Based on the recommendation of the staff at the Courtyard Marriott – we used Lyft to get to the Moonlight Diner at a nearby shopping center. The food was good as they said, since we have the option to bring two bottles of wine onboard the ship – we asked where in the shopping center we could buy wine and they pointed to the K-Mart next door. Have never done that before. The selection was actually quite reasonable. We then Lyfted back to our hotel and got ready for the shuttle that would take us to the Celebrity Constellation – a Millenium class ship that has been “Solticisized.” We took the noon shuttle so we would be settled before setting sail at 4:00pm.
The boarding process was very interesting – similar in a lot of ways to boarding an airplane – but more rigorous in some ways and not in others. We were issued keys to our cabin right away and went to check them out – but had to wait a while for our luggage to be delivered. So we had a quick lunch in the ships buffet area and went exploring to see where everything is located. We had our ship safety drill and left port exactly on schedule. We enjoyed watching the departure from the aft deck. The view of the shore as we gradually left it behind was great.
We have signed up for the flexible meal schedule – but we still have to make reservations for the “sit-down” restaurant we will mostly dine in. The food was great and afterwards we listened to music at a nearby night club and danced a little. There was one couple who showed everyone else how to do the cha-cha. While they were dancing everyone else in the venue was watching them.
I had hoped to go to a late theater event but they had to postpone it because the boat was rocking too much to get the stage set up. Tomorrow – first full day at sea.