Monday September 1st, 2003: We awoke early as I had kept the sliding glass door open all night and with just enough light from the sun rise coming thru those doors, I awoke to realize morning was upon us and this was our first morning on board. Walking out on our lanai at 5:45 A.M. to see a beautiful pink sunrise was breath taking. The air was so warm but I could definitely feel the ship had a bit of a roll compared to the smooth sail we had expereinced last night. But as I was told later on by our friends whom had all been on 10 plus cruises (I have been on 2 and my "Better Half" only had 1 cruise to his credit) this was nothing. It turned out they were right. While it was exciting to see the 25 foot waves, that ship is built so well, with state of the art stabilizers, it never even became a concern, other than finding the best Kodak moment.

Our 6 other friends, whom occupied the 3 cabins next to us eventually stepped out on their lanai's for their first morning too and we all decided we needed a good hearty breakfast to start our day! So off to the Market Cafe we were to go at 8:00 A.M.

We all arrived around the same time and got into the buffet style line to get our breakfast. The Market Cafe is decorated very brightly, with floor to ceiling windows and alot of greens, red and whites as the color scheme. Pictures of fruit adorn alot of the restaurant. It is a very clean and spacious restaurant, with plenty of staff to help should you need it. The food really was the only issue for us. While there was a wide selection, the food was only ok, at best. But to be fair, I can't imagine trying to feed that many people "happily" to be an easy thing either. It is a fast answer for breakfast, should you be in a hurry. So we ate and decided what our first day was to be like.

We decided to walk to the Grand Atrium and find the "Dining Reservations Desk", the shopping and what ever else our travels might provide. The Grand Atrium is like on most cruise ships, the shore excursion office is there, most of the shops, reception and general information desk. The Internet Cafe and Endless Summer Restaurant can be seen from the main floor of the Grand Atrium. The Java Cafe is located right in the center of The Grand Atrium, a small cozy place to enjoy a cup of coffee and a yummy desert.

We found the "Dining Reservation Desk" and we also found what would be one of the two problems we had with the cruise ...The Language Barrier. It is not that the staff didn't speak English, they did, but it was not their first language and you really had to take the time and patience to explain your needs. English, at best, can be a confusing language, especially the way in which we speak it, so any extra words or phrases in your communication, only clouded what you were trying to find out or convey. This is not to say that the staff and crew weren't helpful. Every staff and crew person we spoke with was helpful, friendly and always had a smile. Therefore we learned early that it would be up to us to exhibit patience in order to explain or request, whatever it was we needed at that moment. So we made our dining reservations for Le Bistro that evening for 8 people at 5:30 P.M. as we wanted to attend the 7:30 P.M. performance of Music Of The Night in the Stardust Theater.

I was most curious to see the Bridge, of course these days that is impossible due to the heightened security measures that are in place, but Norwegian Cruise Lines, once again does not disappoint. The Spinnaker Lounge on Deck 12 and is a most luxurious, comfortable and very spacious lounge at the front of the ship above the Bridge. This lounge is used during the day for alot of the ships crafts for passengers. Aside from the daytime activities that go on in the Spinnaker Lounge and the music and dance that goes on in the evening, you can view the Bridge from behind "The Red Curtain". There is a viewing area where, thru plexiglass you can lQQk down into the Bridge and watch the Captain and his officers, there is a control panel in the viewing area as well, that allows you to view all the different gauges and dials that they also read to keep that BIG ship on its coarse. And while it wasn't as exciting as it would have been to be on the actual Bridge, I was happy to see that and glad that the ship allowed that much of a view for passengers.

The rest of the day was spent in relaxation, sun worshipping and great conversation. We made it back to "Our Table", ordered up the first of many rounds of drinks and had fun in the sun including a few trips to the 4 hot tubs that corner the Oasis Pool. We met some fun and interesting people that like us, were just lQQking to relax and enjoy a day at sea. Since Hurricane Jimena had set us on another course, we were able to sail all around Maui, Molokai and Lanai at a relaxed pace and see some of the most beautiful views you could ever want to see. Especially Molokai, the way the clouds of the Hurricane had settled in the fluted cliffs and the many valleys was simply beautiful. I think that this day will always be one of my favorite days on that cruise. It was all so new at that point and oh so beautiful. Finally at around 4:30 P.M. it was time to head back to our cabins to get ready for dinner.

We met at Le Bistro Restaurant on Deck 6 at 5:30 and were taken to a very nice table in the back of the restaurant for a superb meal as well as superb service. Le Bistro is considered to be one of the ships "Specialty Restaurants". Along with Ginza and The SoHo Room, there is a cover charge to eat at these restaurants. I cannot speak specifically about Ginza or The SoHo Room, as we did not eat there, but it is very worth it for Le Bistro. Now I know some people would say, they paid enough to be on the cruise, why should they have to pay extra? And while I do understand that thinking, the quality of the food and service is well worth a small cover charge. So the choice will have to be left up to the individual.

We finished a delicious meal and were off to the Stardust Theater on Deck 6 and 7 to see Andrew Lloyd Webber's Music Of The Night featuring the Jean Ann Ryan Company. As a side note I would like to mention, if you go to Deck 7, it is a less crowded way to enter the theater, but you are not restricted to only that part of the theater in which to sit.

In case you are not familiar with Andrew Lloyd Webber, he is the composer of many familiar songs, such as The Phantom Of The Opera and Evita. This particular presentation of his music was done as a Broadway type show. It was fabulous. The Jean Ann Ryan Company is a very talented group of dancers and singers and could we have seen this show more than once, we would have. We highly recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity to see it.

After the show we all felt like a night cap, so we stopped in the Dazzles Nightclub on Deck 6. It is a very big nightclub, with a 70's type of lQQk and feel to it. Lots of places to sit and a big dance floor. Both times we were there they had a band playing but it was a bit difficult to understand the words of the songs, even tho the music was familiar to us. They were entertaining however and people enjoyed dancing to their music. Once again we ran into the "Language Barrier" as our waiters did not understand when we "called" a drink. We found this alot. Were we to ask for a Gin and Tonic, that was no problem, but if we asked for a particular alcohol, clearly they did not understand what we were asking for. We weren't sure if this was due to the "Language Barrier" or if this was due to the fact that most of the servers we encountered had no exposure to this aspect of their jobs. Again, they really tried to be helpful but it was frustrating at times and hard for us to understand exactly what the problem was.

Around 11 P.M. some of us turned in while a few others in our group decided to take the party to another location. So we bid them a "Great Evening" and we went back to our cabin to relax and lQQk forward to our first day in Kahului Maui.

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