ROMANTICA CRUISE

 

The first sight of the ship always brings excitement to me and there she was painted white, with yellow stacks. 

The ‘Romantica’ looked enormous as though she was built with more above the waterline than below. The wonders of aluminum I am told. She was going to be our home for two weeks touring the Caribbean, I wondered what adventures we would have together. 

As I stood appraising her, a fleeting thought crossed my mind ‘Will the weather be kind?’ I was drawn out of my pondering by the need to proceed on board. We were very charmingly factory-processed, with lots of shaking of hands and smiling, all the way onto the ship and to our cabin. 

The cabin was a very pleasant surprise. It was bigger than I had been in before and had a huge big round porthole and a spacious bathroom for a ship. (I had to remind myself that I last sailed on a vessel in the late sixties, things had improved since then, with a more discerning and demanding clientele.) 

There was a mural on the wall, plenty of cupboard space and a concertina pull-down blind, for privacy at night or in port.

Once we knew where we were going to live, we set off to explore the ship, as the luggage had not yet appeared. There seemed to be stairs and lifts everywhere, we kept meeting other explorers like ourselves, in and out of lounges, restaurants, bars, and shops. 

Finally, we felt peckish and popped into a self-service for some lunch. I had to negotiate the menu with my gluten-free problem. We were not very taken by our meal as it was not as hot as it might have been. 

However as we were still in port, some staff were being used as luggage porters. We felt they might have been shorthanded and made allowances.

Once fed it was down to the cabin to see if the cases were there so we could unpack. They were, outside the door, but oh dear my husband's ties were hanging out a rip in the case and the handle was a most peculiar shape. 

We took them inside the cabin for a better look. It was just as well that it was his case, as mine had many more small objects that might have fallen out during the damage. It looked as if it had fallen from a great height. "Oh well!"

My young man commented "It looks as though we will have to buy a new case when we return to Fort Lauderdale."

I laughed to myself, as so far we had a damaged handbag and a case I wondered what would be next.

That evening we went down to the main restaurant for our meal, we were placed on a table for four. We had asked to be placed on one of six or eight. We sat down and awaited our absent table companions. Alas on the whole cruise, we dined alone, though not without company.

2023 © Penny Wobbly of WobblingPen

Photo: Pixabay License