13 December 2015
Key West, FL

Good morning from the first port of our "Mayan Mystique" cruise, Key West.  This is a town that is both familiar and strange:  familiar because we both were here during the 1970s and '80s (me sometimes twice each winter for many years) as well as the first port on my 23-day cruise to Brazil in winter 2014; strange because this once laid-back resort has become super-sized, with several large cruise ships docking every day.

We are awaiting our in-suite breakfast this morning, so I will take some time to cuise back to the start of the trip.  

11-12 December 2015
Tucson to Phoenix to Miami

We are very glad to be using  the shuttle service fromTucson to PHX, since there is blindingly heavy rain the entire 70-minute drive; very unusual for this time of year in Arizona.  We arrive quite early for our flight and very little is open at this time of night (11:30pm-2am).  The young woman who pushes my wheelchair through security (where there is miraculously no line), gives us a good laugh and quick pickup when she asks, very politely, if Will and I are "an item" and how long we have been together.  After the initial shock of being identified as an "item," we are happy to share the details of our 38-year relationship.

After she leaves us at the gate time passes pleasantly as we are lucky enough to chat with Corinna, a charming new acqaintance (who also happens to write a travel blog), who is waiting on standby for the flight to Miami so that she can catch another flight to Italy (where she runs tours).  Although the plane is quite crowded, she does get a seat assignment just before boarding.

I will seriously injure anyone who suggests that red-eye flights are fun.  Long-distance, overnight flights may work okay (with the aid of a good seat and a better sleeping pill), but just under four hours  when you are already dead tired, cramped into American Airlines' 
really tiny seats, without enough time to use a sleeping aid, more closely resembles medieval torture than modern transportation.

But we arrive on time in Miami and have a Starbuck's "breakfast" at the airport (they don't even serve wake-up coffee on the American Airlines flight), before taking a flat-fee taxi to the Port of Miami.  Since it is Saturday morning the traffic is not bad, athough our taxi driver still manages to have several almost side-swipes with cars in the adjacent lane.  We arrive in several pieces at the huge Miami Cruiseport, where there are four very large ships awaiting passengers, as well as our 1200-passenger mid-size ship 
docked by itself on one side of the pier.  As soon as our luggage is whisked away, we are warmly and safely ensconced in the embrace of Oceania Cruises, and the rest of the day goes smoothly.

12 December 2015
On Board ms Riviera

The first time on a different ship is always an exciting experience.  And so far, the Riviera meets all of our pretty-high expectations.  Our Penthouse Suite comes with a personal butler and is as large as a small studio apartment.  Oceania provides free, unlimited bottled water and soft drinks, as well as a welcome bottle of cold champagne.  The bathroom has a large moder tub and a separate standing shower.  The marble pits at Carrara must have been emptied when they built the Riviera in 2012 (in Finicantieri, Italy), because the large bathroom is covered with marble from top to bottom.

Pictures upload very slowly and although internet usage is free, I do not want to clog the system waiting for photos to upload today.  So I may have to save most the photos until we get home next week.