I didn't open my eyes this morning until G returned to the cabin at 9am after his breakfast. I was (in the words of my southern relatives) "done in" after a disrupted night of sleep followed by hours of playing in great waves, sitting through two football games (the first under hot sun), and eating junk food while I did. Yep, I certainly felt 'done in', and, even after nearly 9 hours of sleep, I awoke headachy and hungry.
I read in bed for awhile (my current read is about the United 93 flight on 9/11, and it's mesmerizing), but the sound of something banging somewhere nearby finally convinced me to get up and start my day. I checked our little refrigerator to see if there was a can rolling around (a likely culprit when there's noise like that), then I checked our safe door and little cubby door, and the bathroom door, but, for once, our cabin wasn't the causative factor.
I was in the process of writing a thank you note to Cruise Critic friend Denise for dropping off her and her husband's two free drink coupons (in lieu of a Captains Circle party for Platinum and Elite passengers on this 4-night cruise), as they had purchased the unlimited drinks package, and the phone rang...and it was Denise! That was a bit tingly! She said she had a bag with some additional drink items in it that they didn't use and asked if she could drop it by the cabin. (Honestly, soooo nice). I was just about to step into the shower and wasn't prepared to see anyone other than my husband face to face (for good reason...read on) so she said she'd just drop it outside our door. Very, very kind!
When I stepped into the bathroom and took a good look at myself in the mirror, I knew I had done the right thing. Wow. What a mess. I looked like a horse that had been rode hard and put away wet, my eyes were red and gritty, and I wasn't looking forward to putting little pieces of hard plastic in them. After my shower (really, there is no shortage of hot water in our cabin!!!), I went to work with spackle and silicone and all the other tools in my tool kit to look presentable enough to face the world.
When I opened the door to see what goodies Denise had delivered, I was stunned to find an entire party in a bag. A feast of alcohol and sugar and even an unopened bottle of wine...wow! I phoned and talked with Denise's husband to thank him, but I want to thank them both again. We will really enjoy all of it! Next door cabinmates Jackie and Ken also had the drinks package and gifted their free drink coupons to us, and then, later in the day, delivered another big party bag to our cabin. Wow. Thank you so much!!! We are set for the duration (our vanity is totally filled with party beverages) and it is very much appreciated.
Somehow, I just know there will be many more spackle and silicone mornings in the near future.
All this excitement happened before I had even opened the cabin door and started my day. As soon as I did, Awesome Ambrish was there, as always, ready to greet me with a smile and a cheery "Good morning!" and comment on our photo on page 1 of today's Patter. He is a treasure...kind enough not to say that, at that moment, I didn't look a bit like I did in that photo...'cause I surely did not.
It was close enough to lunch that I didn't want to eat breakfast, but thought that one of those yummy cinnamon rolls from the International Cafe that Suzan and G are always talking about might be just right. I just missed Suzan and Greg down there by minutes, and also just missed the cinnamon rolls; they were switching over to lunch just as I arrived. Shoot. But I did order one of those sexy new coffee drinks. Today I had the tiramisu one, decaf and skinny, and maybe it was the skinny that didn't work, but I wasn't nearly as impressed with this one as I was the salted caramel one I had a few days ago. But I will continue to make my way through the new menu and report back. Anything for research, you know.
I finally met up with Suzan and Greg, and then G and I met in the DaVinci Dining Room for my first food of the day. I was starving for something healthy, and had gazpacho and a roasted yellow bell pepper stuffed with rice. It was just what I needed.
The Carolina v. Seattle game started at 1pm, and when I got there right at kickoff, of course there were no seats available. G quickly gave up and decided to move on, but I am a die hard, especially after missing the OT in the Cardinals game last night. I first sat on the raised edge of the pool, but the sea was quite bumpy today, and I quickly got my clothes splashed. Not willing to give up, I returned to the cabin to change, and spent the rest of the game sitting in the water on the pool apron. I could have cheered, and not just from the game, when the bright sun finally went behind the screen, but then got suddenly chilled. Three hours in the water was catching up with me. Luckily, the game outcome was very comforting, despite a tension-fraught second half!
I won't mention it again, but really? The Calypso Pool area was packed and the bar revenue had to be incredible, and the Broncos v. Steelers game was not shown on MUTS. Instead we had to move to Club Fusion. Big head shake here.
I raced back to the cabin to shower and change and then rushed down to Club Fusion where G was waiting for me. Suzan and Greg also had seats in the Conference Room, but G thought we'd be better off on the more comfortable seating in Club Fusion. The bar staff was seriously undermanned, and there was no food, but G ran up to the Horizon Court Buffet to get chips and salsa and we settled in for our fourth game of the weekend.
Are we on a cruise? Except for today's rocking and rolling, we really hadn't noticed. It's been all football, all the time. Honestly, there's been all the regular cruise stuff going on, too, but you should know by now that, with me, football rules.
Speaking of rocking and rolling, G captured this map displaying the weather front moving through
south Florida. It exactly mirrored the route that the Emerald Princess was following back to Fort Lauderdale tomorrow. Things were definitely bouncy today, but surprisingly we had no rain. G had been consoling me about the 'Broncos game in Club Fusion' thing by saying it would likely be raining during it and difficult to watch on MUTS. But the weather up there was perfect, if a little chilly.
Whoops, I mentioned it again. Last time, I promise. Really.
Oh, the gut wrenching stress that comes from really caring about a game outcome. With six minutes left in the second quarter, G starting using the term 'tortuous'. I was inclined to agree. I used half time to run up to the Horizon Court Buffet for brownies for G and to the PES Lounge in Skywalkers for Stilton and grapes that I brought back to Club Fusion. That was my dinner, but dessert (read on) came later.
We were joined by Suzan and Greg and started in on our remaining free drink coupons, ordering 24K gold margaritas. Oh my. I started drinking to ease the pain of what I was certain would be a Broncos loss; the score at the end of the third quarter certainly belied how poorly they were playing. Then the fourth quarter started and we ordered another round of margaritas to help with the celebration and those are the ones that kind of marked the end of G's day. I had enough sense left in me to go up to the Horizon Court Buffet for the red velvet cheesecake I'd seen they had tonight when I was fetching G's four brownies. Is the last night of a cruise always red velvet cheesecake night in the Horizon Court Buffet? I will make myself find out on the last night of next cruise. Research, you know.
So, out of four games, I'm thrilled with the outcome of three of them. That's not too bad. But I vow right now, in front of all of you, that I will not allow myself to get worked up over next week's games. Heck, I may not even watch them.
And if you believe that...
Tonight, life is good. :-)
Edited to add: I almost forgot to mentioned the Most Traveled Passengers info for this 4-night cruise.
#1 MTP: 807 days on Princess
#2 MTP: 746 days on Princess
#3 MTP: 688 days on Princess
Cutoff of the top ten couples for a free specialty dinner voucher: 403 nights