A few years ago, I removed all sleep tracking apps from my Apple Watch. I couldn’t handle the pressure of receiving a low sleep score, and then having that score averaged in to my longer term score. It was akin to the pressure of having to ace a final exam to pass a course. Then Apple inserted their own sleep tracking capability into a recent Apple Watch software update.
Sneaky.
I don’t like it. Here’s why.
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| Just to be clear, that’s not a score of 2 out of 10. It’s 2 out of 100. 😳 But I appreciated the reassuring tone. 😉 |
I got lucky, though. There were some dark clouds and showers this morning when we first got up, so we didn’t feel compelled to rush off the ship to go to a beach. Well, that plus the fact that we’ve been to Aruba about eleventy-dozen times. We planned to have breakfast, wait a couple of hours and go to Eagle Beach.
I had my first avo toast of the cruise today for breakfast (delish) and we then had a seat on the Wake View Terrace before heading up to the area in front of The Dome (the SeaView Terrace) because we were certain it would finally be open today since the ship was in port. And, to be clear, it’s called The Dome, not the Dome or the dome. I’m learning.
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| Really good avo toast. Would be $15 at Toastique. At least. |
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| I have missed those 100 shades of blue colors! |
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| Shockingly comfortable seating on the Wake View Terrace |
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| Not quite so comfy seating on the Wake View Terrace |
The SeaView Terrace is an expansive area with several levels and its own bar and two hot tubs and the forward portion of that indoor/outdoor pool that extends into The Dome.
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| The SeaView bar ooking back at The Dome |
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| Plenty of loungers. Ample. Too bad it’s mostly open only on port days. |
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| These all looked yummy! |
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| We were docked at what is usually a freight dock |
We were looking off the back of our ship earlier in the morning and G asked if this wasn’t where the Scientology Fair Winds ship used to be docked. No, we were at the freight dock. Fair Winds is still there, in the same place (in front of the Star).
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| Several levels of seating |
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| The inside of The Dome pool was covered for tonight’s aerial show |
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| You can see the wires hanging from the ceiling |
We ended up spending most of the day up there. It was just so beautiful that we couldn’t convince ourselves to over-sun on Eagle Beach. Eventually we went back to the Eatery and got some food to take out to the Promenade Dining area to enjoy (I finally learned what that outside area on Deck 9 is called).
We had a short recharge in the cabin before heading to the Elite Lounge before dinner. I was able to have a nice long catch up with cruise friend Andy, who I hadn’t seen since. Regal TA in October 2024.
We love our Sanctuary Restaurant dinners, but that venue opens at 5:30pm and tonight’s Princess Arena (I’ve learned it’s the Princess Arena, not the Arena not the arena) show was the first production show of the cruise. I ate and literally ran to the Princess Arena where, at 6:15pm, the only two remaining non-reserved seats together were on the far right side. A huge number of seats were reserved for Premier package guests. And it wasn’t like on the other ships, where those aren’t even the best seats. These WERE the best seats. We ended up right next to the pyrotechniques, so close that my iPhone camera app kept telling me to clean its lens.
I was hopeful that this show, Viva La Musica, would rival the Latin show we saw on the Carnival Jubilee, which was my favorite show of that cruise by far. Well, it’s really good, but not quite that good. No dancing horn section here, but it is certainly edgy by Princess standards. It’s definitely not What a Swell Party (remember that one?) The majority of the lyrics were in Spanish, but it was thankfully Spain and Argentinian Spanish and not that Central American Spanish…whew! (I just forced myself to not listen to that Puerto Rican Spanish.) 😉
The cast had a definite Latin-urban edge, except for the one Ralph Lauren male model-type with a blond wedge cut, but even he wore a diamond earring to compensate. It was a great show, and I was happy to finally see a production show on that round stage (it actually goes up and down).
We next ran up to The Dome to get seats for the 9pm performance of the aerial/gymnastic duo Movement Act. This is the show where, a few months ago, the female performer fell to the stage and was badly injured. As luck wouldn’t have it, I was seated next to someone who had witnessed that and heard all the deets. When tonight’s show was stopped once due to a technical difficulty and actually had to end early for the same reason, and a stage hand came flying across the stage to place an air-filled cushion under the performers while they were suspended high in the air, I was about to hyperventilate. It all ended early, but safely. Scary stuff.
After that it was safe to return to our cabin, as the second performance of Viva Las Musica had finished. 😆 Tomorrow will be another beautiful sea day, with an enrichment lecture on the Panama Canal and a Motown show in the Princess Arena at night.
Life is good. :-)
