I must start today by sharing news of the saddest kind. Two days ago, dear cruise friend Carole passed way after a valiant fight against The Disease That No One Wants. We cruised with Carole many years ago on the Emerald Princess, on one cruise that stood out simply because of the wonderful friends we met on board and stayed in touch with for nearly 15 years. Carole’s smile could light up the world, and she was beautiful and stylish and oh so fun.
Then, last night, friend Fungirl messaged me twice during the Captains Circle parties, but by the time I received the notifications it was late and we never connected. I laid down for the night, picked up my iPad, saw on Facebook that friend Nancy had unexpectedly passed away in her sleep, and my reaction was physical. Nancy was smart and fierce and feisty, one of my biggest role models and cheerleaders, and my immediate reaction (after more than two years!) was that I just wanted to talk with my mom to be enveloped in her love and…life is moving on. Life has moved on.
I wasn’t sure, in that moment, how I was going to make it to the MTG luncheon today, or finish this cruise’s blog, but, here we are. Thank you for listening. Thank you for following along.
With that one hour ahead thing overnight, we were very slow to get moving this morning. Finally, at 10:30am I was the first to move. It was still bouncy, but slightly less so (at this point, we’ll take any improvement). Sleep has been difficult; we’re going to be playing catch up for days at home. We didn’t need breakfast; it was MTG luncheon day!
We always enjoy the MTG luncheons, and not just for the delicious food and attentive service, but because we love chatting with the officer at our table (in our case, Captain McBain) and our table mates. It was comforting to hear the captain admit that, while last cruise might have painted a rosy picture about the weather we could expect on a Hawaiian cruise at this time of year, this cruise has been far worse than usual. And it’s not that the swells on any particular day were the worst we’ve ever seen (they weren’t); it’s the fact that they have been unrelenting. We booked this cruise again for next year just two weeks ago; this week I was ready to cancel it.
Fried goat cheese and baked apple starter
Seared tuna starter
Starter for those who don’t like goat cheese or seafood (G)
Halibut, shrimp and scallops entree
Lamb entree
Raspberry and chocolate dessert
The colorful chocolate wrap
Cutoff for the MTG luncheon was 795 days!!!
That luncheon (and the wine) always ruins us for the rest of the afternoon. We collapsed on the bed and talked about…the cruise we just recently booked for April. We already know that Michael and Zenny who were on the first two of these Emerald Princess cruises will be traveling with us and today we found that luncheon table mates Jeff and Desiree will be also. It’s always fun to see familiar faces on board.
We stayed dressed for the evening, and went to the Elite Lounge in Skywalkers just for the musical entertainment and then to dinner in the Michelangelo Dining Room, where we had no right to eat ANYTHING but did anyway (split pea soup just to warm up).
Tonight’s Princess Theater entertainment was Jeff Tracta, an impressionist-singer taking us on a journey through pop culture. Ahead of the show, I believed we had seen him on the Royal Princess in December and liked him, but couldn’t figure out why a search of my blog didn’t turn up his name. And then I remembered…I didn’t blog from the Royal Princess! Duh. Sure enough, he was the same guy. His show is fantastic, and we enjoyed it just as much this time around.
We left the theater and walked into the stay of silent disco in the Piazza. We love this, and after 10 minutes of dancing, my Apple Watch asked if I wanted to record this workout, and heck yes I did. I had had a renewable sedentary day up until that point. It’s line doing mild aerobics and my knees are going to let me know all about it tomorrow. When Shawty was getting low, low, low, low, low, low, low, low most of us dancing were ‘bout to never get up again.
The pool next door, which was totally emptied for several days due to the rough seas is full again, and we definitely are hearing the water sloshing. Still, our cabin is as stable tonight as it’s been since we were docked in Honolulu, and I’m here for it. Two days ago I wasn’t thinking I would miss being on the ship when we return home on Friday, but tonight I’m almost certain I will.
