Day 89: At Sea

It's hard to believe that we are almost at 90 days of cruising. The first year I blogged, we left home intending to be gone for 90 days, and that seemed an unfathomable eternity. This is definitely a case where we're building up our "tolerances". Now, 90 days is just a blip on the way to...however long we're cruising this year (and, with flights home on five different days, we still have no idea how long that will be). We continue to skate through this winter untouched by all the challenges we dealt with last winter. I'd like to think that we're getting better at this "winters at sea" thing, but, really, I think it's just luck. Luck and the fact that Mom is offering non-stop novenas behind the scenes. Keep it up, Mom. It's obviously working!

And before I get to today...I seem to have started a firestorm with my recent comments about entertainment on the Emerald Princess.  I've received lots of emails, all agreeing with me. And I have to tell you, this particular cruise seems to have hit a new low, so if you thought it was bad on your cruise...it's worse. I really hope things improve a bit next cruise, but just in case they don't, we're going to try to buy an HDMI cable tomorrow in Fort Lauderdale. I have several TV shows on my laptop, and I might even order some DVDs from Amazon.  Video downloads over the Internet are obviously not an option.  Where are the Beatle Maniacs and Sol Provider when we need them?!?

I was up early this morning, because I was asleep early last night (see prior paragraph) and enjoyed a beautiful sunrise off the back of the ship.

I went for coffee and then to the DaVinci Dining Room for breakfast with Joel and Erika. I didn't expect G to be joining me (he was still snoozing when I left the cabin), and he didn't...until I was about done. It was almost 9am when we left the dining room. I immediately headed up to Deck 19, plugged in my earbuds, and walked. And walked. And walked. Our weather this cruise has been perfect...the best we've had all winter. The sea is flat and the sun is bright, and I love being up on Deck 19 with 35 mile views in all directions. It's good for me mentally as well as physically; a bit of time alone on a ship with over 4000 people. 

I was so caught up in the moment that G came looking for me. We had decided earlier to go to the Wheelhouse Bar for Pub Lunch today, and just before, at 11:30am, there was a drawing for a Marah Lago necklace in Facets jewelry store. G is always optimistic (I know better, but the store was right across from the Wheelhouse, so it wasn't like it was out of our way). Of course we didn't win, but fish and chips accompanied by a Strongbow cider (me) and a dark ale (G) was a really good consolation...at first. All that greasiness came back to haunt me all afternoon. It's fun to go to Pub Lunch- once a winter or so.

It was "extra-tip day" again, and so I needed some smaller bills from the Passenger Services Desk (I really should take care of that before the last day of a cruise when the lines at the desk are long). I also chose possibly the worst day of the cruise, when everyone is printing airline boarding passes, to log on to Princess.com from a computer in the Internet Cafe to print the boarding passes for our upcoming Bon Voyage Experience, but it's done now, and was possibly the easiest part of the whole process. 

I had to attend to some personal grooming details this afternoon. All the norovirus in the news about Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas as well as the Emerald Princess's Code Yellow has me scared. I removed the peeling glitter nail polish and cut my nails short; better for keeping my hands germ free, I think, but- wow- what a sacrifice for the cause. My exciting home activities of grocery shopping and toilet cleaning and dish washing (sans a dishwasher) pretty much render nail polish of any sort unnecessary; that's why I have so much fun with it on a cruise.  Next I colored my hair for the first time in almost six weeks.  This is not an easy task in that tiny bathroom with white shower curtain, white towels and white robes hanging on the door hooks. The opportunity for disaster is everywhere. What I need is for the bathroom floor and walls to have the same ultra-patterned carpet that's in the bedroom; THAT could hide a hair color explosion quite easily (I recently spent 20 minutes looking for an earring back on it, and chose not to divulge that information on that day's blog post, but if my activities one day seemed light, that's the missing link). But I managed to avoid a mess, and if I don't mind going home with yellow hair and I avoid sun and salt water, I might not have to deal with it again this winter. Or maybe I should add that to tomorrow's shopping list...

The bathroom closet (aka my carry on suitcase under the bed) is starting to look empty as we continue to draw down our inventory of toiletries. We have to pick up some more foaming hand soap and hand wipes (and maybe hair color) tomorrow in Fort Lauderdale, and G needs more Carnation French Vanilla coffee creamer, but our shopping list gets shorter every turnaround. Keep your fingers crossed we can find that HDMI cable; I really can't bear another Love Boat rerun, and G is now quoting Simpsons dialogue by heart. 

We had a last hurrah in Skywalkers before dinner; we met up with Janet and Bob and Ross and Claudette and Jim and Marcia and enjoyed one more Elite Lounge.  We will miss then intensely next cruise; it's been wonderful having them all on board for the past 20 days.  We're all planning on another annual reunion next January, this time on the Royal Princess, but we know that the Elite Lounge in Club Six will never be quite the same. Weep. 

I kept it simple for Dinner with Darko to make up for the fried lunch- just the watermelon and feta starter and then the turkey dinner, which is plain but always so good. We had lingered long enough in Skywalkers that we were still in the dining room for the baked Alaska parade, which we usually try to avoid. But it's another thing that's good fun...once a winter or so. I don't need to wave my napkin in the air every cruise. 

We were done with dinner and our sad goodbyes to Jim and Marcia in time for vocalist Jacqi Michaels first show at 7:15pm. Yes, we've seen her twice already this winter, but Jacqi Michaels is good entertainment. Good entertainment and long entertainment (she still does a show that's 45 minutes long, twice an evening). Makes me nostalgic for the good old days. 

As we walked through the Piazza, we saw the first non-musical entertainment there of the entire cruise (G calls them "side shows"): Team Rootberry. Even the side shows have been light this cruise. 

Afterwards, we walked out on the Terrace Deck, watching the lighthouses on Cuba's northern coast under a night sky that's clear and packed with stars. It would be a good night for some Barefoot Bubbly overlooking the wake, but we know that the ship's thrusters will be shaking us out of bed before 6am tomorrow morning, so instead we stuck to fuzzy water. G was asleep before I even had my contacts out (and completed the other 42 steps on my evening ablutions list...but that's a topic for another post); I'll be following as soon as this is published. 

What we DON'T have to do tonight...

(Tee-hee-hee)

:-)