I showered and went to the Club Restaurant for breakfast. Sure enough, within 10 minutes or so, G found me there. He had already had an omelet in the Panorama Buffet, but managed to eat a pastry while I had my usual fruit plate and cottage cheese. We were reading the Princess Patter for the day; who knew...it was Sunday! Cruise director David was conducting a non-denominational service in the Cabaret Lounge at 9:30am and I was in the mood to go. I should have been wiser.
The Cabaret Lounge, with its far forward location on Deck 5, is one of the worst places on the ship to experience rough seas. I managed to sit through about 30 minutes on the non-denominational service, which must have surely been toward the end, when I had to rush back to our cabin. G found me there an hour later, still lying on the bed wishing I either felt better or was dead. (I really didn't care which at that point.). That is NOT a good feeling. He went up to the buffet to get me several packages of crackers and ginger ale over ice, a very reliable cure for me, and returned to tell me that several crew members were also struggling a bit. Well, misery does love company. Not surprisingly, after sipping the ginger ale and eating some crackers, I quickly felt much better. But I would be lying if I denied that I was just a bit concerned about those TEN sea days between French Polynesia and Los Angeles. I'm really hoping that the cargo container carrying ginger ale and crackers makes it on to the ship for that cruise.
I felt well enough by 12:45pm to go to the Club Restaurant for lunch. Soup and a dinner roll tasted just right by then, but I returned to our low, midship cabin for most of the rest of the afternoon. I was most comfortable there, though I could have done without the occasional WOOSHES reminding me that the weather had not improved. In fact, it rained most of the afternoon; we have not had the best start to this cruise, weather-wise. To add insult to injury, the ship's position in the South Pacific frequently means we can't lock into the satellite feed for ESPN, and, of course, a sea day heading toward the remote Marquesas islands meant we went without today. On a Sunday afternoon. When I had the time and inclination to watch football all day. In my ongoing attempt to "keep it real" concerning the ups and downs of living at sea, this was definitely not a high point.
I miss football!!! Is there a NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion yet? We feel very removed from the real world down here!
At 3:45pm, we went to the BIG!!!!!! $500 Treasure Hunt Drawing*!!! (*must be present to win), just 'cause G deserved some payback from playing nursemaid all day. No, of course we didn't win, but friend Tracey did win a $20 Bingo card. Afterward, I walked over to congratulate her just as she was consoling her young son, who would have preferred winning the chocolates. Chocolates? We can help with that, so I made a quick delivery of some of our stash to their cabin. Wouldn't it be a wonderful world if pillow chocolates could make us all so happy? Tracey surprised us later in the evening with a Christmas gift bag full of holiday goodies from home. What a thoughtful thing to do! Thank you Tracey!!
It was formal night tonight, because surely when seas are rough, dressing formally is the one thing passengers most want to do (that's sarcasm, you know). I was simply thankful to have avoided a return to the yuckkiness of the morning by staying down for most of the afternoon, and was happy to oblige G's wishes to play prom. We went to the Elite Lounge on Deck 10 aft for a few minutes before we moved to the Club Restaurant for dinner. There are two groups on board, one from Sweden and one from Japan, and whether it was due to the different passenger demographic or the weather, attendance in the dining room was a bit sparse tonight. I think there is some confusion about this cruise's itinerary all around...first, Princess changed it since we've been on the ship, then the Welcome Aboard Patter was amended with different dress codes on different nights than originally published, and then tonight's menu was definitely not a formal night menu. No matter...G had beef and I had seafood and happiness reigned.
The soprano Jennifer Fair was performing again tonight in the Cabaret Lounge, and she's very good, but opera-style music is not our style of music. Instead we headed up to the Pacific Lounge where we joined perpetual dancers Trudy and Brendan who have been on for four cruises, and are being joined by their daughter this cruise. All of us and several others danced to the music of Great Escape (because the way the ship was moving, it was easier to dance than stand still).
We are back in the cabin where we're seeing the fierce lightning we're having in stereo, on the front of the ship camera on Channel 49 and out our porthole. Every so often we get a woosh of water against the window and a flash of lightning. With the lights out in the cabin, and gentle music from the TV, it's quite spooky and romantic at the same time.
And, on that note...good night!!
