But I awoke this morning around 6:45am for a bathroom visit and was so well rested that I never fell back asleep. Instead I eventually snuck out of the cabin as quietly as possible (it helps enormously that on the Emerald Princess, the light in the little hallway with the closet and bathroom is on a different switch than the light in the cabin), and went up to Deck 19 aft to the familiar tiny jogging track above Skywalkers. I love it up there, and really enjoy the 'alone time' in the midst of living in what constitutes a small city. The beautiful sunrise (around 7:45am today) signaled an improvement in the weather, and it was a beautiful day.
By 8am, I was getting hungry, and returned to the cabin to see if G was stirring. He wasn't, so I went down to breakfast in the DaVinci Dining Room alone. I had to wait just a short while for a table for two, but was eventually seated. At breakfast, I am definitely not a social person, and am more content dining alone or in silence with my husband. I asked for scrambled egg beaters and was sadly informed that Princess no longer has them. That had been the case on the Pacific Princess but I assumed it was because the ship was in Papeete and couldn't get them. I chose scrambled egg whites with salsa instead and probably won't do that again. Maybe an egg white omelet, but not scrambled egg whites. Lumpy off white eggs on a white plate are not an appealing look first thing in the morning. Or I may throw caution to the wind and just have eggs. Period.
I checked my onboard spending statement on my iPad while I ate, and saw that I had been charged the full price for the bottle of Merlot last night instead of just the incremental $7. So my next stop was the Passenger Services Desk (PSD) to get that straightened out (it's not yet, but soon...) and as I left there, I started down that beautiful marble stairway in the Piazza to see if either Suzan or Greg was in the International Cafe. Jackpot! They both were, and so I sat with them for awhile until Suzan was leaving for line dancing in Club Fusion and I decided to join her. There is also Zumba in the morning, at least on sea days, but I haven't yet made it there.
Line dancing with cruise staffer Yasmin was great fun, with three dances that were new to me, and we were all a bit sweaty by the time we finished. You might remember that I only made it to line dancing once on the Pacific Princess. It was always held in the Pacific Lounge on sea days and that was usually off limits to me because of the ship's movement up there. Club Fusion on a larger ship in the Caribbean Sea significantly less rocky.
It was 11-ish by the time I returned to the cabin to find G still in bed watching a Beach Boys movie (sorry, I don't know the name of it), but we both needed to get busy and get cleaned up for the Most Traveled Passengers (MTP) luncheon, beginning at 12:15pm in the Botticelli Dining Room. I have been asked to note days and cut offs and the such in my blog, and I will but I don't have them yet other than to know that the top three MTPs were all over 1000 days (#1 is over 2000 days!!) and we are #5 with 797 days. I'll fill in the gaps when I can.
We were hoping to simply see Chief Engineer Roddy McConnell at the luncheon and were thrilled to be seated with him and two other very interesting couples. Roddy could liven up a funeral, the most social Chief we've ever met, and it was a fun and delicious luncheon with incredible service and way too much wine. I've said before that MTP luncheons pretty much ruin us for the rest of the afternoon and this one was no exception. I didn't know until I saw her today but we know Captains Circle Host Melissa from when she was at the PSD on our long (really long) Emerald Princess cruises two winters ago. She looked at me and instantly recalled the time I had replacement sandals shipped from Zappos to the Princess port operations center in Fort Lauderdale. I suppose that was a first and only experience for us both.
We spent a few minutes in the Horizon Court Buffet for the first time this cruise just to get something (non-alcoholic, thirst quenching) to drink, and then walked across the Lido Deck to the small area on Deck 17 by the radar golf balls. There were only a handful of people up there by then, and lots of shade from the golf balls and G asked which direction of the 360 degree view I wanted to face, and lined up two lounge chairs and we sat and just soaked it all in, watching the sun glisten on the small waves. Life is definitely good.
Not especially hungry, we went to dinner in the Michelangelo Dining Room at 5:30pm, wondering just what our table situation would be. True to his word, headwaiter Carlos has us at a round table for two where we are both facing out at the ocean. Really, this is an abundance of riches. Tonight's menu featured the Bahamian seafood stew with johnnycakes (remember johnnycakegate on the Caribbean Princess?) and guess what? The Emerald Princess has them. I do love that seafood stew. Actually, I love most seafood stews. Despite having dessert at the MTP luncheon, I had a decadent Drambuie soufflé tonight for dinner. Hey, I had walked and line danced, the the seafood stew was very light. Right? Right?
We went directly to the Explorers Lounge to see pianoman Kory Simon's performance at 7:15pm, and enjoyed it so much we stayed until 9:15pm. Kory is usually in Crooners Martini Bar, but sometimes gets a chance to perform in the Explorers Lounge. We've seen this performance many times in the past (and twice tonight!) and he teased us that we could probably perform it ourselves, but you know we love live music, and piano music backed by the Emerald Princess orchestra the best. Kory starts out by playing a bit of classical music "with the boring parts left out". Heck, I would listen to an hour of classical music with the boring parts left in, but I loved his Billy Joel and Elton John songs, too. I have eclectic musical tastes!
We had not yet heard the steel drum and strings duo that Suzan and Greg have been raving about, so we went directly into Crooners to listen to them for awhile. They are good!! Thank God we're sticking around for awhile. It takes us multiple cruises to see and do half of what there is on board.
And that's how it came to be 11pm before I typed word one of this post. The alarm is now set for 6:30am. We arrive in Antigua at 7am and will be heading to a beach by 9am. We haven't been to Antigua in nearly two years.
We can't wait!