Muster drill was a breeze and sailaway was right on time at 4:00 PM. At this point, I quickly reviewed my nautical dictionary for bow (front), stern (back), port (left), starboard(right) leeward (the side to throw up on) and windward (the side not to). Now we’re ready to go.

Dinner for 10 with Rodell in Magenta at 6:00 PM gave us our first hint that Freestyle’s just another word for no time left to lose. Dinner selections were excellent, the food was very good and Rodell worked like hell to get everything right. However, despite his best efforts, 2.5 hours for a 10 top is FAR longer than we were used to on Princess or RCI.

I know a bit about restaurants and I can spot the difference between lazy staff and understaffed. The MDRs are definitely understaffed. Rodell was working alone and basically waited the table, took the drink orders, served the drinks (with refills of water and iced tea), ran the dinners from the kitchen, bussed the table and did it all with a rushed smile. RCI is definitely better in this respect since the food, while matching or even exceeding RCI for taste and quality, is almost never served hot. It’s also wise to order two or three of whatever you drink since you only get one shot at it.

After Dinner it’s off on our own informal pub crawl. I established my “at sea” office in the Spinnaker (which would change) but by midnight we were all showing our age and it was off to the rack for everyone.