Tampa, FL - Sail AwayNov 24, 2008
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Tampa Port
Tampa Skyline at Dusk
Another View
Golden Hued Skyline
The sun rose early and we were delighted to see a bright, clear morning; no fog in Tampa so whatever else might delay our ship, it wouldn’t be fog. We had a busy morning with finishing our packing and tidying up. Joe did the necessary chores to secure the motor home to be safe in our absence and that brought us to the inevitable, most hated, chore of taking Foxy to the kennel. We had taken her in already to meet the staff and she went willingly enough. When they take her to the back, she casts that forlorn look our way, which makes me hurry out the door really fast. We know she’ll be OK but it’s still hard to leave her.
Our shuttle driver collected us for the short run to the Seaport Terminal. The Port of Tampa is not very attractive; I suppose most ports aren’t. We got through security really fast and I had checked us in on-line at home so it was pretty speedy to just show our passports and sign up for our Set-Sail card; this is the card that lets you buy stuff on board and settle at the end of the cruise.
We found our cabin but our bags were still in the delivery stage so we went for a light lunch at the Windjammer Café. Lunch was buffet style and we settled for some light salad fare. When we returned to our cabin, our bags had been delivered. The all-aboard call was right on time at 4 p.m. We unpacked until we had to report for the safety muster. This is the safety routine to familiarize passengers with their life jackets and their muster stations, the assigned meeting place in case of an emergency. Captain Olsen gave us a little sailing information and at precisely 5 p.m., we sailed into the channel and we were on our way south.
Our sail-away dinner was in the Great Gatsby Dining Room and we have two nice couples for tablemates. The food was delicious; Joe had prime rib and I had salmon. It was pitch dark when we sailed under the Skyway Bridge; but, it was pretty all lit up at night. We had a little free time and headed for the internet café to get ourselves set up on the ship’s Wi-Fi. The Welcome-Aboard Show was OK but not spectacular. In addition to a short appearance by the RC Singers & Dancers, the main entertainment featured a comedian, Chas Elstner, and, while he was good, a little of him went a long way. Our Cruise Director is Simeon Baker and he gave us a lot of information on the ship and the on-board activities. After a glass of wine, we were ready to call it a night especially since we advanced our watches an hour to be ready for the local time in San Juan on Thursday.
The next two days will be at sea as we cruise our way south at about 20 knots to our first port-of-call in San Juan, Puerto Rico on Thursday. Stay tuned for more news from the sea.
