Rhonda Bracey: At Random

After we’d had some lunch at the Terrace Café (the buffet restaurant), we were allowed into our staterooms some two hours after boarding. And what a stateroom it was!!! A full 424 square feet of space, including a large balcony, and massive walk-in-wardrobe, a living area, and HEAPS of storage space, which only revealed itself as we opened more doors and drawers.

We departed Miami about 30 minutes later than the scheduled time, I expect because of a lack of tug boats. There was a big container ship coming into port and two tugs were pushing it into its berth. When they’d nearly finished, one of the tugs beetled over to our ship and helped us move out. And we were off by 6:30pm.

We had dinner reservations for the first night at the Polo Grill (steakhouse). We had opted for shared seating, so we had others at our table. Of the seven meant to be there, only two had turned up on time, so we had our meal with them (Alan and Betsy from Worcester, Mass.). The service and food was impeccable, as I’d been told when this ship was recommended to us.

After a very comfy night’s sleep (little noise and vibration from the ship and no swell to speak of), we awoke to a free day at sea. Much of it was spent exploring the ship, checking out things, relaxing on the balcony, relaxing on the spa deck, etc. Somewhere in there was a culinary demonstration by two of the head chefs, who introduced all the other head chefs on board. Of the 800 staff on board, 200 are involved in food preparation – 160 chefs (of various levels, descriptions, and specialties), and 40 helpers.

We had lunch at the Terrace Café and sat out on the deck at the stern of the ship to enjoy it.

Late in the afternoon, canapes were served in our room by our butler, Jemeesh.

I did some sketching on the balcony in the balmy late afternoon (we passed several freighters), and watched the sun go down over the ocean.

Dinner that night was also in the Terrace Café, and it was MUCH quieter than the lunch. Again, the food and service was impeccable.