Sunday, January 26, 2014

Day 88: At Sea

This was our first of two days at sea, followed by turnaround day in Fort Lauderdale and then two more days at sea. As you know, not my favorite sequence, but it's good that we have this every so often. It serves as a strong reminder of why we no longer do transatlantic or transpacific cruises, and why we'll probably never do a World Cruise. But today's weather was so perfect that it made it infinitely more tolerable than the last time we did this, when Princess Cays was cancelled due to bad weather at the end of a cruise full of bad weather. Today it was sunny and calm and as good as it gets. 

I was up early- really early- and snuck down to the International Cafe for coffee. I must have made more noise leaving the cabin than I thought, because G showed up shortly to join me. Together we went to the DaVinci Dining Room for breakfast with Joel and Erika (I need to fill out You Made a Difference cards for these two). Afterwards, we sat on the Promenade Deck just long enough for G to opine that he couldn't wait for the Royal Princess with its lack of a wrap-around Promenade Deck, where we could sit and enjoy the views without walkers and runners going by, their shoes squeaking on the decking. (I've told you that we're not in agreement about that, but I understand his point).

I spent the rest of the morning doing some work, while G attended this cruise's technical lecture and went to the "garage sale" in the Michelangelo Dining Room. It was lunchtime when I finished, so we ate again, and then I felt so sluggish that I needed to move, and went first to Deck 19 to walk for an hour, and then to the fitness center to lift weights, and finally to the spa for a visit to the steam room and sauna. G cheered me on my walk by waving at me from the hot tub on Deck 17 as I passed by above him. Such a motivator!

Janet and Bob hosted a champagne party for us and Claudette and Ross in Skywalkers during the Elite Lounge, and what a pleasant way to start a formal evening.  We were feeling "happy" before we even went to dinner with Jim and Marcia, and it struck me once again how much we are going to miss these friends when they leave on turnaround day. 



Entertainment tonight included production show What a Swell Party in the Princess Theater and impressionist Michael Wilson in the Explorers Lounge. G refuses to see Swell Party; I refuse to see any more comedians- magicians- impressionists...well, pretty much anything but live music and production shows. And so we went our separate ways. I returned to the cabin first to attend to evening ablutions and start this post. G just arrived back and is chatty, so I'll end here. 

Except for this...I returned to the cabin to find the smallest, sorriest looking chocolate covered strawberries ever. So tiny they gave us two extra ones, so unripe they're hard as little stones. Such a waste of chocolate!