Clearing customs in Calgary was the quickest I have ever experienced. There was absolutely no one in line in front of us as we approached the custom officers and they were even friendly. Then through the X-ray machines where we got to keep our coats, shoes and belts on, and keep the liquids in our backpacks. It was really nice not to have to get undressed to get through security for a change. In just over an hour we had left Nicole's, parked at the "Park and Jet", cleared customs and were sitting at the gate waiting to board our plane. We had an hour to spare. I am sure though if we had left Nic's a hour later things wouldn't have gone so smoothly and we might have missed the plane.
We arrived in Houston 15 minutes late and realized that we only had 45 minutes to check-in to the cruise ship. Jumping into a cab, we were headed to Bayport Cruise Terminal. The only challenge was the cabbie wasn't sure were it was but he knew it was a long way away. No problem though- he would phone a friend and hopefully have us there by 3pm. "No" we said, we need to be there before 3. He would try but he still wasn't sure where he was going. To say the least I was just a little bit stressed, but refused to keep looking at my watch because that really wouldn't help us get there any faster. Finally, I was able to locate the route using the GPS on my iPhone. I know we will ge getting a hefty phone bill for that one but at least we were now confident we were heading in the right direction. With Nicole confirming the directions to our taxi driver he sped towards Houston's Terminal Port. Thank goodness there were no police cars on the road because he definitely exceeded the speed limit getting us to the terminal without a minute to spare. We jumped out of the taxi and gave our driver a handsome tip. Hopefully he doesn't have to use it to pay any photo radar tickets!
We weren't the very last passengers to check-in but it was close. We were so late we didn't even have to pose for the official welcome to the cruise ship photo. Just think of the time we will save not looking for the picture we don't want to buy.
I am not sure how it happened or why but we are scheduled for "traditional" dining at 5:30pm, table number 442, every evening. I think this is a good thing. Upon arriving at our table we were introduced to John. During the introductions John told us his wife died a year and a half ago so he was cruising alone. Turns out Mr. John (as the cruise staff call him) has been on the ship since January 4th, 2015, but this would be his last week.
Now I am thinking that's the way I want to spend my latter years. Travelling around the Caribbean, having people look after me, a medical doctor that will come to my cabin if I feel ill and lots of entertainment to keep me occupied. Sounds pretty good to me. Unfortunately for Mr. John, it doesn't appear to have been such a fun experience. In the past three months he hasn't left the ship at any of the ports, he doesn't go to any of the shows and really doesn't have much of an appetite. On several occasions the medics have had to help him get from the dining room back to his cabin because he didn't feel well. The whole situation sounded very sad. It is very clear John deeply misses his wife to whom he was married for over 50 years.
On a positive note we learned he was a high school math teacher prior to retiring. Turns out that Mr. John brought 10 bottles of champagne with him when he first boarded the ship back in January. However that is a bit of a no, no. Cruise lines don't allow you to bring your own alcohol, or any other beverage for that matter onto the ship. What the cruise line did do was confiscate the champagne and each Sunday they give him back a bottle with dinner. So tonight thanks to the generosity of Mr. John, we all had champagne with dinner. A nice way to start the vacation and toast our new dinner companion.
After dinner it was time to go to the first show of the cruise. We were welcomed by the Emerald singers and dancers. Then the Cruise Director and the Assistant Cruise Director did the "Welcome to the Cruise" dog and pony show. The real entertainment for the evening was a comedian named Darrell Joyce. Now he was funny! Mostly because everything he spoke about was so very close to the truth. Women needing a suitcase just for their shoes, how men could get away with just packing 3 pairs of underwear for a 7 day cruise and clothes people just should not wear; speedos, yoga pants.....
We were laughing out loud.
As we were coming out of the show the captain made an announcement over the intercom system. Unfortunately there was a medical emergency on board and he was turning the ship around to meet up with the coast guard who would then transport the patient back to port for medical assistance. All three of us immediately thought of Mr. John and we hoped we would see him tomorrow at dinner(?).
It has been a long day and we decided it was time to retire to our cabin. Maybe with a good night's sleep I would get rid of my cold and be ready for a hard day of relaxing tomorrow.
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