April 20

Hello everyone -

I am sorry it has been a while since my last blog.  I landed in Barcelona Spain last Friday and had the whole day there.  I can't wait to go back there and explore some more.  I spent MOST of my day hanging out at a small cafe at a central park close to the city center enjoying cafe americanos, watching people come and go, dogs chasing balls and eating some nice simple French cuisine... What a morning and afternoon.  I made my way back to my hotel in the early evening and spent most of the rest of the day sitting on the patio enjoy the atmosphere.  At 7pm, the desk clerk came to me and said "dinner is served".  Went to the kitchen and had my salmon dinner - COMPLEMENTARY to guests of the hotel.  WOW... Apparently, this is not unusual.  NEWS TO ME!!!  I LOVE IT!

Didn't get much sleep (Jet Lag) and had to be in the lobby at 7am for my ride to the ship.  Boarded, and had to fill out some paperwork to become "legal" on board.  After that, I had nothing to do (or so I thought) so I wanted to go to my room, but couldn't get in for several hours, so I just toured the ship to see where everything was.  It is a gorgeous ship...

I did get into my room at about 1pm and didn't even unpack. I laid down on my new bed with all my clothes on and fell asleep for about 5 hours - NICE!!!  Unfortunately, I was supposed to be at a couple of meetings and a boat drill.  The safety officer was NOT happy about me missing, but I didn't know I had any responsibilities on embark day.  Something to note for those in charge (wink wink)...

At about 7pm, the ACD (Assistant Cruise Director) contacted me to tell me that I had missed several meetings and the boat drill... Long conversation later, I was told that I needed to perform that night... WHAT???????  I took a deep breath and calmly said... "excuse me?"  The ACD is cuban and while he is VERY fluant in English, it is not perfect.  He meant I had an appearance...  I basically had to be an emcee for about 5 minutes... If you know me, I can Emcee for hours on end - LOVE IT!!!

Well, that was the first day...  I don't want to go on, so I'll stop there and start another blog for the following day(s).

Would love to hear your feedback!

Kyle