Departing New York City

Some people asked me if I planned to blog this vacation.  I had not originally planned on it.  However, there were mild protests in multiple quarters.  I am not going to set up a blog site.  I will use FACEBOOK instead.  Look for virtual vacation pictures there.

We’ve been overwhelmed by the hospitality of the NCL staff.  We thought they’d made a mistake and were confusing us with another couple.  When we checked in this morning, the young gentleman behind the counter immediately came to our side and told us he would be escorting us to the VIP waiting area.  We met a lovely couple who were getting married on board the ship.  Then we were personally escorted by a member of the concierge staff to the ship and up to Cagney’s, which is the premier on board restaurant.

It puzzled us.  I thought since they do some profiling that they were trying to impress us since we had not previously sailed with Norwegian.  Late this afternoon a small tray of appetizers showed up.  Finally, just a few minutes ago we received a special, personal invitation to meet the Captain in the “Exclusive Outdoor Courtyard Area” tomorrow evening for cocktails. 

It’s our collective wisdom that this is about Jan arranging a “meet and greet” for Cruise Critic users.  NCL seems to take the social networking media more seriously than Princess.  Theoretically, tomorrow afternoon 34 onboard guests, who’ve been corresponding with each other through that site, will meet in the Azur Lounge.  A guest services representative left us a voice mail message to make sure it goes smoothly. 

If their intention is to impress us, they’ve done that very nicely.