Cruising the Atlantic Ocean

We continue to head towards the Caribbean, skirting the eastern side of the islands that rim the sea by the same name. I believe we are somewhere north of Puerto Rico at the moment. There is a noticeable shimmy to the ship’s movement … but nothing that is particularly bothersome.

It was a busy day of appointments and social events. So busy that I didn’t get to finish the few things that will complete our “settling into the cabin” chores. No worries … the cabin is nice and neat and there’s just a bit of streamlining to do with the contents of a couple of corner cabinets.

Bright and early this morning, we used our spa credits (a perk for being platinum members of the Oceania Club, the cruise line’s loyalty program). Getting massages was the perfect way to relax after all the work we put in yesterday to get things put away in the cabin. The jury is still out on the new spa … which is operating as the Aquamar Spa & Vitality Center. The treatment itself was good … no complaints there. But the sticker shock … ay, ay, ay. I don’t remember the prices being this high when Canyon Ranch operated the facility.

Our first social event was lunch with Cella Baker, the Oceania Club Ambassador (OCA here on out) … and a good friend. She’s going to be with us through the world cruise and we look forward to seeing a great deal more of her.

By the way, CD Ray had mentioned Saturday night that we would be embarking a little over 200 RTW2023 passengers in Miami on December 28 … and picking up another 240 or so world cruisers in San Francisco. This was borne out by Cella today. That’s about twice the number of world cruisers we had on RTW2017 and is a testament to the ever-growing popularity of this type of voyages.

Our second social event was the Captain’s Cocktail Celebration. I had heard that neither Captain Brajcic nor his bridge team have been attending these events … regardless of the name of the party. In fact, that was the case in March/April when we were onboard Insignia for a segment of RTW2022. Tonight, however, that changed. Capt B and his senior officers were in attendance … and seemed happy to be present. It was interesting to note familiar faces amongst the senior officers … some from RTW2017 … some from other cruises on Oceania ships. We look forward to getting reacquainted with them.

Our third social event was dinner with fellow-passengers Terri & Jim. We’ll be sharing a tour and a couple of cab rides with them in some of our ports of call. It was nice to get to know them a bit ahead of time. With travel a common denominator amongst us, there was no lack of conversation at our four-top tonight.

We wrapped up our day with tonight’s production show in the Insignia Lounge … “Gatsby’s” … described as “upbeat and quirky” … influenced by the music of the 1920s. The gents and ladies have a bit more work to do to “gel,” so to speak. But their enthusiasm seems boundless. We enjoyed the performance.

Tomorrow is the first port of call of the Festive Caribbean itinerary … and it is one that we’ve not been to before. We’re looking forward to it.Read more