It was warm last night, so we slept a bit restlessly. I woke up early and wondered why. Oh yes, jet lag. I feel like we've been here for a long time already, so I forgot about that again. We've also experienced so much already.
After breakfast, we tidy up the room and pack our suitcases. Jan noticed that the boat is delayed. No idea what that means for us. We need to catch the bus at 10:40 a.m. at the bus station down the road, where we arrived yesterday as well. Just not Turbus this time, but the Pullman bus. While waiting to depart, Jan watches some football. The Utrecht - Feyenoord match is on Chilean TV. Quite unusual.
At quarter past 10, we check out and walk to the bus. It's only 200 meters away, so we're there quickly. We wait for about fifteen minutes, and then it arrives.
It's not far. First, we need to drop off our luggage and show our COVID test results. Ours is okay, so we're given a red sticker to wear.
Then we head inside. There are already a lot of people waiting. We first buy a bottle of water. When we pay in pesos, it turns out to be 2000 pesos, but if you pay in US dollars, it's $4. That's twice as expensive! We opt to pay in pesos. Then we look for empty seats. In front of us, there's a lady chatting with the people next to her, repeating the same thing ten times. And when she starts praising Trump, we think: let's avoid her for the next few weeks 😄. She finds allies among her neighbors. We are amazed by the stream of people disembarking, picking up their luggage, and going through customs and SAG (Agriculture and Livestock Service). It's a very chaotic scene.
After a while, the Trump fan leaves, and we strike up a conversation with the people next to us. It becomes very enjoyable. He is 80, she's a bit younger, and they've been in a relationship for about 1.5 years. They have a great dry sense of humor and constantly tease each other. He used to be an actor and writer and also has a podcast. They give us a card, and I'll definitely check out the website.
The waiting goes on and on, it's been a very long time now. For lunch, we each eat two bananas, just to have something. The chaos keeps escalating, and we hear experienced cruisers around us saying that this is not usual.
Finally, we can proceed to check-in. We're assigned to groups, and we're in group 32. There, we chat with other Americans, and after nearly an hour, it's finally our turn. It's almost half past 6 by then.
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| Outside, throughout the afternoon, there was a long line of people waiting in the heat |
Our cabin, or stateroom as we should say here, is on deck 8, number 8138, all the way at the back. We unpack our suitcases first and find that we have very little storage space. But when we realize that the suitcases fit perfectly under the bed, it's not so bad after all.
Once that's done, we go in search of a drink, so we head up one deck and outside to the Sea View bar by the pool. It's still quite deserted, and it's rather chilly in the wind. We want a Bud, but they don't have it (probably not loaded or unloaded yet), so we opt for a different beer instead.
After finishing our drinks, we head to the Lido Market to eat. This is the buffet restaurant. It's well stocked but not yet crowded. We find a spot, have some salad as starters, and then opt for a marinated pork cutlet with a glass of wine. We had expected a slightly wider selection, but perhaps this is also due to the fact that they're still stocking up.
At half past nine, the mandatory safety drill begins, so we need to be ready. After dinner, we watch the mandatory safety video in the cabin, and then there's a knock at the door. It's Agung, our steward—no idea what they're actually called. He tells his story, and shortly after, we head to deck 3 for the drill. There's confusion everywhere. People are walking around with life jackets, even though the video said not to bring them. There are 3 stages with different sounds. When stage 3 is announced, indicating that we need to go to the lifeboats (7 short and 1 long beep), we must go to muster station 14, and there the confusion starts again. It's behind a door marked "Crew only". We wait obediently, but there's a lot of grumbling around us. Eventually, the signal sounds, and we go outside where the lifeboats are located. Underneath, the use of life jackets is demonstrated after our barcode is scanned.
Once everything is over, we walk up the 5 floors because the elevators are naturally overcrowded now. In the cabin, I write a bit, and Jan reads for a while. After the drill, Captain Rens van Eerten announced that we couldn't leave yet because the waves were too high for that. That's also why they arrived so late this morning, combined with a container ship blocking the way or something.
We crawl into bed, and it feels wonderful. The ship rocks gently from time to time.