G was in the DaVinci Dining Room having breakfast when I awoke, but I was not in a breakfast mood. The beauty of today being a sea day is that I knew there would be a nice lunch waiting for us starting at noon. Instead I got a latte to go from the International Cafe, and settled myself in the Riviera Deck laundromat. This was it- my last day of clean clothes- and I had no choice. Once two loads were in the washers, I was in the cabin returning the laundry detergent when the phone rang. Cruise friends Carol and Grant, whom we'd seen in January on a turnaround day, own Carol's Quality Sweets in Edmonton, and had given a gift box of chocolates to Wayne and Susan to deliver to us on the Emerald Princess. Wayne and Susan came on board yesterday, and delivered the box to our cabin this morning while I was there. Thank you Carol and Grant! And Wayne and Susan! We are allowing ourselves just one piece a day...mostly. This being Day 1 we needed a bolus dose, of course, and so allowed ourselves a couple. Or more. ;-)
As with most things in life, chocolate made doing the laundry much easier. I hung some things up on our clothesline to dry, and dried everything else in one dryer. I had no sooner put everything away in the cabin then G returned and the phone rang again. I had asked on Cruise Critic if anyone from Vancouver would be coming on this cruise; I needed a favor. Rhonda emailed me offering to help, and picked up a Vancouver baseball cap (and key ring) for us to give to Darko. Darko's sister's family lives in Vancouver, and Darko and his family are in the process of trying to move there, too. We wanted to give him a gift for good luck with that major step. Thank you, Rhonda!
Finally, we received yet another phone call; we had a box of mail waiting for us at the Passenger Services Desk. Thank you Martha! It was certainly a morning of deliveries. On our way to lunch in the DaVinci Dining Room, we picked up the box, once again getting lots of curious glances from fellow diners as we carried it into lunch.
But we weren't just recipients today; G had had several photos of crew members printed from his iPhone at Walgreens yesterday and we were busy delivering them, too. Some could be hand delivered; others, such as guitarist Kyle on stage with Jacqi Michaels two nights ago had to be sent via the Passenger Services Desk.
And speaking of lunch (at least one paragraph ago)...G ended his with six scoops of ice cream. They offered three of his favorite flavors on the same menu...what's a guy to do?
G went to the 2pm Cruise Critic Meet and Greet; I am not one to let a box of mail sit unopened, and so tore into what will surely be the last box we'll get before we return home. I can't tell you how much it eases our homecoming to not face nearly five months of unopened mail. It takes us a month to get our heads above water as it is; with that, we'd never get there.
The day was sunny, and the pool decks were busy, but I was determined to stay out of the sun today. We had gotten quite a bit yesterday, between spending time on the open decks on the Royal Princess, walking to Walgreens and watching sailaway from the Terrace Deck. Instead I went to the fitness center for a quick workout and then continued watching Downton Abbey, Season 2. Finally G showed up and talked me into a hot tub, and there we stayed until Dinner with Darko.
I delivered the baseball cap and key ring to him, and, Rhonda, you should have seen the smile on his face. He said he was going to wear it during his Skype call home to his wife tonight, and I was touched by that.
Entertainment tonight was a hypnotist in the Princess Theater...so we are cozied up at the MUTS pool to watch the 7:30pm showing of Captain Phillips. We're not big movie watchers (as you have probably already deduced); Jobs, Gravity and now Captain Phillips are all we've seen all winter, but something tells me that this one is worth watching.
Huddled under blankets wearing my fleece pullover, it's bringing back lots of memories of watching NFL games out here. Sure, one of them horrid, but most of them were tremendous fun. The difference today is that the sun didn't set until 7pm.
It feels like the end of winter, a joyous thought for millions but not a happy one for me.
:-(