My valued friend and client Betty and I were supposed to meet with our husbands for dinner Saturday night at the Sofitel. I knew she was getting in later than I was, so I wasn't concerned with our meeting up as planned. Even though I did have reason for concern, I forgot to check that Betty's number was programmed into my iPhone for me as I asked. (Listen, I can dial like a pro...just as long as the number is pre-programmed. Don't judge me!)
Anyway, I knew I was programmed in Betty's, so if push came to shove, she'd find me when they arrived. I made certain to keep my oft-forgotten phone with me at all times for a change! At least for that one day! Long story short, by the time Betty and I finally caught up with each other by room-to-room phone, it was bedtime. We all knew when to throw in the proverbial towel and grab dinner on our own. We promised we'd meet at the pier.
The next morning when I was dressed and ready and we still had time to kill before being able to get to the port, I decided to see if maybe we couldn't do coffee or something before then after all. We had been speaking first online and then on the phone for the better part of two years now, is it really wrong to want to meet the face behind the personality and the name?! Well, I lucked out and Betty chose to come down to meet.
Lucky for me that I don't get set ideas in my head of what the person behind the screenname looks like because the lady who walked down the steps was one of the cutest little petite woman I'd ever seen. Her eyes were warm and her smile was wide. That was a nice hug. Hameed was not ready to come downstairs yet and Ray was hungry, so Betty and I sat outside by the broken pool and just got to know one another a little more. We exchanged small gifts with each other. Since Betty and Hameed are my first ever clients, I wanted to make sure she knew how much I appreciated her faith in me and I gave her a Norwegian Cruise Line journal so she could keep up her writing in style. She gave me an electronic cigarette with peach flavored oil. I used it a couple of times and will use it far more often now that I'm at home and am more relaxed. When I'm even a little anxiety-ridden, you don't mess with my smokes! LOL
Hameed soon showed up and was funny and warm and very quick with a hug. We fell in love with Betty and Hameed instantly! Ray and Hameed had lots to talk about and it seemed Betty and I simply couldn't shut up! It was a nice, comfortable pairing!
We had discussed sharing a ride to the port, but when I checked in and spoke to guest services about it, he made it sound undoable unless we took the shuttle...but the shuttle wasn't leaving as early as we wanted to. It looked like we were going to be using separate cars afterall....until our porter got involved. Before we could say the alphabet, he had us a car to carry all four of us and all of our luggage in relative comfort. Sure, there was a carry-on or two on a lap or three, but we were together.
Hameed was a real help when we arrived at the pier and carried our box of bottles in for us before going to his line with Betty. (There is more than one gangway to enter/exit the ship by, and their's was the other one...)
After our tour of Haven and lunch in the Epic Club, we decided to check out Posh. Now let me give you a little back story. Steve and John had sent us pictures of themselves (in kindergarten) for us to recognize them by. This is a game I love. I play it all the time at home while watching TV. I'll see someone and recognize them from some other show or something and can usually at least remember the part they played when they were younger. So up in Posh we go and sure nuff, I spotted them from memory of the baby pictures. HA! LOL It was a bit of a surprise to all of us, but it was a fun one.
John and Steve were quick with hugs and lots of fun chit-chat. Their suite was really only around the corner from ours, so we knew we'd see each other often. Didn't quite work out that way, but in theory it should have. We did, however, make a point to do things together periodically throughout the cruise, so we did get to spend some quality time with these equally quality people.
More to come...