I'm on board the Norwegian Dawn headed towards Bermuda. As I write these words, we are about 70 nautical miles from Boston.
Traveling with me are: my step-sister Lois, my step-sister Becky C., my step-brothers James and Joe, and Joe's good friend Becky E. Yes, there are two Beckys! This is my fourth cruise, and Lois and Joe's second cruise - we all did a Caribbean cruise last year, along with my mother who is not with us on this one. It is the first cruise for James and the two Beckys. The three ladies are in one cabin, the three men in the other. Somehow we ended up with a cabin between us, which I like to think of as a "buffer" cabin. I've suggested meeting the people in the middle cabin so if we need to get the attention of the ladies (or they need to get ours) we can bang on the wall, and the people in the middle cabin can bang on their walls as a sort of intermediary. Or I suppose we could always just pick up the phone . . .
We all met this morning at Joe's apartment in Clinton and had a light breakfast from Dunkin Donuts. I brought along a bottle of sparkling apple cider to drink a toast to our adventures, a good portion of which got spilled on the floor of Joe's apartment.
Joe had hired a Knight's Airport Limo van to take us to the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal in Boston. It was scheduled to pick us up at 10:00, but around 9:40 I heard a door slam and looked out the window to see the van had already arrived. I went down with Joe, and waited while the others made their way out. The driver told me his wife had tried to get him to go on a cruise for years. "But I refuse to get on anything I can't walk away from," he said. "And I can't walk on water!"
Once we were all loaded up we left Clinton and made one stop in Sterling to pick up 4 women that work with Joe at Nypro. They technically are not traveling with us, but happened to book the same cruise. They are Hispanic, and refer to Joe by the endearing nickname of "Joelito", a moniker I plan to put to good use on this cruise!
We made it to Boston without incident and began the boarding process. All of us made it through security except for Lois, who hadn't emptied her pockets beforehand, and set off all kinds of alarms. She had to take everything out of her pockets, and apparently they were loaded.
Things got a little confusing at the registration counter. We had to register by room; the men's room is registered in my name, and the woman registering us did OK, but the woman registering the ladies seemed to have all sorts of difficulties. First she couldn't seem to get Lois's passport to scan, and it took several minutes to get that problem resolved. Then she screwed up the shipboard purchases billing for the room, and we had to go to another counter to see a financial affairs gentleman to get that rectified. After that we got our group boarding photo taken, and proceeded to board the ship.
(Below: At the ship's pool, left to right are James, Becky E., myself, Joe, Lois, and Becky C.)
It was around 12:00 when we boarded and as our cabins would not be ready until 2:00 we went up to the Garden Cafe on Deck 12 and got a bite to eat. While we were there, I spotted Troy, a court officer from the courthouse. He works in a different court department than I do, so I don't know him that well, but I had learned earlier in the week that he and his family would be on board. I went over and said hi.
(Belos: Lois eating cookies with a fork . . . Hey, it's Freestyle Cruising, she can do whatever she wants!)
They announced the cabins were ready around 1:40, so we made our way down to deck five and got settled, as much as we could without our luggage which had not yet arrived. Joe and I wanted to sign up to be able to use the Internet, so all of us went up to the Internet Cafe to do that.
(Below: The excitement is well underway for Loia, Becky C., and James at the Internet Cafe!)
On the way back to our rooms we noticed our luggage in the hallway outside of the luggage sorting area, and so we brought it back to our rooms ourselves. Somehow, everyone else managed to travel fairly light and with small bags. My bag appears to hold more than what everyone else brought combined!
We were all in the men's cabin when our room steward dropped by to introduce himself. At first I thought he said his name was Ransom, but I think maybe it is actually Ransen.
Around 3:30, they sounded the mandatory lifeboat drill alarm, and we all made our way up to the Stardust Theatre where we sat through the short demonstration on how to put on a life vest. The ship was departing at 4:00, so after the drill we made our way outside to the Promenade on Deck 7. It was very foggy and misty, but the Captain assured us we should be out of most of this weather by morning.
A short distance from our ship was one of those large cargo ships, stacked high with railroad freight cars. Our ship passed by it, and it was quite impressive to see the enormity of it. Some of their crew were out taken pictures of OUR ship, and we were taking pictures of their ship and waving back and forth.
We were also quite close to the runways of Logan airport, and every few minutes or so a jet would come in quite low for a landing. The ones coming from the direction of the other side of our ship were quite startling with their sudden load roar and almost appearing to come out of nowhere.
It was a bit on the cool side, so I returned to our cabins with the ladies to get sweaters and sweatshirts and then rejoined James and Joe back up on the Promenade. We left Becky C. in a deck chair with her Kindle and the rest of walked the promenade around the entire ship. At one point were able to just barely see Boston Light through the fog off in the distance. My grandfather had been the Asst. Lighthouse Keeper there during the late 20's and lived there with my grandmother right after they were married. It was my father's home for the first couple years of his life.
Finally we decided it was time to eat again, and we made our way to the Venetian Restaurant. It is very elegant, and we were given a nice round table right near the large windows at the back of the ship. The table had 6 chairs and 6 place settings, but only five plates, a matter which was quickly resolved. Soon after that it was discovered that Becky C.'s menu had different items on it than everyone else's, so she had to be brought a correct one.
The sea was very calm, and we could barely feel any movement of the ship at all. Joe mentioned several times - rather adamantly in fact - that he couldn't even tell we were on a ship, and that any detectable movement could just as easily be attributed to the vibrations from a large truck . . . I think he was doing this in part for Becky E's benefit. She has a very delicate constitution, and we were all concerned that she might have problems with sea sickness.
Shortly after we placed our orders, Joe noticed that Becky E. had in fact very suddenly taken a turn for the worse. She looked quite ill, and complained of dizziness. It was quickly decided she needed to go back to the room to lie down. Joe got up to accompany her, and they had walked just a short distance from the table when Becky collapsed onto the floor. She was immediately descended upon by several of the restaurant staff. Joe helped her up, and managed to get to a chair just in time for her to collapse into it. Lois and Becky C. rushed over to her, and soon the Matre'de had come over to evaluate the situation. After several minutes they brought a wheel chair and took her away, and Joe went with her. Lois and Becky C. came back and told James and I that they were taking her down to the sick bay.
We were all concerned, and I was also worried this was going to get terribly expensive for Joe, who was paying Becky E.'s expenses for the trip. I knew that trips to the sick bay were NOT covered in the price of the cruise, and had heard they could be quite expensive. But obviously she needed some sort of attention, and of course it couldn't be helped.
Lois, Becky C., James, and myself stayed and tried to enjoy our dinner as best we could under the circumstances. The food of course was delicious. I ordered a Garlic Polenta Cake for an appetizer, some kind of baked rice cake for an entree, and a chocolate raspberry cake for dessert - it was my Dinner Of The Three Cakes . . .
(Below: Garlic Polenta Cake)
Our waitress was from the Philippines, and though a bit hard to understand (the others always seemed to look to me for interpretation each time she walked away from the table), she was very pleasant and friendly. When she learned that Becky E. had become ill, she brought covers for her and Joe's meals, and also brought a plate of apple slices and crackers, which she seemed to think might be a little easier for Becky E. to eat if she was not feeling well.
After we ate we took the plates of food and went back to our cabins. Joe was with Becky E. in the ladies' cabin. Joe told us they had checked her out and were concerned she might have some sort of intestinal virus. As a result of this diagnosis, she had been ordered to stay in quarantine for 24 hours, meaning she was not allowed to leave the cabin during that time.
According to Joe, this is not the first time Becky has had these dizzy spells, and had in fact seen a doctor about it and been prescribed some sort of medication for it. Based on this, we feel it is unlikely that it is anything as serious as a contagious intestinal virus, or even related to sea sickness, but until tomorrow night poor Becky must stay quarantined in her room. What an unfortunate way to start a cruise!
Joe said when they went to the sick bay a nurse told them they would have to pay $140.00 to see the doctor. After examining her though, the doctor said he wouldn't charge them anything for the visit. That certainly was nice of him. Hopefully she will feel better by tomorrow.
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