A View of the Ship...

We got up at the crack of dawn on this icy morning and drove over to San Francisco to view the ship we'll be sailing on in April, the S.S. Marina. From the Bay Bridge, looking west, we could see a large very white ship with an "O" for Oceania Cruises on its stub of a funnel (a mere formality for the modern cruise liner?).

The ship was docked at Port 35 South, not far from Pier 39, and there was a long line of taxis waiting for disembarking passengers, who looked windblown and startled by the cold, all with large-ish suitcases (and I mean many 25" or larger, for anyone about to go on a cruise). Only the upper decks of the ship towered over the pier building, so we had a view of the very top decks and the bow of the ship, but not much else. Didn't matter. It was glorious.

I'd brought my passport and the receipt for our cruise with the vague hope of getting on board to view the inside of the ship, but no luck. Two men guarded the entrance to the pier and assured me that not even President Obama himself could board that ship unless he had a ticket for the voyage shipping out later this afternoon. Forget about it. Two travel agents and the cruise line had already told me this, but I thought it was worth a try.

Best of all: I accosted a couple waiting out in front of the pier to be picked up, and asked if they had just disembarked. "Oh, yes," they said, enthusiastically. 'It's wonderful." I told them we had tickets for a cruise in April. "You're going to love it," said the wife, who was very trim with that leathery look that comes from lots of outdoor living before we all knew about sunscreen. "The specialty restaurants, the service, all of it." It was their third cruise with Oceania. They'd had the same class of stateroom we'll have, and they thought it was great.

I took several pictures of the top of the ship, waved good-by, and said "See you in Rome," exactly two months from today.