First Day of the Cruise

Today was the official beginning of our cruise.  We were sent many emails from Oceania about the boarding and embarkation process.  We were told there were no facilities at this port.  People in the Owner’s suites were to board at 11:00, Concierge level rooms at Noon, and the rest of the rooms at 1:00.  We left our hotel at 11:00 for the half hour drive to the port.  Thank goodness we left when we did!  The process that was followed was simply first come, first served.

The process went something like this:

-  We were dropped off at the port where there was a line of people with buses and taxis jostling for space.  There were no Oceania representatives - just port police and port porters.

-   A bus would come up and luggage was loaded underneath the bus and people boarded the bus with their hand luggage.

-  Once full, the bus would leave and come back for next group of people, all the while fighting for space amongst the taxis and people.  We were able to board on the 4th or 5th bus.  There was absolutely no differentiation among the cabin types. We had different colored tags but we were all in the same line being loaded sequentially.

-  Once we entered the portion of the port where the ship was docked, the driver had to get out of the bus to raise the gate and get back on.

-  We were then dropped off at the ship where the line was once again very long.  The sun was very hot and after 2 hours, we were offered water just as we were going up the gangplank.  All 4 of us got a bit sunburned.
- After embarkation we were able to get lunch and relax until our rooms were ready at 3:30.

After all the waiting, we had dinner at Red Ginger, the Asian specialty restaurant aboard Oceania’s Marina.  What a GREAT dinner and wonderful way to end the evening.