Boston, Maine and Canada Cruise 2023: Wednesday 30 August

We left our room just before midday but before that the Atkins oldies had gone mad and studied Uber and Lyft online, downloaded the Uber app and ordered one for 11am.

Well, yes, it might not have been the cheapest option, but it was very slick with the app coming up trumps to keep us informed when Henry our driver arrived and it was a completely painless experience - except of course that we had to pay like with any other taxi.

Traffic was pretty congested between the airport and the cruise terminal but we arrived half an hour before our supposed check in time but no problems and it was the fastest check in we have ever had as we had managed to do it all online beforehand and all we had to show were our proofs on the app that we had indeed done things.

It said that weapons, hand grenades etc were not allowed on board, so thank goodness we'd left ours at home this time!

Our cabin is a delight with some of the best storage provision we've ever had and possibly the best bathroom we've ever had at sea.

What's not to like - Classic Drinks Package which has more than we would want on it. We were offered 50% off an upgrade to the next level of drinks package but talking that up would risk serious damage to my liver!

It looks like our profile among the passengers puts us at the lower end of the typical passenger's age profile and fitness level. Not exactly a rest home at sea but the younger set are not here. It's almost exclusively Americans and Canadians on board

Apparently we're now 'Elite' members, mainly thanks to our cruises on Royal Caribbean ships as they co-operate on loyalty between them. We get quite a lot of perks as a result. We already have free wifi and free drinks but as 'Elite' members we also have -

Pre-sailing specialty restaurant reservations through the loyalty desk
Exclusive Captain's Club offers
One pre-cruise category upgrade to AquaClass (based on availability)
Access to exclusive events on specialty sailings (like the President's Sailing)
An invitation to a Captain's Club welcome party
One complimentary specialty coffee when you dine at a specialty restaurant
One free scoop of gelato
5% discount on small group discovery shore excursions
5% discount on Hollywood Hot Glass
Priority tender service, where available
Access to a private lounge on departure day serving continental breakfast
An invitation to a senior officer party
An invitation to a Create & Pour event on Edge-class ships
An invitation to a Music & Mixology event
A higher 20% discount on a bottle of wine
A higher 30% discount on Wi-Fi packages and upgrades, plus 90 complimentary stream minutes
A higher 15% discount on drinks packages
A higher 40% discount on a digital or print photo package
A higher 20% discount on The Studio photo packages
One complimentary dry clean item
One bag of complimentary laundry
A higher 15% discount at the ship's spa

Think it might look better in the dark when it's lit up!

After a buffet lunch we returned to our cabin to find our cases waiting so we quickly unpacked. This cabin has more storage space than we've ever had so the job was quite easy.