Headed to Sea

Day 1:

Our voyage is underway!

We are travelling with Barry's mother Gywen and her friend Benny, a retired music teacher and the director of the Monroe County Music Makers women's chorus in Bloomington.

The first day of our cruise began with a beautiful morning in New Orleans. We took a trolley from our hotel in the Garden District to the French Quarter for breakfast and discovered that our chosen restaurant was closed for renovations. We found another place nearby which was very good, then walked about a mile back to the hotel to pack up and check out.

We took a wild cab ride to the port and went in, where we stood in line to get into a second line to check in. It was crowded and a little chaotic, and Gywen nearly four back in the first line after we checked in.

The next several hours were packed. We found our rooms, visited the concierge to ask a question, filled out some waiver forms at the excursion desk, grabbed some champagne at the bar, and went to sign up for services and classes at the spa and gym just in time to muster for the safety training. Then Barry and I went for our first massages. They lasted about an hour and a half, and the ship set sail during the massage. I've never paid so much for a massage in my life, but at least it was a very good one.

Following the massage we immediately met up with Gywen and Benny and went to dinner. We ate at the Venetian, which was large, ornately decorated, very busy, and noisy. Gywen asked how I was enjoying the cruise, and I had to say that so far it was a bit overwhelming. The entrées at the Venetian were very good, so we had a nice dinner, but the desserts were boring.

After dinner we rushed to the opposite end of the ship to catch the very end of the variety show.  After the show we had time to go back to our rooms and unpack, since our bags had arrived during the massages. We ended the night with an LGBT reception in one of the bars. We meet some nice people there, specifically two retired women from Ashville who play old-time bluegrass music. One of them had a PhD in history from IU!