Well, having just kicked jet-lag, they threw a 1 hour tome change at us last night! With most of our clocks being linked to the phone or computer, we had no idea whether they had changed automagically or not. Luckily Lyn still has an analogue watch, which gave us the correct time Unfortunately we somehow slept in 2 hours after our normal wake up time.
As we are at sea all day there won’t be many pictures, but maybe a quick explanation of the “more on that later comments”. A little history. When we first started traveling back in the 80’s it was low cost airlines to low cost resorts. This remained the norm until the mid 2000’s. At that stage I was making a lot of business trips to Europe and we were allowed Business class. Once I retired the thought of no more traveling in Business class loomed 🙁 .
After retirement I used all of our frequent flyer miles on a round the world trip in Business. This was a mistake, as Lyn also got the big seat bug! With a lot of internet searching, it was possible to get business class at a price not too far above economy. Problem solved!We did a lot of trips after retirement, but then we decided we we didn’t like the idea of of trips that had us spend a couple of nights in a hotel, then pack up and move to the next stop, so we decided the easiest way was to find a hotel that moves… A cruise ship. We found ourselves a good Cruise Travel Consultant who was able to help in getting good prices, so off we went. At the outset we decided we both wanted a balcony cabin, again not too much more than a non balcony cabin. This worked just fine, we had found the best way to travel, or had we.
These cabins were a little on the small side, with the only seating being a small desk chair, or the bed. A sofa would be nice! So we tried the next level up. Well once you’ve tried it, you can’t move back.
Well that worked well, but the cruise we are now on, which we had wanted to do for our 50th for some years wasn’t operated by our usual cruise line. We switched lines, but they didn’t have a mini-suite category, only a suite. We looked at the lowest price suite (the higher priced ones can sell for 6 figures!!) and it had all we wanted, at a price we wanted. Perfect.
After a lot of rambling, now to the original reason for this post. Suite guests are given access to a number of perks. The first we got was at check-in. We were given a check-in time of 1:30PM, but as we had to leave the hotel at 11AM we were early. First perk, there is a waiting lounge just for suite guests. Second perk, boarding times don’t apply to suite guests. Third perk, security line ups don’t apply to suite guests, we were escorted to the front of the line. From stepping out of the taxi to being fully checked in on the ship took no more than 10 minutes!
Once on board we took a look around, there was a nice lounge for suite guests only, I am going to finish up a snob by the end of this cruise! Back in the cabin, our butler dropped by to introduce himself, and point out a few more perks!
In the evening we went to a restaurant for suite guests, it was much smaller than the main dining rooms and very well laid out. Another perk, we didn’t need to reserve ahead of time!
This is where we got our first disappointment. The menu was very limited and consisted of what I call Yuppy Food! Nothing really appealed. Then our waiter came round with two more menus from other restaurants on the ship. We could mix and match from all three menus, Perfect!
The service was excellent, as was the food.
When we left the restaurant, we passed one of the other main restaurants, there must have been 40-50 people waiting for a table.
The next morning, after our butler brought a hot breakfast to the cabin, we went to the main theater to join hundred of other guests waiting to go on tours. We discovered we could wait in the suite lounge, drink coffee, eat pastries and then be escorted ahead of the crowds to our coach, so we could get a decent seat together. Life is so tough.
I wrote way more than I planned, and you’re probably bored to tears by now, so I’ll shut up.