Hello and Goodbye

This was my first cruise experience, so I wanted to spend a little time showing pictures of the ship. Even though we were not cruising around the Caribbean or Mexico, our ship was billed as the "Love Boat". We even got to see reruns of Julie and Gopher and Captain Gavin McLeod on our ship television.  Here are a few pictures of some of the many living spaces on the ship.

On the fourth floor was the purser's desk and the grand staircase up to level 5 and the formal dining room. 

On the ninth floor was the Panaorama Room where the buffets were and where one had a lovely view of the lanscape.

There were also quite a few clubs and sitting areas aboard. This was a pinao bar area that dripped with Thomas Mannian decadence. I kept missing Tadzio's family as they headed off to the library.

Nearby was the Casino. It was closed down when we were in port, but had all the noise and excitement of Las Vegas when we were out on the ocean.

Here is a reverse shot of the piano bar seen from the Casino.

A stairway between decks.

After coming aboard we mustered in the main Lounge and passed through these corridors on our way. 

This lounge was also used for other meetings and  for the ship's entertainment.

Our entertainers were energetic and enthusiastic and made up with energy what they lacked in classical training and coordination. Mostly from Australia they sang and danced usually according to a theme such as Motown or Hollywood Musicals.

I tried to mostly take the stairs, but did like the decor of the elevators. It reminded me of a little corner in my grandfather's house where two mirrors abutted each other and you could look into the distance almost to infinity  or at least until the light failed.

As we headed out into the dusk we caught a nice glimpse of the Tokyo skyline.

You can see the Tokyo version of the eiffel tower lit up in purple.

We also had a goodbye celebration. (Luckily they had not been sent to Yokohama along with the Swiss and the Indonesians - a fate we narrowly escaped ourselves thanks to the sharp eye and alertness of masterful Mel one of our group leader's friends).

The drumming was magnificent and we got out own little fluourescent torches to wave goodbye with!

The base drum echoed over the water and off the ship resonantly and as we waved goodbye, others risked to chill to send us off with a sign in English! It was a marvelous beginning!