All Aboard!

After a wonderful night's sleep we awakened bright and early at 6:30 AM so we had time to get our luggage ready. They keep to a tight schedule and by 8:30 our luggage was picked up from our room. We went down to the lobby restaurant and had a yummy breakfast of orange French toast and sausage. It was such a large entree that we ended up splitting it. We're trying to be a little smarter about all of our meals this time. We went back up to the room to ready our things, when I realized that I'm having some trouble with the posting to the blog from the iPad. I had planned to test all of this out before I left, but due to other circumstances, that didn't happen. Evidently, the iPad is not quite as streamlined as I thought. I did get a wireless Apple keyboard which has been the best addition ever. I think I've finally figured out how to get the pictures uploaded, but things may look a little strange until it's figured out. We finally boarded the buses about 12:20 and were to the terminal just a few minutes later. 

While we waited we saw a familiar site. We had to find our luggage and then finally boarded the buses about 12:20 and were to the terminal just a few minutes later. The queues were quite long, but thanks to being in the Queens Grill we were able to get through very quickly. We were taken to our suite and showed around. The Queen Victoria is quite a bit smaller than the QM2 and you can really feel the difference. Our suite is beautiful and we have a balcony that is larger than any trip we've been on to this point. It was already 1:45, and me, not wanting to miss a meal mentioned that we should head up that way. The QG dining room is up on the 11th deck with fabulous views. We enjoyed our lunch (Greek salads and lamb) and just took in the views. It was after 3 before we returned and I was excited to see that my luggage had arrived. Mom continued to work on crossword puzzles while I unpacked my bag. The time goes by quickly and before we knew it it was 5:00 PM and time to muster. This is one of our least favorite activities, yet very important. After this was concluded we returned to our suite and our other luggage had still not arrived. Needless to say, Mom was starting to get very worried about the location of her bags. We met our butler Marcell and he said he would track them down. 

Only moments later, one bag arrived. We opened our champagne and I quickly went to work getting all of our gowns hung up and in the closet. We were still short one small bag which arrived about 7:00 PM. We finished our champagne and started getting ready for dinner. 

Tonight was elegant casual, so not as much "readying" needed to be done. The dining room was quite full when we arrived and we quickly started deciding what we would have. Mom started with chicken livers, a cold soup and proscuitto wrapped scallops. I too opted for the scallops, but had the smoked salmon to start. The ship departed the port about 9:15 PM, so it was a great view as we departed. We wasted no time getting back to our room and getting ready for bed. It's been another long day and we need to get some rest. Hopefully I can get the shipboard internet squared away tomorrow so I can get these posts uploaded!