Brilliance of the Seas..Canada/New England/Repositioning: Boston

We were awake early although we didn’t need to be. It was nice thinking we didn’t have to rush around to wait in lines to get off. We texted the other girls and they said all of them made it to Boston although for some it was into the wee hours. They were however assigned a shuttle time from their hotel to the ship of 1 PM so we would not see them for awhile. We went to the dining room for breakfast and met several couples that sat at our table who were getting off that morning, one from Arizona and the other from Australia. After breakfast, we had about an hour before all the back to back cruisers were to meet in the Colony Club to clear customs and get our new cruise cards and info. There were 84 of us staying on. Everyone on this cruise…all 2,109 of us are repeat cruisers with RCL, over 1,000 are the top two levels of Diamond (80 to 175 nights cruising RCL) and Diamond Plus (176 to 699 days…bahahaha). Pinnacle is above 700 nights and there are several of those on this cruise as well. Anyway, the process was handled smoothly by RCL and it was painless and they have lunch for us in Giavonni’s restaurant. It was very nice to have the sit down lunch and we enjoyed it. Debbie and I got off and got back on the have our boarding photos taken and caused a ruckus as the people in the terminal were very confused on how we already had our boarding keys. We ignored them and did our thing and were back on the ship in less than five minutes.

Carol Calvin and Sharon Templeton

Kay and Deb Ward

Strings in the Atrium before dinner

Dancing to the band after dinner

Getting ready for a show

Before we knew it the girls were on board and we met at the Schooner Bar for cocktails and hugs and conversation. It was great to see everyone again. We have not had a cruise together since 2010. We all headed to change for dinner. All twelve of us are together at one table this cruise. We had made such a fuss about our food not being hot last cruise that the Assistant Head Dining Room Manager, Edwin from India, is now making a big show bringing out our hot food. He helps deliver food to me, Kay Debbie and Judy then disappears for the rest of the meal. Dinner was hot and good, most of the girls went to the show and Debbie and I went to the casino. After the show Carol joined Debbie and I at the 3 Card Poker table. We had fun. When we got back to the cabin, Carol had left us her traditional nightly “brain teaser” sheet. Debbie and I had to try to figure them out before going to sleep. It was a swoopy night in the north Atlantic again. Still on the chilly side too.