Day 6 - At Sea
Thursday, October 6, 2005
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I managed to sleep most of the night, but once I woke up to pee about 6am, that was about all she wrote—although I did manage to get a few catnaps after that. It’s hard because I really like sleeping on my side but that act is IMPOSSIBLE when the ship is rolling from side to side—you literally fall over—so you have to sleep on your back or your stomach. Luckily I can also sleep on my stomach, but once it’s about time to get up you can’t go back to sleep because you still feel every roll. I’ve decided that I don’t much care for the “at sea” days—that has been when the worst of the rolling happens (now, if the sea was totally calm, that would be another story and I would LOVE at sea days). From our higher level (7th deck) the ocean surface doesn’t look too bad—there are very tiny whitecaps and you can tell the ocean is moving…but when you get down to the 2nd deck…wow, you can REALLY see the water moving and you can tell why the ship is rolling so much! It’s not nearly as headache-inducing sitting on the balcony, however, so that’s where I tend to spend the majority of my time.
Oh, we did have a nice view this morning… Tom turned on the TV and happened to stop on the channel that shows the view from the bridge—and there was a stunning rainbow off the starboard side (our side!) so we rushed to the balcony and indeed, there was the rainbow! It was hard to get a great picture since we’re right behind and below the bridge deck (which is therefore hard to cut out of pictures) but we did get it. I said we should run up to the observation deck for an unobstructed view/picture, but neither of us felt like doing that since we had just rolled out of bed and weren’t really even fully awake yet!
We decided to eat breakfast in the dining room this morning, instead of on the Lido Deck as we usually do. I honestly hadn’t thought of eating in the dining room, but I saw it listed so we decided to try it. Of course, we hadn’t thought ahead about having to sit with anyone, so that was a bit awkward at first—but it ended up okay. As it turns out, it’s a small world. The older couple at the table (maybe late 60s) currently lived in New Zealand but had lived in Michigan for five years. The other couple (I’m guessing in their late 40s) had grown up in Michigan and now lived in Atlanta. The older couple had a few cruises under their belts, while the other couple was enjoying their first cruise. Oh, yes—the food report. I had a croissant, then Belgian Waffles with Strawberry Compote and Tom had a croissant and some sort of omelet and potatoes. After breakfast, we went up to the Lido deck because I had a hankering for some hash browns and bacon (I could have probably ordered some in the dining room, but I didn’t really think of it—I tend to not think outside the box from what’s listed on the menu). Tom also wanted more coffee! Then we grabbed the laptop and headed to the Crow’s Nest so I could work on the journal and watch where we were going. It was amazing at how much you could see the ship rolling around—we were on swivel chairs and it took some steadying to keep the chairs from turning with every motion.
At this time, let me take a moment to talk about stupid people. I needed to use the restroom while were at the Crow’s Nest so I walked out to where the handicapped bathroom is. I didn’t think much about it when I saw a gentleman outside the door, but when the ship rolled, the door started to fall open and you could tell someone was in there, and the guy made a grab for the door to try and hold it shut (which was about impossible because there was no handle, as the door was operated by a push button). Okay, I had been in that bathroom before and couldn’t figure out why they were having problems. So as the woman was exiting, the husband said something to the effect of “Watch that door. It just flies open!” in this totally flabbergasted manner. So, of course, I felt compelled to let him know there WAS a lock on the door and you just had to actually use it. I mean, have you ever seen a bathroom door without a lock? It wasn’t hard to find—it was right on the door where a normal lock would be (like in any of the other bathrooms). And this wasn’t the first time something like this had happened… One night after dinner, I stopped by a restroom and tried opening a stall door (the stalls are totally enclosed, so you can’t tell if it’s occupied by looking for feet!) and it opened so I started to push the door in and some old lady started freaking out because she was in there! Before I could stop myself, I said, “The doors do have locks!” or something like that. WHAT IS SO HARD ABOUT LOCKING THE DAMN DOOR? But I digress.
So then was the mandatory disembarkation meeting. Blah blah blah, pack your bags and put them in the hall the night before. But, we did get mimosas and the Cruise Activity Director was quite funny in his presentation—he warned us not to pack ALL our clothes, otherwise we’d be disembarking in PJs or the shower curtain (which he said happens more often than you’d think). We are, however, able to stay in our staterooms while waiting to disembark (this is apparently different than it used to be) so that’s nice. We will be able to eat breakfast, as well. The only bad thing is that we were told we’ll be getting our tentative charge list tomorrow. Eek. I am not looking forward to that. We haven’t bought much on board, but it all adds up—$10 here, $7 there, $20 at the bar (you get the idea). I was trying to keep a running tally in my head so I wouldn’t be totally surprised, but once it hit a certain amount, I gave up!
Now, Tom is at the gym and I’m on the balcony typing away. The ocean sounds absolutely wonderful (it’s actually quite loud, although not loud enough to drown out our neighbors chatting on their balcony!) and the rocking is not nearly as noticeable out here—thankfully. Of course, the weather is absolutely gorgeous…so the big joke is that it’s going to rain tomorrow in port (because it’s rained at every port so far). We’d love to hit the beach in Nassau so we can take a swim in the ocean (the only ocean we’ve been in was when swimming with the dolphins and that wasn’t really “swimming”), but any of the beach excursions are like $45pp, which is ridiculous just to go to a beach. If it’s nice, we may see what we can do to get to a beach (of course, it’s usually a $20 round trip cab ride from the dock) but if it’s crystal clear with blue water, we might just have to do it. After all, I need at least one or two good pictures of a lush Caribbean setting!!
Lunch was our usual trip to the Lido Deck (we both had Italian today) and then it was off to see a movie. I didn’t really care if I saw it or not, so I actually thought I would take a little nap. Or would try to, I should say. First, let me say that I hate people who come into a movie late and then have absolutely NO consideration for those already seated. We got their early so we could have a good view, and 10 minutes after the movie starts, some asshat comes in and sits directly in front of Tom! If he would have taken a minute to look around, he would have seen a multitude of other chairs he could have sat in…so, Tom got up and went to sit next to him. So, it’s at this point at which I decided to lie down on the booth and take a nap. The movie had been going about 15 minutes so I figured I was safe. As a precaution, I took off my shoes and placed them in front of me, so if anyone happened to try to sit there or move past me, they would literally have to trip over my shoes so they would at least know someone was there. So what happens within the first 10 minutes? Some guy is trying to get past me and I wake up because he kicked my shoes—but he doesn’t even break stride and then puts a hand down ON ME like he’s going to sit down. And then you could tell he didn’t feel what he thought he should be feeling (the hard seat) so HE PUT HIS HAND DOWN ON ME AGAIN! Hello? Have you ever heard of LOOKING before putting your hand somewhere? Especially if it doesn’t feel right the first time? Yes, I realize it’s not common to have someone napping on the bench in a theater setting, but didn’t you notice the shoes you tripped over (and made a ruckus)? And why would you just put your hand down on the seat without looking? ARGH. Of course, he was apologetic, but still...a bit more common sense could have avoided the situation altogether. So, fast forward maybe an hour (so now it’s the middle of the movie) and some woman actually sat on me!! Which means she had to trip over my shoes to get past me, then NOT EVEN LOOKING just sat down—on me. HELLO? Who are these people? And it’s not like it was pitch black in the theater—there was plenty of light to see me…if she would have taken two seconds. It’s the same thing as like with the old people pushing past everyone to get seats—it’s like some of these people have absolutely no regard for anyone but themselves! After the movie, Tom asked me how I liked being sat upon—he could tell what happened from the three rows in front of me!
Anyway, after the movie, it was straight to the dining room for the Dessert Extravaganza. We had our choice of a multitude of desserts, including a chocolate fondue fountain. We were then seated at a table of six and got to meet a few new people as we tasted the wonderful desserts (some better than others, of course). And we all joked about having to go back to the room to go get ready for dinner (it was announced during the Extravaganza that tonight is Lobster & Steak night). On the way back from the dessert feast, we picked up our professional photos—they weren’t bad at all, except we didn’t like either of the ones he took where we were in odd positions…so we chose the headshot. They will be taking photos tonight (it’s the last formal night) so we may try having more shots taken (and this time we will not be splayed on the ground, as Tom will be in his dress blues and I will be in a formal dress) to hope we get something fabulous.
So on the way to dinner, we were stopped by a photographer (yes!) and she took a few pictures—I can’t wait to see them and hope they turn out well enough that we want one of them! Dinner tonight was the “Farewell Dinner” plus it was the formal dinner, so it was fan-ceeeee. Tom looked absolutely smashing in his dress blues (of course) and he actually got stopped a few times by people saying “Thank you for serving” and shaking his hand. It’s amazing how your dining staff get to know you—all four of them commented about us not being there last night and they all knew we had eaten at the Pinnacle Grill! We told them we had a great time, but missed them all! (They enjoyed hearing that!) We had our second (and last) bottle of wine with dinner—and chose to have the same Riesling we had the first night. Unfortunately, we were still full from the Dessert Extravaganza…but I forced my way through the pain (okay, not really pain) because I was NOT going to miss any of the great food!! (Tom, on the other hand, skipped his salad. Wuss. Tonight’s lineup for me was Escargots Bourguignonne (don’t ask me how to pronounce it but it was “delectable snails marinated in Pernod and Chablis and lightly baked in an herb garlic butter with French bread”), Chilled Strawberry Bisque, Caesar Salad, and Surf & Turf (lobster and petite filet mignon)—while Tom enjoyed a Trio of Salmon with Grilled Shrimp and Pearls of the Ocean (“a selected tasting of delicately hot smoked salmon, pickled salmon and gravlox, with grilled shrimp and a salmon caviar garnish with creamed horseradish mayonnaise”), Dos Frijoles - Cuban Specialty (a two-bean soup), and Penne with Seafood Bolognese. Dessert tonight was an affair to remember, as they did Baked Alaska and all the waitstaff and cooks carried the desserts throughout the dining room to great fanfare with patriotic music blaring--it was quite the production (and of course hard to get good pictures of since the lights were out so we could see the flames).
We went back to the room to ditch the dress clothes and Tom is now sleeping (or probably, more accurately, listening to his ipod) and I'm down in the computer lab finishing up this entry. I had wanted to go to a show tonight, but oh well... Thomas seemed to forget he said we could go once he hit the bed!! (It's amazing how exhausted you can get from doing nothing but eating!)
The ship is still really rolling (and it sounds like it's raining--go figure) so I hope I can get to sleep...and stay asleep. I've already decided--if and when there's ever a next cruise...sleeping pills.