Embarkation

1-06 Day 1 Embarkation

We made it – barely, but we did! And now we're launched. After a mere 3 hours of sleep last night (don't even ask!), we drove to Ft. Lauderdale to the pier to get on Holland America's ms Amsterdam – our home for the next 100 plus days!

We are in cabin 2642. We are on the port side because Doug realized that most of the scenery on this cruise would be on that side of the ship as we sailed. When all 7 suitcases arrived in our cabin (not including our two backpacks and two roll ons!), we never thought there would be enough room in the closets, drawers, etc. to hold all of our stuff. But lo and behold, there was – with a bit of room to spare (I guess for all those great buys we make along the way!)

While waiting for our luggage to get sent to our room, we went up and explored the library and tech center. It's my favorite place on the ship, so far. They have a specialty coffee bar there as well. There are tons of books, DVDs, and games to check out. We may never make it to an excursion!

We went to the sail away – or what should have been the sail away – but because there were still a lot of pallets of supplies and luggage to still be brought on board, we were delayed by over two hours. They did have a complimentary champagne and live music party, but just no sailing!!

From there we went to dinner (we are 1st seating with a table of 8.) We enjoyed our table companions. All of them are on for the whole 4 months. I have no idea what happens after about a month and we've exhausted all there is to say . . . but that is a ways down the road. We were just pleased no one was obnoxious and overbearing!

When we returned to our cabin, all our luggage had arrived. We did some initial unpacking and I had a chance to get one last call in to kids and grandkids before the ship's whistle blew for departure. We were so tired that we didn't explore the ship, go to the evening entertainment, etc. This is highly unusual, especially for me, so I knew we were way above exhaustion. So we went to bed early knowing we still had over a 100 days left for exploration and activities.