Day 1 - 04/12/12 Departure Day

Day 1 – 04/12/12


Departure Day



It’s 5:30am and I can’t sleep. I’m very excited about the trip. There are still a few things to take care of before we go…luggage issues but they’re just a few minor details of rearrangement. We went out to dinner last night, Chinese, and discussed a lot of what to expect on the trip. It included a demonstration of risqué napkin folding by Dave.

Waiting to Board



Later…we left about 09:00. The drive to the port was cold. Thinking about a Caribbean Cruise we forgot about the NJ Spring. The drive didn’t take too long. Dave likes to get out and go on his Harley. We arrived at the cruise port and were flagged into a lot with the other bikes. The luggage was dropped off and the car was parked. The girls joined us for a while, standing out in the cold wind until they smartened up and headed into the cruise port building where we would be checking in later. Dave and I stayed with the bikes to go through pre-boarding and boarding. First we waited for all of the bikes to arrive. Steve, the group leader, wants everything to be punctual. Everything on the ship runs by the clock and the bike operations were no exception. As I like to say “early is on time, on time is late”. Once all of the bikes had arrived we moved over next to the ship. Here the Customs Service ran a drug sniffing dog past all of the bikes. Everybody cleared customs, although there were a few nervous looks from some of the bikers. Next it was time to get the bikes on board. First Steve went around and squirted nitrogen gas into gas tanks to stabilize the gas fumes. One at a time the bikes rode up the gangway and shut off their engines at the top where they coasted forward. Now we took turns pushing each other down the hallway to a temporary parking spot for the bikes. Here they will sit until 17:00 when we will return to move them to their permanent locations.

Now it was time for us to board and check-in. The process was fairly painless and went quickly. Something like boarding an airplane but less stressful. After we checked-in a bus took us to the boat where we boarded and headed for the Windjammer Café; where everyone else that just boarded the boat was going. We met up with Dave and Annette, found a table and had a great lunch. I can tell that food is going to be a problem…not quality but quantity…I’m going to eat way too much!

Our Little Room

We finished lunch at about 13:30 and the room was ready. Our luggage had not arrived so we went for a walk about the ship for a quick look-see. It was too cold to spend any time outside but the pool area looks great. There were two brave young girls in one of the hot tubs but everyone else was walking around in jackets. The inside areas are really nice. The casino looks a little small for the number of people on board but then again, they’ll probably be filling the numerous bars on the ship. There is an area called the Promenade where there are a bunch of small shops that look rather expensive. When we returned to the room our luggage had been delivered. We unpacked everything and managed to stow it all somewhere. We really brought too many clothes.

At 17:00 I went down to the bike operators meeting in the Deck 2 Forward Conference Room. Here we went through an information Q&A session and then moved down to Deck 1 to secure the bikes. This is a fun bunch of guys that work well together so far. I’m the only operator with a metric so of course there was a joke about Honda’s being so quiet. Not too mean. It could get worse. I’m alone in a land of Harleys…someday. After the bikes were secured I went back to the room to get ready for the evening.

At 19:00 we went to the ETA welcome reception. Open bar and more good natured ribbing amongst the bikers. Next it was off to dinner. We’re seated at 20:30; late for me but I’m adjusting. More great food and service. We were seated with Dave & Annette, John and Carrie (and JJ) and Walter and his wife. Dinner went on for a long time by the time we had dessert. It was great relaxing and talking with adults. The dining room was getting empty so we moved on to the casino to check things out. Blackjack was $10 a hand so I passed for now and moved on to the $.02 slots, more my speed. I popped in $5.00, ran it up to $12 and finally ended with $.11. That was enough for me. Time for bed.