Embarkation Day. This is where I figured that we'd have some problems because I had lost (or misplaced) my Princess Medallion. And I was right....
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Getting up this morning, I knew that when I arrived at the pier, that I'd have to go through a gauntlet of headaches before we could get to our cabin. So I made sure to touch base (again) with the Princess personnel at the hotel to confirm what I needed to do to get on the ship. And then the fun began.
RQS and I refused to pay $50 to the hotel's restaurant for breakfast. So we got on line for the in-house Starbucks, where we found reasonably priced breakfast beverages and refreshments before getting on the bus to the cruise ship in San Pedro. While making a Bio-Break, the bus came and RQS went outside for the bus. She didn't hear me announce that "I had to see a man about a horse," so she went outside looking for me. I got a little anxious looking for her, but things turned out all right and the bus started making its way to the pier.
Once at the pier, we had our first expected problem. It took forever for the people at the pier to cut one-time-use cruise cards that we'd use to get on the ship. And then, we walked onto the ship and into our second headache - the wait at Guest Services. Normally, a visit to Guest Services shouldn't take too long. But it was chaos in front of the desk, and the air conditioning was not able to keep up with the heat. As a result, I was dripping when I approached the counter. (Thankfully, I had no need to wear a wig on this trip, as I'd be presenting as Mario for the duration of the trip.) About ten minutes later, I had a functioning medallion, and I was set to go. One problem. RQS's medallion no longer worked. So it was back to Guest Services, and another ten minutes later, RQS had her working medallion.
It was a long day, and we took a much needed rest before dinner. This would be the first of seven days where we'd enjoy great food, walk around a lot, and feel tired by day's end. Things finally were starting to look good....
