UWC Day 001 – Come Sail Away

Definitely was replaying the scene of Troy leaving the Community group on a boat with Come Sail Away playing over the background today as we left the hotel and boarded our new home for the next 9 months. Read the rest of this post with that playing in you head now (you can thank me or curse me later).

Transportation to the Cruise Terminal

They had told us to stick to our boarding groups, but there was already report early in the morning that they were about an hour behind because of tech issues and people were being held at the port. I lugged my luggage down to the lobby and boarded my bus without any drama or fuss. Elevator was empty, line was short, and bus ride itself was pretty short and quick. They had us stay on the bus (in AC) until they were ready for us to go inside. All in all, pretty smooth for me. Bus was scheduled for 9:30 and we got in around 10:15 into the staterooms.

The Stateroom

Getting onto the ship was super nice. As part of the full world cruise perks, we got to go early onto the ship, and when I got on, there wasn’t a soul expect for the staff which greeted us super enthusiastically (they formed two lines and almost felt like they were going to create an arch for us to run underneath). Got to see some of the branded updates to the ship on the way to the stateroom without any traffic.

Upon getting to the stateroom, I was pleasantly surprised to find that all my luggage was already waiting for me inside, and was greeted by my stateroom attendant (for the first segment) Lovelace, who was just delightful and lovely. I told her I’m pretty low key and if she ever needs a break to just skip my room.

Unloading

I unloaded my bags into my stateroom, and then turned around and left the ship to go meet with a friend in Miami for brunch. We went to Fiore Caffe (https://www.instagram.com/fiorecaffe_miami/?hl=en) and had a lovely brunch and caught up, before I headed back to the ship. Going back through security I saw the line to get through check in and security for all the non-world cruisers and yikes…it was super backed up.

What’s also interesting is that I heard on of the crew saying that we were under capacity and sailing with 1700 people (out of the ~2500 capacity)

Solo Cruiser Meet-Up

Made it back JUST in time for the Solo Cruiser Meet-Up which turned out to be pretty well attended. The cruise director and entertainment staff were there and they mentioned that they really wanted to make sure the solo’s were taken care of (what a nice thought). I’m generally pretty good on my own, but it was a nice little gathering with some champaign to kick us off. Met a few folks and mingled as much as my introvert heart could take…

At the gala yesterday, I saw 70 tables of 10 people each, so 700 world cruisers. At the solo gathering, they mentioned there were 100 solos on this first segment (don’t know how many are full world cruisers, but there was almost 90% ish that said they were doing the full during the meetup).

Anchors Away

I walked by the Sail Away party, but that wasn’t really my speed, so I went to one of my go-to spots at the back of the boat and set up shop for the next couple hours. Was kinda poorly planned on my part, cause my phone died, one of my cameras was out of battery as well, the go pro died mid-way, and we ended up sitting almost an hour waiting to set sail. I saw some ambulance lights in a reflection in the opposing cruise ship and they mentioned a medical debarkation, so hopefully that cruiser is ok and can rejoin in the future.

The upside to the extra wait was that when we left, it was golden hour, and got to see a nice sunset behind some really nice cloud cover.

Entertainment Update

There’s SO much entertainment. The cruise director mentioned that there is a plan A, B, C, D and E for timing on what people want to do, so they’re gauging over the first couple days / weeks and then flexing and pivoting to what people want and like — pretty cool, but also the systems engineer in me is fascinated by all the decision analysis and planning that must go into that, it’s such a large and cool endeavor.

I walked by a couple NFL games (shout out to Vikings for winning a 3-0 game…lol and skol!). Walked into one of the theaters (there were like 5 different movies playing today). There’s even a library with a ton of books.

Watched the Christmas Tree get lit up, and saw the balloon drop in the evening. A very full day.

Food

Not hyperbole to say that they nailed the food (so far). I’ve been on a couple cruises this year and the food wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t spectacular either. Same menu (being in the Caribbean) but must be a different chef, or maybe with the smaller capacity, they don’t need to turn food over as quickly, but the food was Ah-mazing.

Pretty classic first meal for me. French Onion Soup (cheese was melted perfectly, a little crispy on the edges and TONS of onions), followed by Prime Rib (perfectly cooked and delish), and finished off with a Cheesecake and Key Lime Pie (both were SO creamy).