En Route to Miami

Wednesday, 3 Jan 2018 – We just embarked on our longest cruise ever – 71 days!  Our cruise is a portion of a 180-day world cruise, round-trip from Miami.  We will be disembarking in Singapore.  Many passengers are booked only for the first 10 days, Miami to Barbados; others will be disembarking in Cape Town, South Africa.

We started our trip early, by attending Jesse’s 50-year high school class reunion, held from 29-31 Dec in Memphis.  Over the weekend and through 2 Jan, we had a great time visiting with Jesse’s high school friends, his sister, Verna, and her husband, Earl.  Earl dropped us off at the Memphis airport for our 6:00 AM flight to Miami.

Check-in for the Oceania cruise was much more pleasant than it has been with other cruise lines.  Upon arrival at the cruise terminal, we were served a choice of champagne, orange juice, or water (in real glasses, not paper cups).  Then, we were seated in comfortable chairs until our cabin category was called for check-in.  After check-in, we were ushered up to the Terrace Café, where we enjoyed a very nice lunch.  Immediately, we could see how Oceania Cruise Lines earned their reputation for the “finest cuisine at sea.”

Our cabin was immaculate, as well as being luxuriously furnished!  The decorations and furnishing were all pristine!  We could see why the cost was higher than on Princess Cruise Lines.   We enjoyed lobster for dinner, which is served every night on this cruise ship, and retired for the night before finishing our unpacking.  Because we had only 2 hours of sleep on Tuesday night, we were both exhausted.