We’re Onboard

Friday, 6 January 2017
Aboard Oceania Insignia — Port of Miami, Florida
Temps: 80F (27C) / 73F (23C)

We have embarked Insignia … the home away from home that we will be sharing with some 600+ other passengers for the next 180 days.

I am taking advantage of the time before our bags are delivered to get a quickie post up … might as well use our Verizon data package while I still can ;-)

We wake up to clear skies … and then this!  No matter, it’s clearing already.

Our day started early … so what else is new, right?  After sharing breakfast with two of our shipmates — new friends Sonia and Boris — we returned to the room to find the fog lifting slowly.  Perfect timing for a short stroll to the waterfront to see with our own eyes that Insignia was indeed berthed at Dodge Island.

There she is … Insignia is waiting for us.

Around 9:30a the bellman knocked on our door and took our bags away.  “We’ll come down in a few minutes and identify them,” I told him.  After all, that’s what our instructions said we should do.  “Not necessary,” he replied … “the truck is already here.  I will load them into the truck with my own hands … trust me.”  And we did.  So much for the instructions from O!

Our bags are somewhere in this jumble of bags! [Our checked bags have already been delivered, so we know the bellman kept his promise.  Now we just need the duffels we shipped to be delivered too.]

The lobby was crowded with RTWers waiting for the transfer busses to arrive … we were told there were 126 of us at the IC for the pre-cruise night.  Mui and I looked at each other and decided to skip the included transfer and just take a cab over to Terminal J on our own dime.  A better choice I think as we bypassed the hullabaloo that was bound to ensue when busloads of passengers descended on the check-in staff.  As it was, there were no other passengers at the counters when we were directed to the RTW check-in desk.  By 11:30a we were onboard the ship … a half hour later we were enjoying a light lunch at the Terrace Café.

Hello Insignia … we are heeeere!  Are you ready for us?

A sense of déjà vu assailed us when we stepped inside stateroom 6090.  It all looked so, so familiar … and it was … from the 2015 Europe cruise we did in the cabin adjacent to this one on sister-ship Nautica.  The only difference since then … the cabin has been re-categorized from a veranda B1 to a concierge A2.  It’s a cozy little cabin, but I know we will be happy living in it for the next 6 months … remember, we live in a motorhome and are used to “cozy.”

Cabin 6090 … home sweet home for six months.

Oceania has delivered on its promise to make sure we have a couple of
loungers on the veranda … you know I’ll be spending a lot of my free time here.

And that pretty much catches me up on the happenings on this much-anticipated embarkation day.  A day of excitement that is now being tempered by a shooting incident at the Ft Lauderdale Airport … I don’t know the details yet … the information is just now coming across the TV.  The terrorism attack on my hometown of İzmir, Turkey yesterday … and now this.  So, so sad.

This world we live in is a wonderful one … most of the time.  We will explore it over the coming months, being vigilant against potential safety threats, but not letting fear rule our lives.

The Miami skyline from the Sun Deck onboard Insignia.

To end on a positive note … we are about to begin an adventure of a lifetime … and the excitement we’re feeling has no bounds.

© 2015-2017 — All rights reserved by Erin Erkun.