We had a leisurely morning, on this our embarkation day. We had a nice breakfast in the hotel. I made the mistake of saying it was a full English breakfast. I stand corrected – it is a full Irish breakfast. Don’t really know what the difference is, but I think in the Irish breakfast there is both black (blood sausage) and white (pork and oatmeal sausage) pudding. Irish bread leans more towards soda bread, as well. At any rate, we filled up on a yummy breakfast. A couple from New Zealand sat at the next table and we spent a long time comparing travel notes and, or course, talking about politics and their total disbelief that we could have such a maniac for president. They were familiar with upstate New York because they had visited people in Jordan, NY.
We packed up and left the hotel around noon and took a taxi to the cruise terminal. Our taxi driver had a really thick Irish accent and was a little difficult to understand, but we did learn that his mother was from Malta and he had visited Malta last November. It really is a small world.
The cruise terminal was not a terminal, but rather a tent in an industrial area. We weren’t supposed to be embarking in Dublin, but that was changed for some reason. Dún Laoghaire, about 40 minutes south of Dublin was our original departure point. It definitely was more convenient to leave from Dublin, about a 12 minute drive from the hotel. We had about a 45 minute wait until we could board, but it was fun chatting with sister cruisers and watching people arrive. Getting on to the ship was a challenge as the gangplank seemed very steep and it had very narrow treads. It was quite a climb up the steep gangplank, the equivalent of 3 decks of the ship. After finally managing to make it into the ship, we were herded into check-in, which consisted of filling out a health questionnaire, getting our pictures taken and handing in our passports. That made me a little nervous, but they said the ship handles the immigration process and once we enter the UK, we’ll get our passports back. We then got our cabin keys and were escorted to our cabin by our steward, Kahn. Nearly all the crew are Filipino, which we experienced on nearly all the other cruises we’ve been on.
Our cabin is a porthole cabin, 3 portholes, in fact. A thousand dollars more would have meant a big window, but portholes seem just fine. It’s a very comfortable room with a walk-in closet, full bathroom with walk-in shower, a nice seating area, queen-sized bed and a desk area.
While we waited for our luggage to arrive, we toured around the ship trying to get acclimated. There are 4 restaurants, several bars, an auditorium which is called the lounge, small pool and hot tub, a nightclub area, and a cafe/library, one of my favorite areas.
Back in the room, we unpacked and rested a little. Then we went to the information session about the ship and our port of call tomorrow. There is another big change in the schedule. We were supposed to dock in Douglas on the Isle of Man, but weather prevents this. I guess there are severe winds so the ship wouldn’t be able to leave the harbor tomorrow night, so instead of getting stuck for extra days on the Isle of Man, our port of call tomorrow will be Belfast, only 18 nautical miles from Dublin, but in a different country. This delayed our sail away time, so the Olivia sail away party on deck became just an Olivia celebration party. We are meeting lots of women, but remembering names is most challenging, even for me. But, we all have that problem as I would estimate the average age on this ship is probably 65+. I think there are a few youngsters (under 40), but nearly all of us have gray hair. But it is fun chatting up people and finding our where they are from, how many Olivia trips they’ve been on, and that sort of thing.
After the Olivia party, we had dinner at the Star grill. It was really good. We then went back to the cabin for a rest. We’re going to have trouble staying up for the 9:00pm show every night. Christine took a rest and I went out to take pictures of leaving Dublin port.
We did manage to get to the show tonight. This being the first night, each of the Olivia performers did a short set. Our entertainers are Vickie Shaw, a very funny comedienne who we’ve seen on past trips and the only entertainer we’re familiar with, Sandra Valls, Angie K, and Kristen Key. I think they need to work on the sound a little because the musicians were incredibly loud and I couldn’t hear the words being sung. Kristen Key seems really funny, she is a comedienne who plays guitar and sings funny songs as she’s telling jokes.
After the show, the party continued in the nightclub and Christine got her second wind and danced. I actually joined her for a few minutes, but dancing is not my cup of tea.
And we came to the end of our first day on the ship. We have an early excursion in the morning, so off to bed.
Here’s the sunset tonight.
Belfast! Go to the Titanic Museum. It’s fantastic!
Speaking of “small world”……. my formative childhood years were spent at mu grandmothers home in ,,,,,,,JORDAN, N.Y. Ì wonder who those people knew in Jordan ?
Just keep having fun !
Deeny