Today was an exciting and much anticipated day for those passengers awaiting the grand opening of the newly refurbished Casino Royale! A ribbon cutting ceremony was held on the Promenade at 6 p.m. and free champagne was served! (I’ll post photos later when they are downloaded from my iPhone. The ship’s Wi-Fi works best when I use my laptop, so photos from my iPhone will have to wait.)
As with any grand opening, there were a few hiccups in the new casino. Machines didn’t seem to want to print out tickets, so at one point every machine in our row was blinking “call attendant!” However, things are sure to smooth out nicely along the way, we hope! Everyone was very excited and one slot player had already hit a $7,000-plus jackpot!
I don’t think I’ve mentioned that about 80-90% of the passengers on board are what you would call “Senior Citizens,” or retirees. Of course, there are a few young folks, and some even have small children.
At our dinner table, all are retirees! One couple is from Illinois and they are traveling with their 18-year-old granddaughter. They found out about the cruise when their Texas cousin sent a gift that was wrapped up in The Tribune newspaper with an ad by Kingwood Travel. Funny how fate works sometimes!
The rest of the diners at our table are either from Kingwood, Texas, or they used to live there. The table next to us is also filled with retirees from Kingwood. These two tables make up most of the group that booked this cruise through Kingwood Travel. A very nice bunch of people!
Since my last update, we’ve enjoyed excellent stage presentations in the evenings in the Savoy Theatre, with acts such as Hannah Starosta performing world class music on her violin on Saturday. Sunday night we were entertained by two-time gold medal gymnast, Lance Ringnald. I had a chat and took a photo of Lance, and I hope to talk with Hannah soon. Look for more talk and information about some of our entertainers in upcoming posts.
Today we decided to spend the afternoon enjoying the movie “Jack Reacher” on the big screen in the Savoy Theatre. Our friends Janet and Steve decided to take in “The Hobbit” poolside tonight. Of course, we had to check out the casino for a while – sadly, with no big jackpot to report!
It’s always our choice to make as to whether to stay busy with ship activities or just relax, read a book by the pool, take a class or take in a lecture, go to the spa, walk on the jogging track, play golf, climb a rock wall, play basketball or in-line skate. There is no end to the activities – the hard part is making up your mind. However, this morning was my time to catch up on lost sleep, after setting our watches up one hour each day, including today! Does anybody really know what time it is?
Until next time…

Golf in the middle of the Atlantic anyone?