We left the hotel at 2:00am for a ½ hour ride to the port
which only cost $5.00 US – amazing how cheap some things are; however, housing
and commercial space is not.
There was a mess up at the port and no one was there to
take our bags and check us in – just Chinese security. Security attempted to contact Celebrity but
couldn’t. Then a ships officer came by
and radio for someone to come off the ship and get us on. Someone dropped the ball and by 4:00pm, the
Chinese decided to take us bags and all to the ship, which was a 20 minute walk. Three of their security people and the head,
simply carried everything right through security, walked us to the end of the
ramp and told the Celebrity person to figure out how to get us on board. He did and we were finally in the cabin at
4:30.
We met new friends from Canada, Washington, DC, India and
Maryland so our dinner table will be just fine.
The opening show was an Elton John impersonator and he
was pretty good.
Then we went to the Casino and to our amazement, we knew
the Casino Host - Dee, she is amazing. The last time we saw her she was working as the head cashier and wanted to be a host. I know we wrote about how good she was and finally people realized it and made her a host. We also knew the Manager Mike as well as the Asst Manager, Shiraz and a Supervisor Nereo and several of the dealers. Did that ever make us feel good as we didn't think we would know anyone to start with on the cruise.
Today, Tuesday, we woke up to partly cloudy skies and
they turned cloudy so we didn’t get to spend much time out.
Most of the daytime was spent figuring out some of the
ports we were visiting because we found out yesterday that they did not have
shuttle to a couple of the Vietnam ports so we were working with the excursion
desk to find ways to get us into the towns which are 2 – 3 hours away from
where we dock.
Tomorrow we visit Hanoi; however, the port is 3 hours
inland. So, we are taking a Celebrity
trip and staying overnight in Hanoi for a 2 day tour off the ship. We wanted to do it on our own but couldn’t
get into the city. Here they do not have
reliable public transportation.
So, all-in-all it is going to work out fine, it will just
cost us a little more for transportation.
The show was a trio singing Motown and they were very
good.
The casino was good to Barb and Ed lost a little.
For the next two days, we may not be able to post
anything as I will only have my phone on the trip.
It’s very late and it has been a busy couple of days so
we will catch up on photos when we get back on ship two days from now. We now have to pack.
So, wish us luck and in 5 hours we wake up and go to
Hanoi, Vietnam – you would have thought that a couple of years ago.
Night
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| Using bamboo to climb on the outside of a building |
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| The breakfast buffet at the Marriott |
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| Getting on the subway |
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| On the subway!! |
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