I've reached a surprising conclusion. I don't get seasick in the classical nauseous way. But I do get dizzy and light headed and just generally slow. I've always thought that that was my reaction to sea days, but now believe that it's not sea days, but the ship's movement on sea days that's the culprit.
And so I was slow to get moving this morning. We didn't get to the DaVinci Dining Room for breakfast until 8:30am or so. Wait staffs had rotated again, which we know happens, but it still takes us aback when, after 70 days on the Emerald Princess, we walk in to the DaVinci Dining Room to see all new faces. We kept breakfast simple (we're eating less and less for breakfast on sea days), but made up for it at lunch today. Stay tuned...
I returned to the cabin to put together some thoughts that I published on the previous blog post. While I was still in the midst of that, there was a knock on the door. We've got mail! (Thank you, Martha!). I have just one thing to take care of by phone on St. Thomas, and- surprise!- there were birthday cards for me. Mom's made me fry (not a typo in my family) :-) and so I just had to phone her. And I did, using ship's Internet and my Vonage app. Just a bit of latency, but still clear, despite the waves we were bouncing across.
I then went up to Deck 19 to walk a bit. It wasn't nearly as pleasant today, simply due to the wind, but I had a mission beyond just exercise...I'm listening to an audiobook that will go "poof" off my phone at midnight tonight. And that's been a real problem lately. I can "check out" books for 21 days from our library using the Overdrive app, and it never fails...one day into a new cruise, I lose those books I downloaded two turnarounds ago. I can't tell you how many times this winter I've heard only 75% of an audiobook, and then started another that I hear only 75% of before it self-destructs. I can check them out again, of course, but have to wait until Fort Lauderdale or St. Thomas to download them again. No wonder AT&T is sending me nastygrams, accusing me of being a high usage customer. Just another part of living on a ship, albeit temporarily.
We had written a letter today and turned it into the Passenger Services Desk, commending the cook who's preparing the fish and chips for the Pub Lunch in the Wheelhouse Bar. It's so much better than last winter, when it was almost too greasy to eat. G wanted to go back there today, so we could thank the cook personally, and so we did, and, of course, ate fish and chips again for lunch. And bread and butter pudding for dessert. This cannot continue...it's so delicious but I felt like a slug all afternoon.
While I had been in the cabin this morning, G had been hitting the 2 for $20 T-shirt sale in the Piazza. This Eastern Caribbean Voyager one caught his eye, and so he bought four. Is it any wonder we have hundreds of destination T-shirts between the two of us?
The front...
The back...
We went to Skywalkers at 2pm for this cruise's Cruise Critic Meet and Greet. It was so nice to see people we've cruised with before. Laurie and Howard did an amazing job organizing it, and Howard prepared personalized invitations for the senior officers that brought them out in droves. We've never had such strong attendance by them...Captain Nick, Staff Captain Dominic, Hotel General Manager Peter, cruise director JJ and his deputy Adam, the new Executive Chef and Maitre d' Generoso, the Customer Services Director Karen...they were all there. It was really nice!!
G left to go to the Veterans get together, and I returned to Deck 19 for awhile longer (trying to finish that book!). We skipped Skywalkers tonight in favor of having drinks in the Piazza and watching the 10-minute Team Rootberry juggling show before going to Dinner with Darko and Komang. Our guys are running themselves ragged this cruise; once again, these are passengers who want to be served. We made it easy for them tonight, with just a watermelon and lychee starter and chicken strips on salads. And dessert, of course. 'Cause we're never too full for sorbet!
We had two entertainment shows from which to choose tonight, and, in a new twist, comedian AJ Jamal did three shows in the Explorers Lounge: 6:30pm, 8pm and 9:30pm. Hypnotist Joshua Seth did three performances in the Princess Theater. We sat and listened to the Emerald Princess orchestra playing big band dance music in Explorers Lounge while we waited for AJ Jamal's 8pm performance. Wo do love the live music, and AJ Jamal is absolutely harious. We were thrilled with our entertainment options for the evening. So far, so good this cruise...
Next up, "Catholic slogans" before bed, asking for the good guys (aka the Broncos) to win on Sunday. Let's hope the fried fish I'm burping decides to give it a rest too.