Sunday, June 10, 2018: Woke up and got most things packed, then went out for breakfast. We had to be out of the rooms by 10:30 and ship boarding started at noon.

I have one large bag, a carryon and my backpack. Luckily, the porter carried the big one down for me so I didn’t have to make two trips. Frankie, Don and Barb had taken most of their luggage to the People Mover that runs to the cruise departure area. Don and Barb came back leaving Frankie with the bags.

I had not seen the People Mover but it was in the same area where the vaporettos leave from. I got there ahead of the rest of the group and there was a tram sitting there, so I bought a ticket. Don had said it was 1,50 euros and after a couple of tries on the machine I found a ticket for 1,50. The rest of the group showed up and I assured them it was the right place, even though I thought it was strange that Frankie would have gone on with all the luggage as he was no where to be seen.

A tram arrived and I got on along with another couple. I started wondering if it was the correct one as the station stops did not show the marina. The other couple asked the conductor and he said it was not the People Mover, so we got off and then I saw the sign across the road. I felt bad that everyone had followed my lead and bought a ticket for the wrong thing.

As I walked into the area, there was Frankie surrounded by luggage. Mike and Linda were also there and they asked me if I wanted to go ahead with them to the ship. So, off we went. It only took about a minute to get there and then we walked a couple blocks to the embarkation building.

Things went very quickly and I was soon onboard. I got a drink and sat in the cafeteria area to cool off. There hadn’t been many people around when I first got there but it was filling up fast. People were loading up their plates with all kinds of food but I wasn’t hungry and didn’t want anything hot and heavy anyway.

I got a text from Frankie saying they were going to the Versailles restaurant so I joined them. Frankie and I got a crab salad, which was made kind of like your typical tuna salad, as an appetizer, then I got an omelet. It wasn’t a huge amount of food and hit the spot.

After that, I went to see if my room was ready and Don and Frankie are just a couple doors down. They had received a bottle of champagne so invited me to join them to drink it. We sat and chatted and drank the wine. Then I went back to my room as my luggage had arrived. I got things put away and oriented myself to the room.

I was meeting Don and Frankie for dinner around 7:00 back at Versailles. Celia and Barb joined me and we had a nice dinner. I got the prime rib which came with a potato and some really bad corn on the cob.

The rest of them were going to go to the show but by the time I got back to my room I was done. I met my steward, Lito, and he got me some ice for my big water mug. The first time I had ice water in my mug since D.C. I had mostly been drinking warm water out of bottles as ice isn’t too easily found in Europe.

I also had a notice that the tour I had signed up for was cancelled because not enough people signed up. It was to have gone to a Montenegrin village and having lunch then a tour of Kotor so I was a bit disappointed.

I ended up waking up at 2:30 and couldn’t get back to sleep. I tossed and turned and listened to my book until sometime after 6:00 when I did doze off but woke up with a start from a dream in which I walked into a house and someone was standing there and it scared me. I literally had a racing heart and felt like I had screamed out loud, but I don’t think I did.

I finally got up around 7:30 feeling pretty dragged out and glad the tour was cancelled after all. Not sure what I will do except try to take a nap. The ship doesn’t arrive until 2:00pm and then leaves at 8:00 pm. So, I will probably wait until the first rush of people leaving and then just walk around Kotor for a bit.

Pictures to come later as they are on my phone and I can’t get them to connect yet.