Although we moved clocks ahead an hour last night to AST (for our first time this winter), we were up early and went to the IC for brewed coffee and were in the DaVinci Dining Room for breakfast around 7:30am. We were seated at the same table for four (but just for two) next to a window that we enjoyed dining at yesterday. That's one nice thing about being remembered by the headwaiters...they already know what we like and accommodate us when they can.
At 10am, there was a backstage tour in the Princess Theater, and though I'm not usually into going, I remember how much more fun we had watching the production shows last winter when we went on the tour during our first cruise and got to know a few of the dancers. This year's dance captain is Astrid, and she is a leader, I can already tell. She's from Namibia in Africa, and when someone asked if her family has been able to come on board to see her perform, she said, "Well, they'd have to take at least three donkeys to get here, so no". It's amazing to hear about what all these performers and crew go through to get here. It makes my own life seem very boring in comparison.
As part of the backstage tour, we were able to see the dancers' dressing room, which we have seem before on the Emerald Princess but never with Astrid as our tour guide. She pointed out several things I had not known before, and it was all fascinating, first and foremost that the costumes stay with the ship. That means we've seen these exact same costumes for years, although the singers and dancers nearly all change every seven months or so.
One dancers' hats and wigs
Each dancer had their own bottle of Fabreeze. Who'd have thought we had something in common?
All the costumes are stored organized by dancer on a huge rack (like in a dry cleaners) that is several decks high.
There are three or four narrow stairs leading from the floor of the Princess Theater on each side to the stage, and the singers and dancers just fly up and down these as they sometimes move into the audience while performing. All of us tour participants were carefully picking our way up and down these steps to get onto the stage. Ditto the steps from backstage down to the dancer's dressing room...honestly, forget about the dancing part; I couldn't even manage the "getting on the stage" part. While the singers get to stay in passenger cabins, the dancers are in spartan cabins just behind the stage area, sleeping in bunks. Not quite a fairy tale existence, but still they compete with a hundred other people for each position.
I then went up to the Adagio Lounge to catch the tail end of the Cruise Critic Meet and Greet and enjoyed meeting a few fellow cruisers. And then (can you believe it?), I followed G into that "holiday at sea" sale, where they sell items worth $2 for $10. Ugh, it makes me itch (and even G wasn't too impressed by this cruise's selection).
By then we had been four whole hours without food, and we were practically at the DaVinci Dining Room after leaving the sale, so we went to have lunch (same table). Veggie burritos were on the menu, one of our very favorites.
Finally it was time for me to add healthy living to the health eating I'm able to do again now that we're back on the Emerald Princess, so I went back to the cabin to change shoes and get my earbuds, and went down to the Promenade on Deck 7 to walk for an hour. (I was afraid it would be really windy up on the jogging track above Skywalkers on Deck 19 as it was windy on Deck 7). Smoking is allowed on the starboard side, but it really isn't too awful to walk through when the ship is moving.
G, who likes to get his exercise sitting in a hot tub, did just that, and when I returned to the cabin, he was getting cleaned up for the evening early, as there was a veterans get together at 3pm in the Wheelhouse Bar. Tonight was formal night, and just last evening we purchased a new tuxedo shirt for him in a shop on board (his old one was a few years old and starting to look it). I asked him if he wanted me to iron it for him in a laundry room since he hadn't had enough time to have it laundered and starched, but he declined. I melted an article of his clothing several years ago, and haven't been allowed to iron anything of his since. (Momma didn't raise no fools!). He's just going to keep his tuxedo jacket closed tonight and will send the shirt to the laundry tomorrow. Fine by me!
We went up to Skywalkers at 5pm for the Elite lounge and them to dinner at 5:30am. We're purposely laying claim to "our" table early each evening until it becomes obvious to all concerned that's it unavailable for public use. ;-)
Following dinner, we stayed in the Piazza for the Captain's Welcome Aboard champagne party. There we met fellow cruiser Carol who's emailed me a few times about the blog, and her husband. Always so fun to meet those reading along. We next headed to the Princess Theater for our first production show of the winter, conveniently our favorite: I Got the Music. We very much enjoyed it, but G turned to me afterwards and said that moving to the Royal Princess next year would bring with it one more advantage: new production shows. We'll adjust just fine to the new ship, I think.
We're sitting now at the big screen at the Calypso pool (hereafter referred to as Movies Under the Stars, or MUTS) to watch- yay!- the Saints game.
A few comments about how we're settling in. Physically, logistically in our cabin and on the ship, it took no time at all. We're not even having to look for things in our cabin; we have a place for everything and everything's in its place and it was in the same place last year too. I'd been saving the small plastic containers my Restasis prescriptions comes in, as well as a Swiffer Wet refills container to use as free organizers this winter, and they work perfectly to keep my nightstand drawers organized (G is not similarly fanatically organizationally inclined). We felt immediately at home in our cabin.
As for the cruise experience itself, we're not quite completely settled yet, but will be soon, I think. We tend to wish that our experience on the Emerald Princess would pick up precisely where we left it last March, and, of course, that's not possible. Most of the crew members are new, although there are several we know from prior years. Compounding things is the fact that we were horribly, completely spoiled by having Sutti as our waiter for two winters. I knew that this transition would be a bit tougher, but after only two dinners we're being well served by waiter Corn from the Philippines and junior waiter Immanuel from Indonesia. We asked Immanuel where he was from in Indonesia, and when he said Java, we were so proud to be able to tell him thank you in his own dialect, not just in Indonesian. We learned a lot on Holland America!
Our cabin steward, Raymond, is a gift from heaven after our experiences last winter. As I was in the cabin this afternoon, there was a knock at the door. An electrician was here to replace a bulb over our vanity. I had seen one of them was out, but hadn't mentioned it to Raymond (we're still a bit gun shy after the Steward Nazi). No worries; Raymond had spotted and reported it and it's already taken care of. I think we'll all get along just fine together.
So, our winter has really begun in earnest now. We're already at Day 22, which is a measurable percentage of our winter at sea. :-( Tomorrow is St. Thomas, and we know from the "ships in port with us" spreadsheet that I prepare that, though there will be four ships in port with us, they're not large ships and two of them are actually small ones. It's a far cry from our visit last week with five ships and three of them huge ones. Our plans will be based on the weather and how late we stay up tonight watching the game. It's all good...we just might be in St. Thomas a few more times this winter. ;-)