Boarding Day!!

We got up and headed off to church at St. Maurice.  However, someone got the line “some people call me Maurice…” into her head, and then shared that earworm with me and we ended up singing “some people call him St. Maurice…” on the way to Mass. It was a very moving service, including a story of the priest (who works in a hospital), being asked to lay hands on the belly of a pregnant women, and then find out the next week that the Drs had been telling her she needed to abort the baby, but the baby got better after the blessing.

After breakfast, we packed and decided to take it easy since our boarding time was Noon.  It was a short trip to the pier, so we presumed there was no rush.  Well… We got to the pier safely (not withstanding a near accident on the way!), and found an absurd line!!  We dropped our bags with the porter, and found the back of the line.  An hour later, we made it back to where our bag was STILL sitting!  About 90 minutes in, we finally were through the lines to get on the ship, and trying not to be grumpy.

It was a busy pier!

Future dinners??

First glimpse of our room.

Princess uses a tracking technology that is much like the luggage trackers.  You can put it on a lanyard, wristband, etc.  It tracks where you are on the ship, so when you are heading down the hall to your room, it knows and unlocks the door.  If you order on their app, they bring drinks right to you.  When you walk up to a bar to order something, they know who you are.  It is a strange mix of super handy and super creepy too!

We got to our room, and dropped our backpacks, and headed to the buffet to get some lunch.  Lunch was fine, but we had heard they had an ice cream bar, and our package gave us free “premium desserts” which included a sundae.  It was tasty, but maybe a little overkill!

After a frustrating boarding mess, a couple of drinks were perfect!

Ice Cream anyone?

Back in our room, our steward gave us a welcome.

Most of the afternoon revolved around waiting for our bags, a little nap time, and just chilling in the room.

Our balcony view.

Watching planes take off over the next ship.  Looks almost ominous.

A very decorated ship.

We had reservations for the Italian restaurant at 6PM, which was almost too soon since it was after 2PM when we got to lunch.  The food was really good, but perhaps too much.  They did have some  interesting cocktails which Theresa tried and liked very much!

We headed to catch the last half of the comedian’s act, and then waited for the “music bingo”.  They gave us “bingo cards” in which each space was a different song.  They played a snip of the song, and then then next and so on.  After about 3 songs, they showed the names of the songs, so if you didn’t recognize it, but it was on your card, you still had a chance.  It was fun, but a little stressful trying to read 20+ squares after you figure out the name, and by then it’s on to the next one. 

We walked up to the elevators, and this display changed to greet
Theresa and wish her a happy birthday!  Kind of cool and kind
of ...odd!!  (and late)

That was enough and we decided to grab a drink for the road and relax a bit before bed.  We found they have a whole list of TV shows, including…The Love Boat (of course)!!  So, we watched the first episode, and marveled as how bizarre things seem in 1977!