Fleshing Out Our Sailaway!

I quickly posted a couple of videos as the ship was making its way through the channel that connects Port Everglades to the Atlantic (previous footprint). No time to write more at the time as we were already running late and had to date to keep. Now for a bit more detail!

The muster drill was at 4:00p. Something that was different from all the drills we’ve done during our 19 years of cruising ... NO LIFE VESTS!

I don’t mean that we didn’t have to take our vests to the drill. Nowadays, many of the cruise lines do their drills without guests having to lug the vests to the muster drill ... though there are exceptions. What I mean is that there are NO LIFE VESTS IN THE CABIN!!! Turns out that all of the vests on this vessel are kept in lockers at the muster station.

I guess it makes sense and is more efficient to have all the vests in one place. After all, in the event the emergency alarm is sounded, passengers are supposed to go to their muster stations from wherever they happen to be ... without detouring to their cabins. Still, it feels odd not to have those bulky orange vests taking up space either in the closet or under the bed.

The 4:30p sailaway came and went with no movement on the part of Allure. Not unexpected on a TransAtlantic crossing. Provisioning and bunkering usually takes longer when you have no ports to call on for nine days. No gas stations in the middle of the Atlantic ... nor any grocery stores. You’d better have all that you need before the lines are let go.

No problem with the delay from our perspective ... Mom and I used the time to unpack our bags and get settled in to our respective cabins. Mui postponed unpacking until later in the evening. As for the tugboats waiting to assist Allure out of her berth — they did donuts and entertained us to ease their boredom.

Finally, at 6:00p, the ship slipped its lines, backing out nearly the length of the ship basin before pointing the bow towards the Atlantic. As is often the case when departing Port Everlglades, klaxons blared from the high rise buildings lining the ship’s channel. Allure responded with its own salute. People came out on their balconies — both in the buildings and aboard the ship — to wave goodbye.

As the sun set on the stern of the ship, we began the journey north ... with an easterly heading designed to take us around the Bahamas to get us out into the open sea.Read more