Woke up in Athens to torrential rain and thunder claps. Went down for a very nice breakfast at 9 am. The young girl that was serving us couldn’t do enough and kept bringing out plates of cheese, toast, diced fruit etc, in addition to the scrambled eggs, little sausages, breads and breakfast treats that were already laid out. Fabulous, but then it got better. LeVerne came down to see if he could put together a bit of breakfast to take up to his room for Carole and himself. We told him to sit down and ask our server what she could do for them. Then the commotion started … eggs and cheese, bacon, toast, fruit, buns, jam, cakes, juice and more. LeVerne kept saying “we’re good”, but she wasn’t buying it. Two overloaded trays later up the two of them went. Needless to say, Carole was a bit overwhelmed when she heard the knock and opened the door not altogether dressed. Anyway, everything turned out just fine and they enjoyed a fine breakfast, room service included.

    
  
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After Lee and I finished the finest breakfast of the trip so far, we headed back to our room for a bit of quiet time before our departure to the cruise port at noon. At 11:30 we made our way to the lobby to wait for our 12 noon hotel shuttle to the cruise port. At 12:15 we got loaded up and after a 10 minute run we arrived at the Holland America departures gate. The luggage porters grabbed our bags and we were ushered into the terminal to do our check-in. With our documents in hand we proceeded through the security station where we were stopped for smuggling wine aboard in our hand luggage. Even though it was in our terms of agreement documents that you were allowed to bring wine aboard for consumption in your cabin, for whatever reason the security girl decided to make a big deal of it. To make a long story short, after she consulted with a couple of other security types she returned our wine to us and wished us a pleasant cruise.

      
      
    
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Our home and transportation for the next 10 days was the Holland America Ms Rotterdam. The Rotterdam was built in 1997 and refurbished in 2009. With 702 cabins, the ship can host up to 1,685 passengers with a crew of 620. The overall length is 780 ft with a beam of 106 ft. and cruising speed is 25 knots.

Once on board we immediately went to our stateroom 6234 which is on deck 6 dead center on the rear (aft) of the ship with a panoramic view in both the left and right of the ship and of course everything behind. Our large veranda and the sitting room in our cabin was going to give us lots of room to stretch out during the cruise. We’ll try out the Jacuzzi tub tomorrow. LeVerne and Carole were next door in 6236 so we all have prime real estate on the ship. Our stateroom attendant’s name was Taufiq (taw-fique).

    
    
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Lee’s luggage showed up a few minutes after we got to our cabin so she unpacked. At 2:30 we made our way to the Lido deck buffet and had a bit of lunch and at 3:30 we had to attend the safety meeting at our muster point on deck 3. Nobody on the ship is exempt. You don’t show up, you don’t sail. That done, it was back to the stateroom by 4:15 for a before dinner drink. Lee and I had preordered a bottle of Crown Royal and a bottle of Bacardi Gold for our stateroom so we didn’t have to go far. And as a bonus, my luggage arrived while we were at the muster point so I was able to unpack as well.

      
      
    
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Lee and Carole wanted to book a tour in Kudasai tomorrow so off they went down to the excursion desk and made their arrangements. We went down to the dining room at 6 to our pre assigned table #19, a table for just the four of us, which was positioned against the starboard windows in the upper dining room. Our waiter Wegi, and most of the other dining room staff, were from the Philippines. We all opted for the prime rib and our first dinner aboard the ship was excellent. LeVerne commented to Jonathon the dining room manager how good his gazpacho was and Jonathon immediately went and got the recipe for him. So far the service has been exceptional.

  
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After dinner the girls decided it was a good time to do some laundry before we got too far into the cruise. So, down the hall to the Laundromat they went. LeVerne and I went down to the casino to kill some time and we both came back with our tails between our legs. Oh well, there's always tomorrow. Back to the cabin at 11 and off to bed at 11:30. A great first day sailing.