Day 72: At Sea

That 'moving clocks ahead an hour' thing worked, and it was after 9am before I finally went to breakfast in the Club Restaurant this morning. I swear, I was still full from chicken korma yesterday at lunch, but managed to eat a piece of stollen (I've lost count by now) and cold cereal. I was not going to have a repeat of that too-full feeling from yesterday. We had had a fairly bouncy night, and it continued this morning, but Captain D told us yesterday at he had to maintain speed to get us to St. John (no 's') on time tomorrow morning. Still, it was sunny and warm, and though it may have been windy, I wasn't complaining. Again, it's all relative. 

I left breakfast and went to the Cabaret Lounge for Bernard Hutcheon's lecture on Bequia and Tobago. Both islands are new to us; Bequia is part of St. Vincent (we've been there) and the Grenadines, and Tobago is part of Trinidad (we've been there) and Tobago. We're very much looking forward to both of these islands but we may opt for beach time over sightseeing. I am desperate to spend some time playing in the waves. 

G caught up with me there and we eventually left the Cabaret Lounge and sat on the Promenade Deck for awhile, and then went to the steak house for the British Pub Lunch. Rather than sit there and watch G eat fish and chips, I ordered the Ploughman's lunch and it was quite tasty and not as heavy as fried fish and French fries. Then we went down to the Panorama Buffet where I added stir fried veggies and a Bosc pear. 

G shocked (!!!) me by going to the Christmas card making craft class with cruise staffer and dancer Mackenzie. He had been up early today and walked around the ship taking photos of the Christmas decorations that passengers have hung on their cabin doors. We, of course, had nothing, because we didn't have room in our suitcases for a single additional item when we flew to Europe. G must have been feeling left out, and used the card kits to make two package-resembling decorations (complete with bows he made) to adorn our door. It's really quite creative and very cute. 

Shocked, I say!

We then sat out on the Promenade Deck again (always, always plenty of unoccupied loungers) and watched the sun dance on the moderate seas. We were entertained for an hour by two frigate birds coasting on the ship's draft, repeatedly moving up to the bow and then away from the ship to fall back and do it all over again. We have already decided that, regardless of our other plans for next winter, Christmas, if it is spent on a cruise ship, will again be on the Pacific Princess. We are veterans of several holiday cruises and it's tough to beat the homey feel and laid back atmosphere on this ship. It's the best!

It was formal night #91 of the season tonight. For once, even G seemed a bit weary of donning his tux, but we can't bear to miss dinner in the Club Restaurant with Magnificent Marco. Terrific Taufik was moved to a different station this cruise, and our assistant waiter is now Yakhov (no nickname yet). We have been so lucky with (and spoiled by) our Princess waiters during all of our seasons at sea.  Asked to name the single best thing about Princess, and especially the Pacific Princess, and it's undoubtedly its crews. 

While G showered for the evening, I opened my Awesome Note app to read that beach packing list I've used for years. The backpack, which wasn't used at all in Europe, will now be stuffed to the zippers with towels and sunscreens and contact lens solutions...and my Konvertible Kite, of course. There are so many things we will have to do without, including the soft sided cooler and metal water bottles (not to mention snorkel gear), but, as we sat on the Promenade Deck this afternoon and planned and plotted, we decided that one of the Princess tote bags holding ziplock bags filled with ice will make a nice substitute. The ATM card in its RFID pouch that was carried off the ship in every European port will not be needed, but the cash we got in Fort Lauderdale will be. It's a whole different sport to cruise in the Caribbean after the Med.

We skipped the PES Lounge tonight (we had decided that sitting in loungers on the Promenade Deck for an additional 30 minutes held more appeal), and went directly to the Club Restaurant for dinner at 5:30pm. Tonight is when it finally hit me...the last French onion soup, the last beef tenderloin, the last passionfruit sorbet, followed by the last Captain's Welcome Aboard Party and Champagne Waterfall and the last Motor City. :-(

However many days this season turns out to have (it was supposed to be 91 but then there was Nice and then there was Rome), it will not be enough.  I know that a month in Hawaii is the other part of our winter at sea, and this year is kind of an experiment, to see if we prefer a condo in Hawaii to cruising, but right now it's hard to imagine that anything could be better than cruising the Pacific Princess. Time will tell. 

We opted to skip Jere Ring tonight. We have an alarm set for early tomorrow, hoping to have enough daylight to watch as the Pacific Princess navigates between the islands of the US Virgin Islands and British Virgin Islands. It should offer spectacular scenery, and we don't want to miss it. 

It's the last time we'll do that this season too. :-(