"I'm not sea sick. I'm sick of the sea."
More appropriate words for my malaise today do not exist. I think that, even worse than the bounciness is the fact that I believed the bounciness to be behind us. It's made even worse, of course, by our cabin location on the top aft end of the ship. When we go down to Deck 5 in the Piazza or Michelangelo Dining Room, we wonder why we're troubled. Then we return to our cabin and I have to shave my legs with one hand on the shower grab bar and I remember. It's a different world where we live.
For the reason above, I had a restless night. G brought me fruit from the Horizon Court Buffet before he went to breakfast in the DaVinci Dining Room, but when he returned, it was still untouched. Knowing I'd feel better if I just got out of bed, I finally showered and we went down to sit in Vines on Deck 5, which is as low and midship as we can go without checking into the Medical Center on Deck 4. I got a coffee from the International Care and called it breakfast, and there we stayed until we decided at the last minute to go to the navigational bridge and technical lectures held at 10am and 11:15am, respectively, in the Princess Theater.
I didn't know what to call how I was feeling. I certainly wasn't nauseous. But I felt like my head was fuzzy and I was moving through my day in Jello. And that's when I heard Roddy addressing the rough seas we were experiencing, and making that statement that made it all crystal clear. I was just sick of the non-stop pitching and rolling. It all makes sense now: why I have lots of energy when it's calm, but none when it's bouncy, why I generally am not fond of sea days, but I love staying on the ship when it's docked in port...I am sick of the sea.
It only took me 800 days of cruising to realize that. ;-)
Once I defined my malady, I felt much better. Following the lectures, we went to lunch in the DaVinci Dining Room. I limited mine to bread and soup, and then, despite the fact that it was a brightly sunny, though viciously windy day, retired back to our cabin, where I slept the afternoon away. G spent part of the afternoon in the hot tub, and at 4pm, we went to the Gold and Ruby Captains Circle party in the Princess Theater. We enjoy going to that simply because we like the live music by the Emerald Princess orchestra and the singers who perform a few songs from the now defunct Motor City. Captain Nick also fills us in on what to expect in the ports, and it appears that they will be busy this cruise, with several ships with us in St. Thomas. I have been very negligent in keeping up with the "ships in port with us" spreadsheet that I prepared before we left home.
Something else I've been negligent about...reading the daily Patters. G usually keeps me informed on our entertainment options, but I missed the fact that the dinner hours for the dining rooms changed on turnaround day; it's now from 5pm to 9:30pm. Given the passenger demographics, it's kind of the cruise ship version of the Early Bird Special.
We were one of the Early Bird diners when we went to dinner at 5:20pm. We wanted to go to the 6:45pm performance of production show I've Got the Music, and then to the Captain's Welcome Aboard Party and Champagne Waterfall.
We skipped dessert and coffee, intending to return later in the evening. After the Captain's Welcome Aboard Party and Champagne Waterfall (shortcut heaven here!), we went to the Explorers Lounge performance of mentalist Joshua Seth. We enjoy his mentalist show; the hypnotist show that he did last night we know to skip. But he really is amazing, and I was called up on stage for his show either last year or the year before, so I know his act isn't pre-staged with people from the audience.
It was almost 9pm when we returned to the Michelangelo Dining Room for Dessert with Darko and Coffee with Komang. ;-). The dining room was nearly empty by then, and we were able to have our same table as at dinner. Darko had some time he doesn't usually have to chat with us about his life and family in Macedonia, and that was fascinating. I love hearing about what life is like at home for the crew.
It's now 10:30pm. Captain Nick had promised us things would calm down about 9pm when we entered the Virgin Passage, but they haven't. We're still rocking and rolling up here. But, please note... I'm not sea sick.
I'm just really, really sick of the sea.