12.27.16 Welcome to the Azamara Quest

12.27.16

We started the day with breakfast at the Cafe American in the hotel. It plays Casablanca as you eat. Both our meals were good. For mine, I had a breakfast sandwich that used shredded fried plantains as the bread. Glenn had poached eggs with smoked salmon and bleu cheese in a fried plantation shell.

We walked down to the port to see the new Viking Ocean cruise ship. We relaxed a little more on the hotel roof and then grabbed a taxi to the port. It took a out 30 minutes to get a taxi so leave plenty of time.

Embarkation was very easy and quick. We were surprised we had to walk outside and up a set of stairs instead of a ramp.  We stopped by the Land Discoveries desk to finish booking our shore excursions. Lunch at the buffet was good. For the first 24 hours, they had staff serve all the food to help cut down on illnesses. We had great beverage service. The cabins opened at 1:45 pm. Our luggage arrived around 3 pm so it was great to be unpacked. We took the ship tour at 4 pm. It took 20 minutes. One good tip was that all the elevators empty facing forward and all the restaurants are at the back of the ship. We tried to make Chef's Table reservations, but they were all booked. The muster drill was at 5 pm
We really liked that it was not in the middle of dinner. At 5:45 pm, we went to the Cruise Critic meet and greet. We were impressed several of the ship's officers attended and the cruise director.

We had dinner in the included restaurant. We chose a table with other people and had a lively conversation. Our dinner was very slow and all of us got a little agitated when all the tables around us had come and gone and we still didn't have entrees. The best part was that the maitre'd tried to blame us for sitting at a large table. My response was, "You did this - not us. We don't know each other. If you can't handle a large table - don't sit people at one." We left before dessert to get to the show so we didn't get the cake I had arranged for Glenn. We should get it tonight. (As I'm writing this Wednesday morning by the pool, the pool butler just came by with a cold towel. Nice touch.)

The welcome aboard show featured two vocalists, a piano player and two dancers.  If you like cabert entertainment, I think you'd like the shows. We stayed up late chatting with other guests.