Day 17: At Sea

Oh my, I had a sleepless night. Part of it, I think, is that I did not take my usual Zyrtec antihistamine before bed, which tends to make me sleepy. But most of it is the storm that blew up as we approached the Pacific Ocean last night. We are in a balcony cabin very near the front of the ship, and I’m not sure if we were catching the wind just right or if our sliding doors don’t seal correctly, but  they whistled all. night. long. G tried shoving a towel against the door to the hallway to block air movement and I had to cover the (perfectly organized) wooden hangers with towels to stop them from rattling, but it was definitely a rough night. 

A towel to stop the hanger dance

So when my watch tapped me awake this morning and the doors were still whistling, I just got up, dressed, grabbed a bag of white and light laundry (including my camisole for formal night tonight) and headed to a laundry room. I started a load, then went to breakfast in the Concerto Dining Room. Sure fire way to brighten the day. 

The washers and dryers don’t have timers on them, but I’ve found that the washers take about 45 minutes, and the dryers need to be babysat carefully so they don’t over dry clothing. When I returned from the dining room, my laundry was just spinning out. Twenty minutes later I was putting dry clothes away in the cabin…and lying down again to try to catch a little bit more sleep. 

By early afternoon, I figured out that the lethargy I’d been feeling all day and attributed to the sleepless night was probably also caused by a sea sickness. We are only a few cabins forward of where we were last week on the ship, but this week is starting out so much rougher. I just wanted to crawl into bed and be miserable…

…and I was. Very. This turned out to be the worst seasickness I have had since we were, coincidentally, on this very same route 21 years ago, on an NCL cruise out of Seattle to Alaska. I have read since then that there is something about the currents, or the waves, or the winds in this area that can make it so rough, and I hadn’t even thought about it because I hadn’t been similarly troubled the last two cruises, but it certainly found me this time. 

That was the end of my day. Thankfully, G had some Zofran (not sure about the name), but it was a dissolvable pill that helped a lot but knocked me out. It wore off after about four hours and I needed another one, but I know that as soon as we reach the protected waters of the Inside Passage, life will get considerably better.