Along the way I saw NO ONE. When I got to the IC, there was no normal crowd around the coffee bar wilaiting for their specialty coffees. By the time I got to the DaVinci Dining Room, I expected the usual "just before closing" line of people waiting to be seated for breakfast. There was no line, though there were a few people already seated. I ordered just fruit and cereal and ate quickly, because it was nearly 9am and the dining room was about to close. But, people were still being seated around me. 9:08am, 9:15am...still people kept arriving and being seated.
Now, you probably know where this is going, but I was so dense that it still didn't occur to me. Waiter Joji from the Philippines asked where I had had dinner last night, and when I told him that we enjoyed dinners in the Michelangelo Dining Room with Darko, he mentioned that Darko was serving in the dining room for breakfast this cruise. When I was done eating, I walked over to the other side of the dining room to tell Darko Hi, and he asked if I was going to dine with him. Now, simultaneously I thought, "This is strange. Why is he asking me to have breakfast in his section at 9:18am" and then -bam- it hit me. We didn't move clocks ahead an hour last night. It was only 8:18am. How amateur a mistake is that? I've mentioned before that we don't move our personal clocks and watches forward and back an hour every cruise as the ship does. We just leave them on AST and try to remember that the day we're in Fort Lauderdale it's actually an hour earlier. Even my iPhone stays on AST. When we start these cruises with two days at sea, we move our clocks ahead the first night of the cruise, so it's just while we're in Fort Lauderdale that we have to mentally adjust. But when Princess Cays is on the first day of the cruise, because the Bahamas are on EST, the clocks don't get moved ahead an hour until the second night of the cruise. I know that.
Except when I forget.
I felt like I had found an extra hour in the day, and so returned to the cabin to see if G was stirring. When he still wasn't, I grabbed my ear buds and went up to the jogging track on Deck 19. I could see the first tenders making their way over to Princess Cays, and it was a gorgeous day, the kind of day a beach was created for. I walked and walked, and enjoyed the sun and solitude.
Look at that water color...
...that long line of beaches all the way up the western coast of Eleuthera:
After an hour or so, I crept back into the cabin. Finally, there was a light on...G was awake. I joined him for breakfast in the buffet and as we sat there, lazy and relaxed, I had a growing feeling that we were not going to go to Princess Cays today. G was not a bundle of energy (he's still fighting a cold); I could do without the tender ride after a tender ride two days ago and the water taxi yesterday in Fort Lauderdale. And so for the rest of the day, we rotated between sitting in a hot tub, strolling on the Promenade Deck, doing a personal spa treatment using Bonaire sea salt scrub and the steamroom, and watching TV from my laptop in our cabin. At one point we grabbed a piece of pizza, but, really, we just enjoyed ourselves.
We did go out on the port side of the Promenade Deck again today, to watch as the tenders were pulled up and the Emerald Princess sailed down the southern coast of Eleuthera, but this time continued south, down the line of islands that make up the Bahamas.
I felt better that I wasn't the only one confused about the time today. The Patter stated that sunset would be at 6:51pm, and I knew there was no way that was right. It had set at 6:50pm AST just two day ago. No, the Patter was off by an hour too. Thank God we move clocks ahead an hour tonight. It's obvious that my mind is firmly in AST, and so is most of the crew's.
On our way to dinner, we stood briefly in the mid ship elevator lobby on Deck 5 at the bottom of the Piazza to listen to pianist Pawel play the song Memories from Cats. It was so beautiful and so relaxing, and as I looked out over the Piazza and down to the art gallery, I almost had to pinch myself. Maybe one day, instead of blogging about what we did that day, I should blog about what we didn't have to do. Today, for example, I didn't have to shovel snow. Standing in the Piazza listening to live piano music was much, much better.
Dinner with Darko is always a delight. Tonight I declined dessert, opting to just have a decaf skinny cappuccino. Darko knew I was missing the little cookies that are offered on formal nights...and then returned a few minutes later with a plate of them. I suppose they're made every day for afternoon tea and suite passengers treats, but I've never seen them before except for formal nights. I am so spoiled!
Those cookies in the middle are DA BOMB!:
Have I mentioned we love Darko? Yes, I know I have, but have I mentioned it lately?
After dinner, we skipped Brent Webb's mentalist show in the Princess Theater and chose instead to listen to the Emerald Princess orchestra play dance music in the Explorers Lounge, coincidentally also occupying two seats in preparation for Ye Olde Pub Night at 8pm. We always enjoy this, not least of all because it includes two of the singers and several of the dancers performing on a stage just a few feet away. It's really the only theme night party of the cruise we try to make a point to see.
