We always say that Fort Lauderdale, and to a lesser extent St. Thomas, are business days for us. Phone calls and Internet and banking if necessary. In the same vein, this first day at sea after six port days was a housekeeping day for us. I washed out swimsuits and undergarments and my Tilley hat, and stuffed the latter with towels and balanced it on top of the box of wine to dry in shape.
I also sorted through the significant amount of paperwork we seem to accumulate every cruise. Patters, port brochures, letters from the Passenger Services Department, Sudokus (G keeps picking them up from the library in the hope I'll try again...but I haven't). If I don't stay on top of it all, it will take over this cabin!
G took care of two bookkeeping items: settling up our on board account and cashing out his casino credits, but then found time to go to what we call the rummage sale- an end of the cruise sale of off-season t-shirts (he bought a nice one from the Baltic season the Emerald was on last summer) and other "junk". I don't do that sale. Just the thought of it makes me itch.
With our cabin looking a bit like a laundry, wet clothes hung up to dry, I went to line dancing, followed by my first shower of the day, a quick 2 minute one (it's all I had time for!), because we wanted to be in the dining room at noon for lunch (Greek Salad and frito misto for me) to finish in time for a backstage tour in the Princess Theater at 1:15pm.
I haven't been to one of these backstage tours in a long time- G more often attends- but it's fun to get to know some of the dancers on a more personal, first name basis. Cruise Director Peter emceed a good introductory Q and A session, and then invited us up on stage to talk one on one with the dancers and production crew (the singers weren't there). It's always pointed out that these singers and dancers have been selected from thousands of applicants all over the world...the competition is fierce. We were able to see the dressing room, including the long, automated clothes rack (like in dry cleaners) where all the costumes are stored. One lighting system alone cost $500,000...the total cost to outfit the theater runs into the millions, as does the cost to produce each production show. The production crew said it takes them three hours to break down the sets after a night of production shows.
It's all very interesting and amazing.
We then had a whole 20 minutes (wow!) to return to our cabin. I phoned room service to order some more wine glasses for our cabin, and was excited to meet room service steward Yulia from the Ukraine who has hair every bit as curly as mine (although hers was neatly pulled back in a bun). When I opened the door I exclaimed, "You have curly hair", and she said "You too!". We curly-haired sisters have to stick together!
Next, we were rushing to the wine tasting at 3pm. Dear waiter Nicki from Thailand sat us at our favorite table for two next to a window, and sommelier Thai knocked it out of the park...fully informative, minimal BS and we were out of there in 30 minutes...with our gift of Princess shot glasses, which is biggest reason we attend this every cruise (the other is that it's free for us- another Elite perk). There are six different shot glass designs and we've completed two complete sets of our own and are now compiling them for friends.
Leaving there, afternoon tea was taking place in the Da Vinci dining room just one deck up. We've not been yet this winter, and also haven't ordered it to be served in our cabin. We decided that today was the day, and stopped by briefly for cups of tea and a scone.
Finally, we had 45 minutes to rest. We debated going outside to a lounger in the sun, but really didn't want to have to shower again before the evening, so we rested a short time in the cabin before dressing for dinner. We had fully intended to go to Skywalkers...tonight the featured drink was the Breeza Marina, which I may have previously mentioned ;-) is my favorite. There was also herbed goat cheese on homemade wheat crackers and focaccia bread, as well as the usual cheeses, breadsticks, olives and crudités. But there was no way, not even a remote chance, that we could eat again before dinner at 6pm, and the wine tasting had fulfilled my alcohol desire for the day.
I had had the frito misto for lunch- shrimp, scallops, calamari and fish all coated in a tempura batter and deep fried. It was delicious, but I don't generally eat fried food, and even at dinner time I still felt blah from it. I simply ordered my usual broccoli and spinach and a scoop of rice and called it dinner.
As G said...we starve on port days and feast on sea days. But enough was enough!
After dinner we wandered into Club Fusion to listen to band Serious Sounds perform. Leaving there, we ran into the other Mr. and Mrs. Smith who have dinner following us at the same table (and who did last year too). We had not seen them yet this cruise, but had gifted them with a bottle of champagne earlier this cruise. They were on their way to dinner and had, in hand, a thank you note for us that they were taking to Sutti to deliver to us tomorrow night. They are such a sweet couple, and are also amazed at the coincidence of two couples with the same last name dining at the same table on the same ship with the same waiter a year apart.
And by then it was 9pm and bedtime. Turnaround day is busy and wake up time comes early, with the sounds of the ship maneuvering into its berth at Port Everglades and all the door slamming as our neighbors leave their cabins early.
20 days have passed. It feels like 5 or 6. It's passing too quickly!
Photos 1 and 2: sunrise, Day 2
Photo 3: scrambled egg beaters and lots of FRESH salsa. Life is good!
Photo 4: backstage tour with the dancers and production team
Photo 5: sweets at tea time. Life is REALLY good!