So intent were we on being on the first tender to the island that I set an alarm for 7am and we headed straight down to breakfast. The weather out the dining room window didn't look great; in fact, it looked pretty grey, but there's always water on the windows at that level so we thought nothing of the moisture on the glass. Returning to our cabin, our cabin steward Raymond asked if we had seen the rain. Well, we hadn't. Not really. But when we looked out the window in the door at the end of our corridor, we could see the rain pounding on the Terrace Deck. Raymond said he thought we might miss the island, and, about that same moment, Captain Nick made just that announcement.
Well...shoot.
That left a long, long stretch of day ahead of us with absolutely nothing to do. We started by calling my mom in Ohio using Vonage on my iPhone, because we wanted to use Internet before it slowed down due to people checking in for flights tomorrow...if their flights weren't already canceled. The wind chill in Toledo when I phoned was -35 degrees. Yikes! I'm feeling really badly for all those passengers who are going to have to deal with what faces them when they get to the airport tomorrow and then again when they get home.
We next took care of some housekeeping and administrative duties (it was "extra tips" day, which we distribute not every cruise, but every couple of cruises, and I wrote a couple of letters). I walked down to the laundry room on our deck to see if there were any washers available and a lady there ironing said they were. However, when I got back down there with my clothes and detergent, and opened the washers, they were both loaded with clothes and the other two were in active use. I wasn't going to be bold...until the ironing lady said she'd been in there an hour and the washers has been silent the entire time. That sealed the deal; I unloaded one washer and laid the clothes on the dryer next to it, then started my load. I stayed there the entire 30 minutes my load washed...and the other person still hadn't returned, which made me even more certain I'd done the right thing.
Meanwhile, the cruise director's staff had distributed a revised Princess Patter with additional activities for the morning and afternoon. The item of most interest to us was that the DaVinci Dining Room would now be open for lunch. After hanging the clothes to dry in our cabin, G and I went down to eat. Again. Because it was there. I limited myself to soup and salad, and then went to the fitness center to use a treadmill and do weights. The inactivity of football spectatorship coupled with lousy weather has made this an unusually sedentary cruise for us.
By 3:30pm I was done in the fitness center and G and I decided that a hot tub in the mist sounded just about perfect. The rest of the day involved more food, including champagne and cannolis for dessert as a special treat...
...then watching vocalist Jacqi Michaels perform in the Princess Theater.
She did a full 45 minute show, and we missed the beginning of balancing duo La Paire's performance at 8pm in the Piazza (but Mr. La Paire left his shirt on tonight...damn). And that was the day. We're back in the cabin early tonight, oddly fatigued by a day of rain, rough seas and chilly weather.
Rain is predicted tomorrow for turnaround in Fort Lauderdale, but we're hoping to at least get to Walgreens. We need to restock certain items, like Sudafed, tissues with lotion, Handi Wipes, foaming hand soap, etc. Notice a common theme there? We're finally both well at the same time, but the colds that we had are making their way among the crew and passengers. Hopefully we're now immune!
And, finally, we've come to the end of this winter's holiday cruises. We were extremely lucky this year, and have not a single issue with the several hundred kids on board for the past two cruises. Well, except for this morning when we noticed tween-aged boys sticking their hands in the room steward's ice bin to cool off. But that's pretty tame stuff. We've had quiet cabins all around ours, quiet tables around us in the dining rooms, and no issues with elevator buttons or Privacy Please signs or any of the usual kid antics. Even when it comes to the adults, it's been pretty laid back. We've heard of one fistfight, and G witnessed one verbal altercation but that's been it. The Christmas activities on the ship were just right, not too much and not too little. The decorations were beautiful, the songs were tolerable (some barely) and blissfully not constant. While some football games were not shown on the ship, I think most people would say that we've had plenty of them to watch. In the end, these have been the easiest, calmest, most enjoyable holiday cruises we've ever been on. And I'd do them again.
But not until next year, please. I feel so much older when the average passenger demographic drops by 40 years.
;-)
