This post, and all the sea day posts as we experience what Captain D calls The Crossing, will be filled with ramblings, many or few, but I've still decided to prepare a post daily. Whether or not it will get published is an entirely different matter. I do expect the ship will lose its satellite internet signal at some point, but the last time we did a transatlantic cruise was in 2000 or 2001 and internet on ships didn't yet exist. I'm not sure what to expect in 2016.
But I'll begin by discussing the start of our day, which was way too early. We had moved clocks back another hour last night, and are now just four hours ahead of EST (I think..I'm quickly losing track), and my first thought when I opened my eyes at 5:15am was, "I really must learn how to nap!!" I had thought that this westward travel and moving clocks back an hour almost every night would be as simple as falling off a log, but I was very wrong, at least in my case. Afternoon naps are going to be imperative or I will soon be falling asleep over dinner. G also awakened early, but he has the advantage of being able to nap anytime, anywhere. I knew he'd sleep throughout the day (and he did). .
We waited until the coffee bar in the Panorama Buffet opened at 6am before we left the cabin. Joy of joys, we had very gentle seas this morning, with almost no wind and mild temps and were able to sit on the Panorama Terrace and drink our coffees. We were not alone out there, even at that early hour. Eventually, we could see a lightening (not to be confused with lightning) of the eastern sky and we watched as it became lighter and orange. Meanwhile, Jere Ring and Johnny joined us and we sat there completely entertained by both Jere's antics and the beautiful sunrise for quite awhile. At some point, Captain D stopped by and I suggested that, if he needed to find an alternative to Bermuda, he might consider Princess Cays. ;-) I had a slice of stollen (#5 of the season) and huge fresh strawberries for breakfast, secure in the knowledge that it would be a food-filled day.
After Captain D left us, I shared our Bermuda story with Jere and Johnny, and it was a fine time, with G sitting right there, to give him the credit he still deserves for his role in that adventure. And I promised I'd share it here and so I will, right now.
Our second cruise was an eastbound transatlantic on the Celebrity Century in Spring 1999. Our very first stop was at the Dockyard in Bermuda, an overnight stay from noon one day to noon the next day, after which we would have five days at sea until our next stop in Funchal, Madeira. We were considerably younger then, and both rode Harleys, and were quite excited to rent two scooters to see the island on our own. My scooter's gas gauge read EMPTY, but we were assured that the gauge was broken and the scooter was full of gas. Bermuda is not a large island, and we spent the remaining daylight hours tooling all over, risking life and limb with our first ever experience with left hand driving, and on narrow streets hugged by walls on either side to boot. At sunset, we chained up the scooters right next to the docked Century as we had been instructed to do. It was a different time, I guess, and we were assured they would still be there in the morning. They were.
Immediately after breakfast, we set out again, traveling east (I think. Or west. At any rate we were going toward the opposite side of the island from the Dockyard), but eventually turned around and headed back to the ship with time to spare. We could actually see the docked Century in the distance when we'd get to the top of a hill, so we were not too far away when I felt my scooter slowing to a stop. I pulled off on a side road and G, sensing I was no longer behind him, turned around and found me there. It was immediately obvious what had happened. "Go", I screamed. "Get help! Come back with someone to get me!!" G started walking around slowly, looking at the ground. After a minute, "WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE? WE'RE GOING TO MISS THE SHIP!!!"
This mixed response to a crisis is not unusual. G's instinct is to slow to a crawl and carefully consider e v e r y a c t i o n. Mine is to go from 0 to 100 in one nanosecond. After more than three decades together, I really can't say that either of us is right or wrong. About half the time, we are saved by my quick thinking. And the other half we are saved by his deeply contemplated action. But, in the moment, I feel like he is moving in slow motion and he is certain I am going to have a melt down.
Back to Bermuda...I was almost to the point of shaking him to get his attention (because he is really very good at tuning me out) when he spotted an empty beer can lying in a ditch a short distance away. He retrieved it, dumped out the dribble that remained in the bottom, and proceeded to use a tiny coupon cutter-type thing he carried with him (pre 9/11) to saw the top bit off the can. This was a slow process, but eventually we had a container that would hold a few ounces. He then instructed me to help him lift his scooter, turn it upside down and pour a can-full of gas out of the tank located under his seat. This was poured into my scooter, and- miracle of miracles- it was enough to start it. I may have coasted back to the Dockyard on fumes but I got there. G says I was still screaming at the scooter rental guy as they pulled up the gangway behind me.
We didn't miss the ship. It was G's best McGyver moment ever. Plus we got the scooter rental for free. It was a good day. ;-)
This morning, still sitting on the Panorama Terrace fondly remembering our travels with Jere in French Polynesia, we eventually needed to start our day. G and I returned to the cabin and changed into swimwear and went to a hot tub. It was really the first day it has been warm enough for me to contemplate getting out of the hot tub. I cannot sit and stew for long like G can; after 10 or 15 minutes, I moved to the pool. The water was warm but at a fairly low depth, coming only up to just above my waist. I am happiest doing my workouts in the water, and spent the next 90 minutes moving and paddling and basically having a great time. While I was in the pool, it started to fill with colder water until it was above chest deep, but I was warmed by activity and the temperature of the water did eventually heat up.
G left the pool area first, and I gave him a 15-minute head start to shower and then did the same. At noon we were sitting at a table for two in the Club Restaurant. I was fairly hungry, having eaten lightly at breakfast and spending much of the morning in the water, and had a salad and white bean soup and seafood quesadillas and then a fruit plate for dessert (which doesn't count as real dessert). The day remained sunny and calm and we enjoyed the view of the fairly smooth seas from the window. The funny thing about an ocean crossing (and this I rememebered from our prior transatlantic crossings but also our transpacific crossings) is that one gets used to seeing nothing, anywhere, for as far as the eye can see for days at a time. Certainly in the Mediterranean we had frequently seen freighters and ferries; those are busy shipping channels. But in the course of two days we've gone from that to nothing. Something as simple as a jet contrail overhead catches our eyes now, and a freighter sighting, if we have one, would draw us up on an open deck for a closer look. But today at lunch we saw nothing, and even more nothing beyond that.
It's a rather cozy feeling, as if we are somehow floating above the earth, away from its inherent conflicts and nastiness. I like it. :-)
Following lunch, we again parted ways. I found a lounger on the sunny side of the Promenade Deck and started this post, struggling a bit with the screen in the brightness but knowing I could make corrections later. So, picture it (Suzan and Greg)...me sitting on the Promenade Deck with my legs in the sun and my head in the shade of the tender boats hanging overhead with more empty loungers than people (because it's the Pacific Princess) watching the sun dance on the ripples of the ocean. This, finally, is cruising to which we are accustomed and I am enjoying it immensely.
By 3:30pm, more clouds moved in and the sea got a bit bumpier, but still not bad. I returned to the cabin to find G napping and I tried to do the same (no luck). I gathered up laundry to be sent in tonight and that is a perfect segue the next thing I've been meaning to mention: we have over 200 Elites on this cruise, so roughly 1/3 of the passengers on this cruise are Elite and get free laundry. And still I am getting laundry back in about 24 hours. It's a wonder. Kudos to the Pacific Princess laundry! And we have really been using it this season, which is a surprise because this has definitely not been a hot, sweaty cruise. But we packed so lightly, and have felt so germy after our long days in dirty ports that I've been sending laundry every other night. Our comped laundry expense is running two to three times what it does during a warm weather cruise (because so many of those clothes are hand washed and drip dry) and yet we're still doing hand laundry and using the passenger laundries for more delicate things.
On a note so unrelated that no segue could link to it, we are thrilled with our new cabin. You might recall that we met the passengers who had had the cabin next door last cruise, and they had accepted a downgrade to Deck 3 this cruise because it was so unacceptable. I know what happened; we have a contractor staying in the cabin next door; they were simply switched because contractors are usually housed on Deck 3. But the issues they had (bad smells, blocked toilet, loud noises) we have not be bothered with after I phoned about the clanging the first night. We love this cabin and this location. In fact, next year we've booked just a bit further aft on this same deck (Deck 4).
I never did nap and finally gave up trying around 4:30pm. I went to the PES Lounge at 5pm (sushi and the drink Japanese Slipper, which isn't a favorite but I thought I'd perhaps changed my opinion about it since I last had one) and then to dinner (salad, scallop and shrimp entree and pina colada sorbet for dessert). Singer Mark Preston was performing at 7:45pm in the Cabaret Lounge and we were looking forward to his appearance. We've seen Mark several times over the years and he is the consummate showman, a polished and fun performer with a heckuva voice. After his show (standing O) we listened to Jere Ring who is still telling French Polynesia stories (there are so many to share) and then returned to the Cabaret Lounge for Mark's second show.
We set clocks back again tonight. On my iDevices, I have 'Set Time Automatically' turned off and simply select a city in the new time zone when I want to change the time. Two days ago it was Funchal, today it was Ponta Delgada, but for tomorrow's time zone I was having trouble. I tried Iceland, then several cities in Greenland and none of them was correct. G suggested Rio de Janeiro and it was a success. I thought Rio was two hours ahead of EST, but apparently it's three hours ahead. We've managed to stay up until 11pm tonight, and I hope we sleep past 5am tomorrow. Or that I learn to nap.
Maybe I should just aim for sleeping in later. :-)