Neither of us slept very well, and we got up at 5:30. Doug went to the lobby to bring coffee up to the room for me; he's awesome like that! We got dressed and went to the lobby for breakfast. It was a very nice breakfast, although not complimentary, but $16 per person. They had a nice spread and made to order omelets and eggs. But, we used points to stay here, and the breakfast was somehow included in that, which was nice.
Back in the room we got things all packed and went to load up the car. It was about 9:30 at this point, which is about 1/2 hour later than Doug was hoping to leave...oops. But we're on the road, and traffic is crazy, and we still aren't sure where we're going, and things are marked very well. BUT, finally, we made it to 395. We missed our exit. Well, actually, there was a sign on the highway that said for the cruise port to use Exit 56. But really we should have used Exit 55. So we went through the tunnel, did a turn around, and back to Exit 55. And then BAM ~ Cruise Maryland!!
We still arrived before they were letting people into the parking lot. While we were waiting to park, Doug learned to go live on Facebook, so that was fun to do.
After a short wait we were queued up to drop off our luggage, waiting to pay for parking, parked, and walked into the terminal. This is SUCH and EASY port to cruise from. They take the luggage right out of your car, you pay parking, park, and that's it.
Check in was very easy, too. We filled out our health questionnaire, got our sea pass cards and were waiting to board within 15 minutes of going through security, which is also a breeze. We waited about 15 to 20 minutes and then were boarding the ship. We were on board by 11 am. We did stop for our all aboard photo! We also saw several crew members we know from previous cruises (Rauschman & Ullston before we were even on the ship).
Everybody had to board from deck 1 because the ramp they used to go to deck 4 was broken and not yet repaired. I don't feel like it slowed down boarding at all, and we board on deck 1 anyway because the ramp is too much uphill walking for Doug's knees right now.
We had a short wait for an uncrowded elevator, and then headed to the Schooner Bar to wait for the rooms to open and have our first drinks of the cruise. A Mango Lava Flow for Doug and Frozen Mojito for me.
We both had the ultimate drink package, which included everything you could possibly want to drink (bottled water, sparkling water, fresh squeezed juice, beer, wine, alcoholic cocktails of all sorts, pop and coffee drinks). I kept a list of everything we drank that would have been from these categories to make sure we were getting our moneys worth.
We had been on a Facebook group with other people also on our sailing, so we walked down to the R Bar in the Centrum to see if we could find anybody. We did meet Rhonda, but didn't run into anybody else.
BUT, we did see Saby then! We met Saby last year when he was the bar server in the dining room. We're friends with him on Facebook, and he saw that we were leaving for Baltimore, and he knew the reason we'd be Baltimore bound was to board the ship, so he was looking for us. It's SO nice to be remembered. The crew on Grandeur is amazing! Saby is working in the R Bar now, but he told us which bar server (Linden) to ask for in the dining room.
We had another drink in the R Bar, and then it was time to head to the cabin! We had a corner aft Junior Suite. The same cabin we had last year, and will have next year, 7150. It was such a great cabin! HUGE balcony with 2 chairs, 2 loungers and a table and so much empty space! And an enormous walk in closet. The bathroom is a nice size and has a bathtub.
I usually like to unpack right away before muster. But there was only one person delivering ALL of the luggage for our deck, so it took a good while before we got it. So I unpacked the carry-ons and we headed to deck 5 for muster. Then back to the cabin to hopefully unpack, and wait for sail away, which was scheduled for 4. But still....no luggage. We just went and got it ourselves. It was close to 4, but I wanted to unpack as much as possible before sail away. It was an easy unpacking since I knew right where to put stuff since we had this cabin last year. Well, we didn't end up sailing until nearly 6! They were still loading pallets of supplies on the ship.
I ordered a cheese plate, chocolate covered strawberries and wine to have on the balcony for sail away. Doug took that stuff outside and got it ready. We decided to have our goodies while we were waiting.
Finally around 6 there was an announcement that we'd be leaving, then an awfully loud song was played (it was awful) and then we were off! Doug did his 3rd Facebook Live video haha and we went into. It was getting dark and chilly and we needed to get ready for dinner anyway.
We went to the Schooner Bar for pre-dinner drinks and then off to the dining room for dinner. Peter was the My Time Dining host and had a great table for us by the window. We also know Peter from last year and are friends with him on Facebook and were looking forward to seeing him. Our waitstaff was Wayne & Natasha. We loved them! We asked for Linden, and he came over and brought wine. Later he brought dinner shooters. The dining room is gorgeous! My Time Dining is on deck 5 while traditional dining with early and late seating is on deck 4.
Dinner was OK. Doug had a Caesar salad and slow road filet of beef with a baked potato and creme brulee for dessert. I had watermelon & raspberry soup, which was just OK and the horseradish crused salmon with mashed potatoes, which I love, and moist almond chocolate cake for dessert. I ordered cappuccino instead of coffee because I really do not enjoy the ship's coffee. Natasha made is just perfectly! It was the first after dinner coffee I've ever enjoyed on a ship!
After dinner we checked out the piano player, Tony B, in the Schooner Bar. He's excellent and lively and entertaining. But we never went back in there to listen to him. We spent most evenings at the R Bar.
Then back to the room. There was a Halloween Party, but we didn't go. Many people were dressed in costumes all evening, which was kind of fun. Maybe next year we'll take costumes with us. It had been a great day, but also long and we were tired, so off to bed.
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