Boarding Oceania's Riviera

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This morning after a Clay-cooked breakfast of fried mush, Mom's friend Steve (aka Slick) drove us over to the Port of Miami. Traffic was not bad and we made it quicker than we expected, closer to 2 hours than 3. It is still a long day of driving roundtrip and we really appreciated Steve doing that. We still only waited in a short line for a few minutes and then walked through security, health questionnaire, photos for ship's keycards and CC registration before continuing on to the ship. It was quick and easy and we were onboard before our scheduled arrival time. We learned that we should be issued a new keycard onboard by reception the night before the end of each cruise segment since our cards indicate our cruise ends 2/4. We are actually onboard for 3 consecutive cruises and will disembark on 2/26 in exactly 1 month. We were able to get our specialty dining reservations changed to our liking. We went to Terrace and couldn't find 2 chairs together! We shared a Cuban sandwich with a couple of Coke Zeros at Waves Grill followed by ice cream. (Yeah, included sodas!) We cleared out to give others a chance to eat and went up to a mostly deserted Baristas for a Ily crema (think cappuccino Icee) and caneles. Our standard balcony cabin was not scheduled to be ready for us before 3 pm, but about 2:10 pm the announcement came over the loudspeakers that they were ready. We are in cabin 8073. Mom texted about 3 pm that she was back home. We got our luggage delivered near 4 pm. The mandatory boat drill was at 5:15 pm. It was quick and easy in Martinis bar. We sailed at 6 pm. Dinner in Polo Grill at 6:30 pm. It is a steak house and it was good and service was efficient. My well-done filet came quickly and cooked correctly. An excellent start. So far smooth sailing and dark windless night. There is the merest sliver of a moon as we sail around the tip of Florida for Key West. We learned tonight we'll be docking out at the Navy Mole Pier there. The only dockage for cruise ships that is not in walking distance! Boo. Fortunately, we've been before and have no pressing plans there. So no real harm done to us.

Our first Oceania cruise, years ago was on Marina. Riviera is a sister ship but we don't remember this cabin at all. I don't know if the O ships had been renovated since our previous cruise or our memories are just bad. I don't think Clay took any photos. But he was flummoxed by the shower over tub and free-standing corner shower once again! Here is a link to see about Riviera and cabin pictures. It is a nice ship and a nice cabin. I was thinking I could do a world cruise on this ship when Clay pointed out that all the WC and other itineraries that interest us are on the less desirable R ships. Oh well.

So the reason we're on a month of Caribbean cruises is to finish up our quest for visiting 100 countries. If you've been following along then you know we reached #94 after the last cruise. Clay discovered in editing his Excel files that we'll actually make 101 instead of 100 if we make all our upcoming ports. Fingers crossed. Here is a link to this month's cruise ports.

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