Friday Night

We attended part of the Orientation Show, then we went to Dinner. The second seating was slow and we missed the Ten before Ten give away as a result. We had the crab appetizer which made the meal, Cliff had a spinach salad with mushrooms. I tried the blueberry soup...like a thin smoothie. The Main course for me was a disappointment. The twice baked potato was cold, and the pepper crusted steak was overdone and cold. The service was poor and didn't come back to the table so by the time they noticed I asked for another crab appetizer and they didn't have it. Ther steward then took the initiative to bring me the seafood entree....but it had scallops so I had to refuse. Desert was a fruit and cheese plate. Between the two I had plenty to eat, but the steward felt badly. We are at a table of 10, and one of the last tables served. They promised to do better Saturday. The evening was a little choppy at sea but the beds are to die for. They are Euro-topper mattresses and duvets and fine cotton sheets. The lifeboat drill was interesting. It seemed to take forever, the numbers were yelled out and staff didn't seem to have it together. Besides, it was damp and people were antsy. It was clear they were safety conscious, though, and retied people's straps, etc. I tried the casino after dinner but my nickles weren't lucky this night. We checked out the Explorations cafe. We decided we didn't need internet time, as we have a laptop and a Palm Tungsten to journal. Email can wait as we are on vacation. The exploration lounge has great chairs for relaxing, scrabble and puzzle boards, desks for writing and hot spots. But the thing I liked most were big leather loungers with footrests to elevated my foot. The views from the ship are stunning, already. Leaving the harbor, we had the boat drill. We left so smoothly that if we hadn't had the boat drill I would have missed the departure.