Wednesday, April 17, 2019: Day 1, On board

We arose this morning after a good night's sleep. We went down for breakfast and then walked long the beach, visiting the fort ruins near the hotel.

About 10:30 am we adorned to the room to finish packing and vacated. We took the luggage down to the concierge desk and left it there. The check out time was 11:00 am, but our transfer to the ship wasn't until noon. In the mean time, we went to the beach bar and ordered another pitcher of sangria.

The timing was perfect. We finished the pitcher about 11:50 am and staggered up to the hotel lobby. We sat waiting for the transfer to arrive. About 12:15 pm I started wondering if I missed where we were to be picked up. I went over to our luggage and a guy standing there asked if I was Howell and Butcher. I said I was half of that. He had been waiting for about 20 minutes just a few feet from where we were sitting.

We got to the terminal and boarded very quickly. The actual checking took place on board...different than the last time. Sarah inquired whether they were aware of her nut allergy...they were not. Very surprising. We got to our suite about 1:30 pm. Looks good except that we had requested two twin beds and we found a single queen. Our luggage arrived about 2:00 pm.

We were visited by Cinita, our room stewardess, a native of Brazil. We told her about the bed situation and she said she would take care of it. We have a great view from our balcony, including a three-master from Brazil, docked right in front of us.

For dinner we decided to go to the Patio Cafe because they were serving lamb shanks and we wanted something simple and casual. They supposedly opened at 7:00pm. We got there at about 7:10 pm and found a table. At about 7:15 pm, someone came by to tell us they would not start serving until 7:30pm. At 7:45 pm, someone finally came around to ask if we wanted some water. By that time, I was very unhappy and asked if we were being an inconvenience to them. Being somewhat taken back, the waiter said "no" and said someone would be with us shortly. We finally finished and headed back toward the room at about 8:45. Not a good start!!!

On the positive side, when we got back to the room, we found the beds had been rearranged per our original request and there were diet tonics in the refrigerator. OK, maybe things will be different going forward.