G sped off to breakfast somewhere, but I took a few minutes to finish yesterday’s blog post and publish it. I could only let that slide because today was a sea day, but I mustn’t get complacent about keeping my posts up to date. It was late enough by the time I finished that I skipped breakfast altogether, and instead waited to join G for the British Pub Lunch. It was held in the Savoy Dining Room on Deck 5 Port side, and lunch was served by the friendliest bar waiters anywhere. Sometimes they can be a bit surly when they’re turned into lunch waiters, but not so today. We had a wonderful time...and I even ate fish and chips!
Afterward, we returned to the cabin to start to build G’s entry in the Egg Drop Contest. This is always huge fun, and, from G’s perspective, to build an apparatus that will protect the egg when it lands on the marble floor of the Piazza from two stories above is secondary to creating a spectacle. Once again, he managed to do both. He didn’t have a New Years Eve whistle to stick in the deflating balloon, so we used a half Euro coin in the neck of the balloon and it worked perfectly. His prize was a Princess string bag filled with lots of things we won’t have room to take home with us.
We headed to a hot tub afterward, and I have to say again how pleased we are that all eight of them on this ship are open and hot and bubbling. Even the pools I’ve been in so far (the covered Calypso Pool and the Neptunes Pool) are warm and comfortable. If this lasts, this ship will be perfect in the heat of Southeast Asia.
Then it was time for formal night #2 of the season. I’m very happy we managed to fit G’s tuxedo in his suitcase. It’s obvious to me that he would not have been happy with any less on formal nights. My guy likes to dress up! I had veggies in rice paper wraps and lobster with steamed veggies for dinner. And have I mentioned the different lactose-free dessert that is available every night? Tonight’s dessert was a blueberry crumble. It’s wonderful to have a choice beyond sorbet or a fruit plate.
We attended the second Captains Circle party scheduled at 7pm tonight, as both the first and second Most Traveled Guests were at the first party, and it’s nice to have at least one of the top three couples at each party. We were shocked to be the third most traveled on this cruise (these long cruises attract avid cruisers), and invited new friends JoJo and Tony to be our guests at the party. (Princess days for the top three were from about 1150 to 1031). From there we went to the Explorers Lounge to listen to party band Atomic do an ABBA set (they are really, really good!), and then stayed for a game show called something like the Differences between how Men and Women Think, only because it was led by CD Paul and he is always amusing. It turned out to be more thought provoking than funny but was still a good time.
With still more energy left, we went to the 10:15pm production show Do You Wanna Dance in the Princess Theater. It was actually 50 minutes long and contained some songs we’d not previously seen in the same show on other ships. We swung by the Wheelhouse Bar to listen to the duo there for a short time, and then decided we were more tired than hungry and skipped the International Cafe tonight. At midnight, we’re finally back in the cabin for the first time in almost seven hours.
We’ve decided Barcelona on a Sunday is a “no alarm clock” port. We will sleep until we wake up naturally, enjoy a leisurely breakfast and see what the weather is. We have one plan for a dry day and another for a soggy day, but both are very flexible and undemanding. This season is a marathon, and we’re pacing ourselves.