Bye Bye Miami

Continuing the day’s story from where I left off …

Once aboard Insignia, we dropped off our bags in the cabin and headed up to the Terrace Café for a bite to eat … al fresco on the outdoor deck, of course. Tasty food … as we’ve come to expect from this venue. And surprise entertainment … strolling Christmas carolers in Dickensian costumes that must have been more than a little uncomfortable in the humid afternoon temps.

Around 2:00p, we headed down to our cabin — a Category B2 veranda in the port aft section of the ship. Our bags started trickling in minutes later … 1 … 2 … 3 … 4 … well, you get the idea. The crew must have been aghast at the number of bags they were delivering … until they realized we would be staying past this 11-day Caribbean cruise to complete the 198-day Continental Connoisseur.

With no plans to settle in, we set the luggage aside so that the bags wouldn’t be underfoot and went about enjoying being on the ship. Soon, it was time for an in-person muster drill. Yup, the “watch the video in your cabin and check-in with a crew member to confirm compliance” muster drills are a thing of the past. After all, the pandemic is no longer, right?!? Anyway, the drill was over in time for us to return to the cabin to watch the sail away from Miami.

For dinner, we gussied up just a tiny bit and went to the Grand Dining Room … GDR here on out. And then it was off to the Welcome Aboard Show … at 9:30p … featuring the Insignia Production Company (brand new to the ship and thus their inaugural performance) and the Quadrivium Strings (the quartet that performs in various venues around the ship). They were accompanied by the Insignia Show Band.

The show was MC’d by Ray Carr, the Cruise Director … CD here on after. We know Ray from RTW2017 and was under the impression that he’d retired. Thus it was a pleasant surprise to see him aboard. He will apparently be our CD until Dubai … at which time, he will be replaced by Dottie.

And that’s how we wrapped up our embarkation day. Now to get a good night’s rest. We have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow.Read more