​Embarkation:

Chaotic. We arrived about 12:30 p.m. to discover a stalled embarkation process. After standing in line on the street we finally entered the waiting room to find it full. Virtually every seat in every row was taken. There were long lines at the check-in counters. No one was moving. The agent who greeted simply said, "Go there." No direction was provided for "go there" was given. Fortunately we saw two seats open up in Row 2 and quickly took them. This was pure good luck. Otherwise we would have been on the other side of the waiting room standing. After about an hour there was an announcement stating that extra precautions were being taken for our safety. As it turned out there had been multiple cases of possible Norovirus among passengers who had just disembarked. The crew was giving the ship an extra cleaning. Eventually we made our way to the check-in counter and went aboard. Once aboard we could not go to our cabins because of the extra cleaning. We sat in the "O'Sheehan's Irish Pub" until about 5 p.m., still with no access to our cabins. People around us were stretched out and sleeping. Then came the muster drill. Finally, after the drill we were able to get to our cabin. We were worn out and just about everybody we encountered was exhausted, grumpy, and complaining.

Disembarkation: Read more