Friday: Sailaway!

We had a very early morning and Tom very graciously came and drove us to the airport. Once again we had to say goodbye and thank you to a dear friend – visiting always means goodbyes! We discovered that we'd left the camera USB in Manchester, so there won't be any more pics on the blog until we get to Seattle – sorry, folks!
We had a good flight to Ft Lauderdale and straight to the ship; embarkation was very well organised and we were on board quickly. Lunch was available while we waited for our stateroom to be finished, so we immediately launched into the spirit of cruising: food! A leisurely afternoon exploring the ship; the first competition on board was in the Health Spa: about 10 names drawn out for various things. I told God I'd really like a manicure or a massage; guess what? He came good with the manicure worth $US45! The usual lifeboat drill before sailing. 5.00pm we headed for Mass; there's a priest on board but no protestant minister – about 10 people came. Just as we started Mass, the ship began to move: a really good feeling to be under way! Then early shift dinner, Graham discovered he had forgotten to pack a tie and it's formal dress Saturday night, so off we went to THE SHOP! He found two ties and I got a Mother's Day present – two gorgeous little evening handbags for $10!
We did our walk around promenade deck (probably only 2/3 of a mile this time); sunset and moon rise were beautiful. Lovely to settle in our room and hop into bed with the gentle rolling of the ship.
Saturday: At Sea day; breakfast delivered to our stateroom, then we went to the protestant service, conducted by the priest from last night: sort of Anglican style I guess. He's a good preacher. We had Australia Today delivered: first real Aussie news we've seen since we left home. It's very warm, about 28, with lots of people lounging in the sun. Smooth sailing so far, with a gentle rock and roll occasionally.
Dinner was formal tonight and we had a  nice surprise - an officer sat with us, a lovely young man from England, Simon. Even better, he paid for the wine, which just kept coming! One of the other guests then had a bottle of port served and it was indeed a good drop. After dinner we saw Valkire in the theatre; we had wanted to see it when it was on at home, but missed it: a thought-provoking, startling movie.
Sunday:
Up reasonably early and now we're at Starbucks having a decent coffee.