A long time ago, let us say around 1971-72, I took a break with three others. We drove to D.C. over winter break. I don’t remember much about that trip. It is sometimes good when things fade into distant memory. But one thing still stands out. Because we were all poor students, driving straight through was much more economical than breaking the trip into two days. Sleeping a few hours at one of the rest stops? Remember I said December… Anyway, I was the lucky person at the wheel when we started across the Pennsylvania Turnpike. It was night with a lovely combination of rain and sleet. About 10 miles in (sorry rest of the world, that mile marker is still burned into my memory) there was a huge sign saying “Another Pennsylvania Turnpike Improvement for Your Safety and Convenience.”
The punchline? The next sign say – NO GUARD RAILS FOR THE NEXT 30 MILES…
Trust me, I was not amused.
Where am I going with this? This particular ship came out of the ship yard in 2017 and was “upgraded” in 2024. Upgrades to the various recreational venues don’t particularly matter to me. Fancier water slides? OK. Swap out one pay restaurant for another? Whatever, the buffet suits me better. But, most of the unseen upgrades involve increasing the passenger carrying capacity. Technically the ship’s max is 3776. Part of that is achieved by taking out public spaces and adding in more cabins. Similar to the NCL Encore which I took through the canal last spring, one of the areas sacrificed? A whole section of the Observation Lounge on the port side. To add insult to injury, there is now a single coffee/snack station near the entrance. The walk back to it is fine. But why? Well, doing that made room for a Starbucks (paid) and a larger, more efficient bar (also paid).
So now you have heard my whine. It is a sea day. And tomorrow is another sea day. I am fine with that. There are worse things than missing three ports. Have done that before.
