En Route To Grand Turk

January 5, 2010

We wanted to thank those of you who have placed comments on the Blog how much we have enjoyed each and every one of them. It is so nice to hear from you and please know how much we are thinking of each of you.

We enjoyed a wonderful day on the ship. Since we will be on for the full duration of the World Cruise we are still getting organized and not trying to get everything in order the first day. Normally, since today was a sea day we would be doing many of the activities but that will come over the next few days.

We worked out in the Fitness Center in the morning as we always do. Keith was the first one to the center arriving at 5:20 AM and worked out on the Elliptical Machine for almost one hour and forty-five minutes. At one point Keith was surprised when Eric and Kara arrived at around 6:45. They had thought it was after 8:00 AM when they first woke up. Anne Marie arrived at about 7:00 AM and Gui shortly thereafter. So, we had five of our six family members at the center. Jennifer decided to sleep in until around 7:30 AM and then did her workout. It’s nice to be able to have the fitness center literally at your door step. We had to walk up two flights of steps and down a short corridor and we were there.

We slept very well last night and the ship rocked us to sleep.

It is so nice to be back on the ship with familiar faces and also to have our family members with us. It is truly a celebration.

It is a feeling of family on the ship between the passengers we know well from our previous sailings and so many of the familiar crew. Last night on our cabin door was a nice card from our friends Mary and Stan that said welcome home and that is so true. Stan stopped by the fitness center to talk with Keith this morning. Also passenger John who we also know so very well from two other world cruises was working out at the fitness center for a portion of the time that Keith was up there which has always been the case with our previous sailings with Linda and John and Keith and John chatted for a while. They have their daughter on this sailing as well.

This cruise has around 975 passengers on board the ship with a crew of almost 650 members. The world cruise will have far less passenger’s on it but we will wait for that adventure to begin before talking about numbers.

We enjoyed a wonderful breakfast in the room. Afterwards, Keith took care of a number of items with various personnel. We originally had planned a shore excursion for tomorrow in Grand Turk but while there was tickets for us the rest of the family was wait listed. We spoke with the shore excursion manager and based on his recommendations we decided to plan to just enjoy the day on our own. Evidently, there is a very nice beach within a short walk from the ship and we think the family will enjoy this better anyway.

The last night of this cruise is the same night of the Grand Gala at the Four Seasons Hotel for those guests who are sailing on the World Cruise. As it is not possible for us to get there a special dinner will be held on the ship for those world cruisers already on board the ship. We learned that our family members would also be invited so we are excited about that.

We did not go to the lectures as we normally do as today we rearranged the room to get everything in its proper place. Since we are here for the long haul we wanted to get everything organized.

We enjoyed a very nice lunch with the rest of the family in the Lido Café which serves a wonderful array of lunch items buffet style. After lunch we took the family all around the Lido Deck area to introduce them to many of the Lido Deck Stewards we know from our previous cruises. We took a picture of the family with one of the deck stewards, Ross who we have now known for several years.

Afterwards, Anne Marie walked on the Promenade Deck, Kara and Jennifer sat by the pool, and Eric, Gui and Keith played Paddle Tennis. For many years others have asked Keith to give it a try and this was the first time he has played it. We played for a few hours and we played doubles with several passengers. We all got better with each game. Keith’s knee is a bit sore but it was a lot of fun.

Tonight’s attire on the ship was formal attire. Before dinner we went to the Captain’s Welcome Aboard Reception and then afterwards enjoyed a wonderful dinner in the Main Dining Room

Tomorrow will be our first day in port as part of this cruise.

OUR THOUGHT OF THE DAY…….

“The journey is the reward.”

Keith and Anne Marie