Long Beach & Embarcation

“We’ll take the Beemer”. We had just arrived at the Enterprise Car Rental building at
Los Angeles Airport and the agent was showing us available cars. We were surprised when the Manager (who was distracted by what seemed like a personal cell phone call) said “OK” give them the BMW. So, it was off to Long Beach to check into our Hotel.
Arriving in Long Beach it was easy to see that this city had been improved over a number of years. This is the largest Seaport on the East Coast and the commercial and Cruise Ship port for L.A. and surrounding cities. Long Beach has done a terrific job of renewing itself and has built a series of seaport villages and entertainment venues along the waterfront. There are miles of bike and walking paths and after checking into our Hotel, decided to get some air. Under warm skies we walked the Shoreline Village and glimpsed the Queen Mary moored just across the Harbor. It reminded us a bit of the Titanic but we did not want to dwell on that prior to our embarkation in a few days.
We spent Saturday and Sunday relaxing and purchasing the Sundries we had decided to purchase in California as well as the most important item—several cases of Wine.
Waking on Monday morning we were anxious to be on our way. Getting aboard the Rotterdam was simple and quick. The ship is beautiful and the crew couldn’t be more helpful. After lunch we then faced the task of trying to fit 4 months of clothing into the drawers and hangars in our cabin. After a short time we decided it was time for a drink and the clothes could wait until morning. Anyway it was time for the Bon Voyage party on the Pool deck. It was a great start to our voyage.
Our first Port of Call is Hilo, Hawaii in 5 days and we’ll have an update to the Blog after the visit.