The walk back to the shuttle stop did not take long and I did not have to wait long for the trolley that was our shuttle either. I had enjoyed the tour and the narration, but I could not help but thinking that it would have been even better if we had the driver who took us back to the ship. He was originally from Florida, had worked at Walt Disney World for a while and was both funny and educational. We stopped a couple of times on route to drop off other people before heading back to the port.
When I got back to the ship, I headed back to the cabin. I still did not know what had happened to Graham when we got separated in the theatre. I was not sure if he had ever left the ship. One thing however I could be sure of and that was that sooner or later, he would come back to the cabin. I did not have long to wait. He arrived about 15 minutes after me. When I saw the stampede, he decided to check out how bad it was and then decided to pass. He spent some time on the open decks, went to guest services to ask for a refund on his excursion ticket and at some stage had lunch in the Windjammer. It was only once the line was completely inside the dining room that he headed for immigration and was processed pretty quickly. By then it was about 14:00. So Graham never got off the ship.
Once we were reunited, we decided to go up to deck 12. We found a way to get to the aft of the ship on that level. We enjoyed the view for a bit and were treated to another sunset. Once I started to get a bit cold, we headed back inside. We headed up to the Viking Crown lounge. Even though we had been there quite a lot, this was great first time we noticed the beautiful Murano glass orbs on the bannisters. Every single one was different. We stayed up there for a bit. Some sort of crew drill was going on and there were people with life jackets all over the place. However, when we headed back downstairs, there were still members of crew going through immigration. By then it was just before 17:00. We went over to the sofas by the Star Lounge. The crew drill was just winding up and the Star Lounge had been used for this. That left them with an interesting problem. The Star Lounge should have been used as the Diamond Lounge from 17:00 so they were scrambling to get ready while half the ship seemed to be waiting to be let in.
Once the crowds had dispersed, we got going again. Graham wanted a coffee and I wanted a Coke. Most bars were closed. I found the pub open, but with a long line. Eventually I got my Coke and we relocated to our favourite seats at the R Bar. When we were supposed to leave Boston, they only just started the life boat drill for the crew. This was a bad day for the ship having all the delays with immigration and a Coast Guard inspection. We spoke to the captain a few days later and he shared that the Coast Guard had been livid as all the hold ups with immigration were stopping them doing their job. We finished our respective drinks and then headed back to our cabin.
We played around with the interactive TV for a bit and noticed that the money for Graham’s shore excursion had already been refunded. This was great customer service especially considering that they probably had to refund quite a few excursions. Some excursions that they offered were full day excursions and there was no way at least non US citizens would have made those. A little while later, we got ready for dinner. I did wear my new Southern Pacific inspired jewellery. Unfortunately there is no photographic evidence of this. When we headed for dinner, there were backdrops set up, but there were no photographers around. At that stage, we were still docked. So we headed to dinner and decided to go back for photos later.
We were wondering what we would find for dinner as the dining room was still used for immigration about 90 minutes earlier. When we came to dinner, it was business as usual. The serving teams were a little on edge, which is understandable, but this did not in any way impact our dining experience. They food was delicious again and this time, we both pretty much had the same. Graham had his usual water and I had a Coke. Graham had Mushroom Arancini, garlic spinach and Romanesco sauce for his appetizer and I had the same, but asked them to leave off the spinach. I had ordered the chilled strawberry bisque. For some reason, our server got his wires crossed and he brought Graham one as well. I would have happily eaten both, but Graham decided to try it and actually quite liked it. For our main course, we both had Chicken Marsala with asparagus, mushrooms, roasted garlic and tomato. As per the menu, this came with mashed potatoes and this is what Graham had. Had more than enough mashed potatoes this trip so I asked for the provolone potato bake that came with another dish on the menu. This worked really well. For dessert, Graham went with the Crème Brûlée with caramelised banana. This was not great. I had the Tiramisu, which was also disappointing.
After dinner, there was still no sign of photographers. We headed down to deck 3 to find out if there would be photos that day and also to look at the photos from the past few days. By then, we were finally under way. The screens were all disabled. We were told that they could not have the screens on or take photos until we were in international waters. I found this very strange as they had taken photos on the ship while we were still docked in Southampton. This was even stranger when we came back to deck 5 and all the shops were open. We were advised that the earliest there would be photos that evening would be 21:00. We headed back to our cabin.
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We had another towel animal waiting for us. I checked out the Daily Compass and noticed that My Time Dining the following day was due to start at 17:30. We had an evening excursion booked for our first day in New York and for that reason I had not made a dinner reservation as our meeting time was 18:45. I had figured that we would either be able to get something at the Windjammer or at least would be able to get a sandwich at Café Promenade. However, with the earlier dining time, we would actually have time for dinner. I checked with Graham what he wanted to do and he liked the idea of having dinner before our excursion as well. I read for a bit and just before 21:00, I headed out again to check if there were now photographers out and about and to check if we could get a 17:30 dinner reservation for the next evening. There were still no photographers, but we had no issues getting a dinner reservation. With this taken care of, I decided it was time to call it a night. I headed back to the cabin and got ready for bed.
, thank you.
