Friday, September 27, 2013, At Sea between Barcelona and Toulon

We got up at 7 AM.  We had to have our bags out and ready to go at 9 AM.  We had gone to bed early last night.  I woke up at about mid-night and got dressed, went to the lobby and borrowed a stapler.  I had forgotten to attach our luggage tags to our bags.  After getting that job done I went back to bed.

After getting our luggage ready we went and settled up our bill.  The bill for the phone calls to cancel my credit card was almost as much as our meals.  We had breakfast and were joined by two of the other couples we had met.  We boarded our bus at 12:30 for the 30 minute trip to the port.

After checking in and getting our cruise cards/room keys we looked around the duty free stores.  We didn't buy anything.  We made our way to our room and started un packing.  The view from our balcony was of a container loading dock.  The sky was overcast, pictures of the port area weren't very good.  At 5:30 we had our safety drill.  After the drill we went to the Club 6 for a welcome party for Platinum and Elite members, we are platinum.   They  served good guacamole dip and chips plus a variety of cheese and vegetables to snack on.  After that we went to the rear of the ship to watch the sail away.  Barcelona is a busy harbor.  Two other cruise ships and other vessels left port and we saw a couple of ferries come in and unload tractors and trailers.  We have no idea where they came from.  I did get one good shot of the sunset and a fair shot of part of the Barcelona skyline.  Our ship, the Royal Princess backed most of the way out of the harbor, turned and headed out to sea.  Our course is mostly NW toward our first port of call, Toulon, France.

After the sail away we went back to our room and got ready for dinner.  The dining room is large but broken up into smaller seating areas.  There are two tables for four.  Our table mates are Lou and Mona from Coronado Cays, CA.  The couple at the adjoining table were from Tucson, AZ.  After dinner we made our way to the front of the ship for the welcome aboard presentation by the cruise director and her staff.  We also enjoyed an introductory act by a comedian that will be in a show later this week.  We enjoyed his act and will make a point of seeing his entire show.

We have resolved to use the stairs as much as possible during our cruise.  Partly because of the exercise benefit and partly to avoid the usually crowded elevators.  We will spend a little time finding the closest stairs between decks.  The stairs seem to go up or down two flights and then we have to walk forward or aft to find more stairs to get to the desired floor.

Back in our room Gerri read for awhile and then went to sleep.  I stayed up awhile to write this blog and post yesterday's blog.

I got word via FaceBook that my cousin, Eddie Skiles, had died Thursday.  I didn't get any details, we visited him earlier this month in West Virginia.