Welcome Aboard Insignia

We embarked Insignia shortly before noon.

Would have made it to the ship earlier, but the GPS directed our Uber driver to a different terminal. We had to go around a couple of times, because we speak very little Spanish and couldn’t make our driver, who spoke very little English, understand that he needed to follow the signs to Terminal J. Finally, I used my Google Maps to get directions and we handed him the phone so he could follow them. Whew!

After turning over our bags, we were directed to a tent-like building for the COVID-19 formalities. We filled out health questionnaires, and showed our negative Antigen test results and our proof of vaccination cards. In return, we each got a red wristband and a red “O sticker” was placed on our sleeve. “That will tell the agents in the terminal that you are COVID-19 free,” we were told. It was all easy peasy … no waiting. We were in and out in about 5 minutes.

There were no other passengers in the terminal, so we breezed through the check-in process and were on our way to the gangway in minutes.

Once we were on the ship, the next stop was to have our ship’s cards scanned. A young woman did so and pointed out our muster station — B6 in the dining room. She asked if we wanted to be escorted there to check it out. Having gone through ~14 muster drills in that very spot on RTW2017, we politely declined and continued up to our cabin instead. With so few passengers embarking the world cruise in progress, our accommodations were waiting for us … no waiting around for an announcement to access our cabin.

Lunch was a quick bite at the Terrace Café. None of the usual hectic pace associated with the embarkation lunch and we had no trouble finding a table on the aft deck to enjoy our meal.

Our afternoon thus far has been a relaxing one. When we returned to the cabin after lunch, we turned on the TV, but before we could watch anything, we had to watch the safety briefing video. No worries … better to do the muster drill this way instead of congregating as a crowd.

Our bags have been delivered and Mui and I are taking turns to unpack. Komang, our cabin attendant, has stopped by to welcome us and ask what he can do to make our time on the ship even more pleasant.

In fact, everyone has been most welcoming, smiling faces all around. We have yet to see a familiar face amongst the crew members. That said, some of the senior staff are familiar to us. Captain Brajcic was at the helm of Insignia on RTW2017 … and Leslie Jon was the Cruise Director for portions of that voyage. We also know Claudio Melli, the General Manager, but from a different cruise.

OK … my turn to unpack. So I will stop here and post this footprint.

More to come as the cruise unfolds.Read more