Feb 14 Marina

Today we boarded the ship. First we say goodbye to the Sheraton Convention Center and the lobby lounge.  We ate at least one lunch or dinner here every day during our stay.

We have to travel to San Antonio on the coast, about 90 minutes away. Globus arranged  transportation for the two of us and 4 big suitcases.  Once again, Globus personal service -- only the two of us in the van at a price comparable to what we'd pay for seats in a large motor coach. 

We'll be aboard the ship for 51 days so we needed several changes of clothing plus all of the electronics. I have a charger for everything plus backups and connecting cables. It was much easier before cell phones, laptops and digital cameras.

Lots of farmland between Santiago and San Antonio.  We passed through the winery region, then corn, and here we have sunflowers.

We arrive at the port.  Security doesn't seem particularly alert.

We had one of the best embarkations of our Oceania life today.  After a brief argument with a guy who didn't know what time it was, we passed through security, got immediately onto the port bus which took us to the ship

Those are subway cars in storage, or transit, sitting on the dock.

We waited on the bus while the one-way gangway was filled with crew members leaving. They must have heard we were coming.

Check-in onboard was reasonably efficient.  Lots of people working in the lounge to hand out keys and take our pictures. Why did they ask for a picture during our online check-in 3 weeks ago just to repeat here?  What percentage of their customers have extensive facial surgery just prior to traveling?

We have traveled exclusively on R-class Oceania ships before today, where the rooms are 216 sqft. Here we have 290 sqft so it seems spacious. Much of that extra space has been given to the bathroom which has a bathtub! Which we'll never use. Which means the shower is even smaller than on the R-class ships. Oh well, it looks good in the promotional materials.

Grand staircase

We're aboard. Wine, Coca Cola Light and canapes in Horizons -- up high at the pointy end of the ship.

Marina feels very large compared to Insignia and friends.  It's longer, wider and has more floors. Everything is in about the same place here as on Insignia, just a higher floor or something.  I'm sure we'll find out way around.