Today was a navigation day as we made our way to Israel. Our first duty of the day was to pass through Israeli immigration. We basically just had to pick up our passports that were handed in at check in and the have a quick face to face with an immigration inspector. Afterwards we had arranged to meet up with some people who were also hoping to take a taxi into Jerusalem the next day (Javi and Virginia were taking a tour to include the dead sea so Carlos and I were on our own). We had connected through the cruise critic forum and facebook and in the end we were a group of 8 with our fingers firmly crossed that everything would work out with the minimum of chaos!
Virginia started her program of events with belly dancing while we picked up the rhythm afterwards with the team trivia. We were only one answer away from winning!!! Next time! Other activities included an ice sculpting demonstration (on deck where the ice was melting almost quicker than the guy could sculpt it!), watching some pool games, missing the name that tune game since the Spanish program list had the wrong time (!), a port presentation focussed on the upcoming Israeli ports, more belly dancing for Virginia, more swimming, and finally getting dolled up for our first formal night.
Not many tuxes to be seen on board so the guys were a bit relieved to have opted out of the onboard rental (I was quite keen on it since I’ve become accustomed to seeing Carlos in a tux after these few black tie weddings in the recent years! That and not having to pack a suit!) But we all looked very elegant if I must say so myself! Dinner was quite possibly the best beef wellington ever. So good that Javi repeated!
Then it was early to bed since we all had big days coming up in Israel!