Day 80: At Sea

As ready as we were for sleep last night, the ship was pitching a fit, the kind of shuddering and dropping rockiness that makes it tough to fall asleep. Still, we must have, because we were awakened suddenly around 3:30am or so by items from the vanity and nightstand crashing to the floor. That’s the first time we’ve experienced that this season, and leads us to believe that last night’s seas were the worst we’ve seen. In our middle of the night fog, we simply pushed items against the walls on the floor. We didn’t want to go through that a second time in the same night. 

I think if my Fitbit could have registered negative sleep, it might have. When I awoke at 10am, it told me not just that I hadn’t slept a single minute, but also that I had done 89 minutes of exercise since midnight. Sure, some of that was dancing, but not 89 minutes worth. I think Princess should market that ‘exercise while you sleep’ concept. 

Needless to say, I don’t have a lot to report for today. We made it to the breakfast in the Horizon Court Buffet (barely) just before it was switched to lunch at 11:30am. I started the year as I intend to finish it, having just orange slices and apple wedges with peanut butter and pumpkin seeds.

We returned to the cabin and did some minor organizing in preparation for tomorrow’s packing exercise (sad!). Having just moved cabins, even from next door, will make this packing process so much easier. We have actually enjoyed this cabin even more than the one we were in most of the season. Not a single toilet issue, better mattresses (sorry to tell you this, but the new Princess luxury beds don’t have any more staying power than the old mattresses), and the sink stopper works perfectly, which is awfully nice when one is washing hard contacts under running water. These are just the kind of minor things that make life easier. 

I watched a couple episodes of Suits that I had downloaded on Netflix in Hobart (none of those videos have expired yet. I still don’t understand how that works) and we got ready for the evening early. Tonight’s was this cruise’s Captains Circle parties, and we finished our season as the most traveled passengers. We have chosen to skip receiving the new award boxes, but G took a photo of all of them that were available on this ship (they’re not destination-based, as the crystals were) and I’ll post it here eventually. In the past, we frequently gifted duplicate crystals to new friends we’d met on those cruises, particularly in French Polynesia where we’d invite honeymoon couples to join us for the parties and then give them the crystal and champagne. Since the new boxes really don’t have anything to do with the cruise itinerary, they don’t have quite the same meaning. 

I think there is one additional box that isn’t in this photo. 

The dinners are counting down, and we are going to miss them, and Alona and Lydia. A lot. Tonight I had a fruit plate, salad and sole served on top a bed of garlic spinach with a few shrimp and roasted peppers on the side. Vegetarian Subway sandwiches in Hawaii can’t even begin to compare. 

Tonight’s Princess Theater performance was Neil Diamond tribute artist Peter Byrne back for a second show. We enjoyed it...and then went to bed. I think it’s apparent that we can still do five parties on New Year’s Eve, but it takes us a day or two to recover. ;-)