A Day Lost and A Day Found

The lovely room in the Intercontinental Hotel in Century City turned out to be a great retreat away from the world to recover from the early morning wake-up, the cross-country flight, and adjusting to the new time zone. We napped, read, napped, read  and watched a little TV.

We got room service to create for us a cheese platter and –surprise- find a bottle of wine for a snacking lunch. The napping and reading began again and by dinner time we were ready for a sandwich to share, watched a TV program and went to be about 9:00.  This was the sunset over Century City on our "lost" day.

We both rested well and got up at about 7:30 ready for whatever the day might bring.

Breakfast in the Grand Salon was indeed a grand breakfast buffet. We sat with some folks- Nancy and Tom Brown- from Charleston, SC. The buffet offered lots and lots of options so naturally we ate our fill.

They were to begin picking up luggage at 9:30 so Jim went to the room to wait to be sure ours got on the truck for the ship. I choose a spot in the lobby where the people watching was just perfect. Chatted with lots of different people who came and sat at the other chair beside me. Most are going on the cruise and ready to get going!

I continue to be amazed at the variety of footwear that young women don these days. Such combinations of extremely high, narrow heels combined with almost boot-like looking shoes. Sure a sign of my age because I keep thinking what they are doing to their backs as they walk with such determination on the marble floor of the lobby.

At last- and actually the last load of luggage from the hotel- our bags were safely on a cart and Jim appeared. It was time for our car to pick us up. We decided to avoid the scene of people clamoring to get on and off the provided buses and just quietly go. Only a tiny wrinkle- he was at the wrong hotel. Thank goodness for cell phones and we made a connection and were off and gone only about 30 minutes later than planned.

Checked in at the port was simple and getting aboard the Mariner was easy. It was about 12:30. The suites were not ready but lunch was available on Deck 11. We sat at the Pool Grill, sipped wine, ate a burger and a hot dog and watched the buses arrive with other passengers.

The air was crisp and the sky blue as the busy port of Los Angeles was in full action loading ships of all sizes with cargo AND –in the case of our ship- people of all sizes.

Just before 2:30 the suites were ready and we made our way to our home away from home- Suite 925. One bag was already there and the other came quickly. We unpacked and settled into the spacious suite.

The DBD (dreaded boat drill) was completed in basically a painless way. New changes from the Coast Guard mean that every 14 days passengers have to do the boat drill again. Doesn’t seem to make sense to me but I guess in this age of caution and fear much is being taken to the extreme.

Dinner in the Compass Rose Dining Room was wonderful- as always. We were in bed early because, as the captain had informed us, there was a fair amount of rocking and rolling coming from the sea. We will sleep well!!!!!