We walked around the ship and saw some places - more about those later.

The San Juan (Puerto Rico) harbor wasn't too interesting - it was mostly industrial / cargo stuff. (Hint - the good places are coming up - you will see them later - this was just day one, and most of the day was already gone by the time we got to the ship - there are lots more days :-) Here's a shot from the back of our ship at San Juan Harbor. You can see that we are well above all of the other ships, except that other cruise liner to the left. And we were only on Deck Six. There were 13 decks you could walk on, the ship went lots higher than that (but no passengers allowed!).

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We found some places to eat, and those were different from what you were used to - - in a good way. You could just walk around and get the best food you have ever seen in your life. Pick up a tray (no, in fact you didn't even have to pick up your tray - you just approached the serving area and a "waiter" would hand you a tray, complete with it's own little "tray table-cloth" and silverware already on it. The food was better than I have ever had in any restaurant in Knoxville, and it was just sitting out there for you to get it and go. There was no "check-out" line, no register to pay for what you got. You just got what you liked and sat down and started eating. And this was just the lunch / snack buffet. The supper was a whole 'nother story, which I will tell you about later. For lunch and snacks, you would sit by a window and watch the harbor, or the ocean, or the ships going by, and stuff like that as you ate. You will see more pictures of these later.
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That evening, we had to do the "Mandatory Life Boat Drill". They had given us instructions on what to do, so this was easy.
Here's me with my life jacket.

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We had to go down the stairs - couldn't use the elevators for the drill.

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The lifeboats were above our heads - for the drill, we had to stand right underneath them. I didn't see how we were supposed to get into them. Later, I learned that they swing out and down, and we just sort of walk into them.

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We all felt silly wearing the life jackets, and we all laughed a lot. They made all the women and children line up in rows to the front, and all the men line up to the back - just like in Titanic, women and children first :-)
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So, that was my Day One.
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P. S. - This is just the first day - we have not gone to the good places yet. There is lots more to come - a submarine cruise - the sausage tree plant - Sharks ! ! ! -- and more :-)

Steve Capps
Galaxy Cruise on the Celebrity Cruise Lines
March, 2001