Greetings from Jamaica, Mon!

We are docked in Ocho Rios, about 100 kilometers from Montego Bay where there is a warning about police and army action against drug dealers. Glad to see our first sunshine on our journey. We took a taxi in Ocho Rios and the cab driver wanted to know if we wanted to buy some “weed.” We declined...

We are rapidly getting acquainted with our ship, and there are photos below to show you how beautiful she is. Last evening was the Captain's Welcome Aboard Cocktail Party for the 350 guests who embarked in Ft Lauderdale. According to our most cordial and genial captain, Captain Aseem Hashmi, there are 1900 guests on board. 1300 are from the UK, 300 from the US, 49 from Germany, 39 from France, and the rest in smaller amounts.

Captain Hashmi, has a very interesting background. He was born in the UK, and became a commercial airline pilot, but when the air carriers hit a slump, he redirected his career and began as a deck officer with Cunard. He rose up rapidly to the rank of Captain, and appears to be only about 50 years old. He has received accolades for utilizing the same type of checklist that pilots use on airplanes, but applied to ships.

A little about our table of 8. We are really very happy with its location and our table mates. We are on the first level of the Britannia dining room and right next to the Captain's table. It's a great spot for people watching! I was thrilled to see several men in kilts last night on formal night. The ladies looked quite lovely. We have late seating at 8:30. It makes the day so much longer.

Life is beginning to set into a pattern on board. We had breakfast in the Britannia Dining Room this morning, Then up to the Garden Lounge for a coffee. This is a beautiful room, see the photo below of the one that looks like a solarium. It is divided in thirds. The center part is largest and for all guests. One one side is a special area for solo travelers, and on the opposite side is an area just for full world cruisers, with a permanent World Cruise Hostess/Concierge. There is coffee, juice, fruit and nibbles available for the world cruisers.

Internet is fairly good. The library is very extensive! The staff are all very pleasant. Our steward has been with Cunard for 30 years!

As I keep saying, the ship is just beautiful. The public corridors are wide and light and everything seems very well maintained. Our balcony, which showed some rust is getting scraped and repainted today.

The cabin is light and has a really large balcony, but poor storage!! There are three drawers in the nightstand next to each side of the bed. There is half a drawer (shared with the permanently attached hair dryer) over the fridge. There are three closets, one double, two single and 4 small shelves. Those of you who know I don't pack lightly are correct if they guess that my closet is like a game of Sardines! David's closet has two rods, which gives him a bit more space. I will never find everything I brought, because some tops are double and triple hung! I don't know who designed the bathroom,.There are tiered glass shelves on each side of the counter and one ¾ length shelf under the sink, but the shower is crazy. It is very tiny, with no room to “Save water-Shower with a friend!” It is teensy and there is not even a shelf or soap dish. We were fortunate that we knew about this before we left and have a basket and soap holder with suction cups.

We are part of a trivia team at 4:15 every day, even on port days. There are five of us: Lynn and Bryon from our table, a young man named Mike (who is great on pop culture!) and us. The top score was 19 yesterday, and we came in second at 16. We could have had 19, but we changed our answers. Don't you just hate that??

I will have to report back on entertainment. We have been too pooped to stay up after dinner. It was hectic getting ready to go, but I think we are caught up on our sleep and will stay up with the grown-ups from now on. There is music all over the ship, a string quartet plays at the entrance to the dining room, a harpist is in one of the lounges, a piano in another, a dance combo in another, etc.

We are getting our steps in, because this ship is larger than most others we have sailed on. We are between midship and forward. The corridors jig a bit, because they have to go around the funnels, whereas the Queen Mary 2 has a straight shot of a corridor all the way to the Britannia Dining Room.

Tomorrow is a sea day, filled with activities, and I will post a list in my next installment. It's very much like being on Crystal's sea days!

To quote Bob Marley: “Love the life you live, live the life you love.”