Cruise: Day 1

Time to set sail!!!! 13 day South American cruise!! ! Woo hoo!!!!! Here's a look at our itinerary!!

We woke up around 7/8 am at our apartment in Palermo and started to get ready. Pedro watched the tv to keep up with what was happening in the news. As our luck would have it a country / city wide strike was planned for all union employees. That meant issues with all public transportation (busses, subways ect) a notice was even out out that flights could be cancelled going in and out of buenos aires. The news showed images of people flooding the streets so entering the city was virtually impossible, therefore shutting the city down. School was also cancelled and banks were closed.

We left the apartment around 10:30/10:45 to allow ample time to make it to the ship just in case we had issues with cabs or detours. Luckily.......NO PROBLEMS!! We had a great cab driver who got us there as quick as can be thanks to my smart husbands recommendation of taking an exteriors route to the cruise port.

We were inside the terminal and waiting to board by 11:30. It was awesome! The waiting area was quite a sight!! Almost everyone was over 50, the majority being 65 and over. We were 2 of about 10 people between 20-30. I guess a cruise to the end of the earth doesn't really appeal to our age group. Lines started to form around 12 and we were on the ship around 1:00. We met 2 very nice couples while we were waiting. One from buenos aires and one from Australia.

Once on the ship, we dropped our bags and headed straight to the lido deck for lunch. The buffet was great!! When we finished eating, we explored the ship...our home for the next 2 weeks. We were sailing on the Holland America ms Veendam. A cruise ship really is like a floating city. Our "city" had...a gift shop, piano bar, martini bar, champagne bar, espresso cafe, new York times library and cafe, windows media lab, wine cellar, jazz lounge, nightclub, gym, spa, food and wine magazine culinary center, casino, swimming pool, hot tubs, steam room, sauna, theater basketball court, tennis court, and 6 different restaurants / places to eat, not including the 24 hour room service menu.

Around 3:30 we made our way over to the wine cellar because they were having a complimentary champagne reception. Who doesn't love free champagne. They were also doing a raffle. We got there just before the drawing and got the last 2 tickets that were handed out. Guess what.....we won the bottle of champagne they were giving away! What a great start to the vacation.

Celebrating my win!!

After the mandatory safety briefing, we went straight to the spa for another raffle. Yes yes.....I like to try and win free stuff : ) !! They were giving away a bunch of different services and since you had to be present to win (there were TONS of entries from passengers who toured the spa, but didn't go back for the raffle) it was taking a while. One of the trainers decided to have a little competition to give away the next prize, a Body Composition Analysis reading and consultation. We had to do squats. Well....I put my game face on and went at it. We all kept picking up the pace and I decided to kick it up into plyometric squats. Yup....I won!!! Thank you Insanity workout!!! I couldn't have done it without you!!!

We finished just in time for sail away. The view of the skyline as we were leaving Buenos Aires was just stunning. It was such a calming feeling to drift away and watch it get smaller and smaller knowing that I was on yet another adventure of a lifetime with the love of my life!

Skyline of Buenos Aires

Dinner was fantastic!! I love being handed a menu and ordering anything I want!! Dessert was a tasty apple strudel with vanilla ice cream! Yummy!!! We also shared a cheese plate!!

As soon as we finished we were off to the theater for the welcome aboard show. It was a little sample of all the groups and performers on the ship. I knew right then and there I was going to have 2 weeks of awesome music and performances.

Before bed we made one last pit stop...the piano bar. I...was...in...heaven!!! Jamm the Piano Man was belting out show tunes!! The request book listed gem after gem. I would have been happy with anything that he played. The best part.....the cover of the book said..."if you would like to sing a song, just let me know"!! We all know what that means : ) but now tonight....bedtime!! We have a big day of sightseeing ahead of us tomorrow in Montevideo, Uruguay!