We decide to breakfast, stay hotel-bound until checkout, then leave our bags and go for a walk.
We have furious temperatures again, but we wander first to the port to check the lay of the land for later (guiding one’s taxi to the right spot saves a pile of grief later) and then continuing towards the posher side of town where the marinas are situated. It’s slow going because of the heat and humidity, but we manage four miles before we return to catch a cab the whole mile back to our ship.
We drop off our bags at 12:15, then rapidly pass through check-in and security so that by 12:30 we are onboard and drinking champagne beside the pool on deck 9.
Note to regular readers: we are going to have to get used to all the changes of deck numbers for this journey. This ship, Encore, is one of two larger sized vessels neither of which we have previously sailed on, the most notable distinction being that many things are a deck higher. This may cause some confusion for our first day or two, but we will soon acclimatise!
Then we do a tour of the various areas we need to plan for – spa for our included massage, the new-to-us Solis restaurant, which was previously Thomas Keller, where we say hello to the all-important Maître d’Hotel, who is a delightful young lady.
Then it’s time for lunch and we head back to the pool deck on nine (not eight!) to have our customary hamburger for first lunch. Happily things are just wonderful and we enjoy this with Chardonnay.
By the time we have eaten, it’s time to check if our baggage has arrived, and it has, so we unpack and shove the empty bags under the bed so we cannot notice them for the next three weeks. Meanwhile our lovely stewardess Ladda brings us mimosas and takes away our list of peculiarities, which of course we think are normal requests!
After all this excitement we quickly change and head back to nine/ten to grab a deck-chair. Having done this it seems only reasonable that we have a drink, so order a mojito. Soon it seems like another is in order, poolside this time.
Meanwhile we have made contact with some early chronies – two Oz couples and an English couple all of whom are maximising their enjoyment! We spend a very happy couple of hours in the pool, first chatting and later enjoying the ship’s company sailaway to ABBA tunes.
Before long we return to our room to shower and dress for dinner before emerging poolside to enjoy a mimosa, and kir royal. Unfortunately the lovely bar manager Joyce thinks we need more so makes a second round which we feel obliged to quaff before heading down five decks to MDR, the main dining room, for dinner.
Hubby chooses crab salad, I have scallops and beef short rib to start, followed by asparagus soup, and we both have lamb loin for main. Puddings are meringue and nougat whilst I have pistachio soufflé, before demolishing the petit fours.
