunch with champagne.
It’s been a good start to what we expect to be a wonderful experience.
For those who keep track of such things, here is our itinerary.
Duke & Nancy
Itinerary WC2010
1/11/10 Miami Shore Ex.
1/15 St. Lucia STL-A
1/16 Barbados Virtuoso
1/18 Devil’s Island DVL-AC
1/21 Fortaleza, Brz
1/25 Rio RIO-A
1/29 Montevideo MVD-A
1//30 BA BUE-AC
2/8 Capetown CPT-A
2/12 Port Elizabeth PLZ-A
2/14 Durban DUR-C
2/18 Zanzibar
2/19 Mombassa MOM-C
2/22 Victoria Seychelles-canceled
2/25 Male Maldives-canceled
2/27 Cochin India
3/1 Marmagao, India
3/2 Mumbai, India
3/5 Muscat, Oman
3/6 Bandar Abbas
3/8 Shuwaikh
3/9 Manama
3/11 Abu Dhabi
3/14 Dubai
3/17 Khasab
3/18 Al Fujayrah
3/23 Jedda
3/25 Aqaba
3/26 Safaga
3/29 Alexandria ALX-C
3/31 Ashdod, Israel ASH-E
4/2 Athens, Greece ATH-AC
4/5 Odessa, ODE-A
4/7 Yalta YAL-A
4/8 Sochi SOC-A
4/10 Istanbul ISB-A
4/13 Kusadasi KUS-F cancel-Virtuoso
4/15 Catania CAT-C
4/16 Naples NAP-C
4/17 Rome ROM-AI
4/18 Livornia
4/20 Barcelona BAR-AC BAR-D1 CANCEL?
4/23 Gibraltar GIB-A
4/24 Lisbon
4/26 Bilbao BIL-A
4/27 La Rochelle
4/29 Southampton