At Sea November 23

Our huge floating town hold 2600 passengers and 1100 crew members, a ratio of one crew for every two passengers. So far the service has been wonderful. It is all contained, a huge hunk of brilliantly lit survival in the middle of the ocean. In the midst of this huge blue space lie the Hawaiian Islands. Two more nights and another day at sea before we land in Hilo.

With our late dinner seating we have to go to the latest shows, and the production show, Stardust, didn't start until ten fifteen. I am truly surprised at how almost everyone on this ship seems to be in the mood to dress. I saw some really lovely dresses floating around.

Formal night between dinner and the show is always a nice time to play in the casino, and we both did our usual visit with the penny slots. We like the casino, but neither of us are particularly big gamblers. I used to love black jack, but I am too cheap to plop down five bucks per bet for that one. I couldn't remember how to play craps if I tried, although Maryruth and I had a home version that we enjoyed several decades past. Still the slots were decent to me and I came away with my twenty bucks intact and then some.

The show was entertaining, not spectacular, with most music from an era even before mine. It was definitely geared to the older cruise set.

Mo and I are slipping more gently into the sea day routine. Waking after 7 AM just in time for sunrise, and coffee delivered to us on our deck by eight is a far cry from our home routine. At ten I went down to the Crooner's Lounge to meet again with the knitting women to share patterns, yarns, stitches, and creativity.

The rest of the day was marked only by the occasional event marked off on our Princess Patter sheet. An at sea fashion show in the Piazza? The show was cute, with cruisers modeling stuff that was sold in the boutiqueson board. The old men with bellies got the most cheers except for a spiffy lady in red, who had recently lost 101 pounds. Folks really cheered for her.

More reading and more knitting in the comfy chairs in the Crooner's Lounge, this time with Mo. A special British Pub lunch in the beautiful Crowne Grill, where we were seated with two women from California who weren't very happy with the trip. The one lady said, "I just am not enjoying THAT!" as she pointed to the rolling ocean. Hmmm, did you think a cruise with ten sea days wasn't going to have ocean? The lunch had several British items on the menu, including steak and kidney pie, but Mo and I were both quite happy to have fish and chips and a good Bass ale to wash it down.

Our treadmill workouts are really fun, with views out over the bridge as we try to get the heart rates up for half an hour or so. Burns a whole 150 calories, I hear, but still feels really good. So far the decks have been too cool and windy to be really conducive to walking outside. Maybe tomorrow, although no matter how much we walk the decks, I still want to keep using the treadmills.

During the lull time in the afternoon we regrouped a bit in the stateroom before wandering out to see what in the world "elevator roulette" might be. A large group of people gathered at the aft elevators to bet on which door would open first. Sorry, crew, but that was major stupid! We laughed and left to go play in the casino before dinner.

Tonight, since we had enjoyed such a great lunch we opted for an early light supper in the Horizon Court. Our plan was to the go to the 7 PM show, but the venues had a ventriloquist in the theater and a magician in the big Vista lounge. Our stateroom seemed much more inviting to is. I carried a plate of cookies and some more of that yummy pumpkin stuff to our room and we ordered after simmer coffee from room service.

All is quiet now except the sound of waves breaking against the ship. I am finishing up a Patricia Cornwell mystery very impatiently, since I have Barbara Kingsolver's newest novel "Flight Behavior" waiting on my Kindle. it takes discipline to keep reading and not jump right I to a book by one of my most favorite authors. Time to read, time to knit, time to do nothing, time to think about what a blessing it is to have time unfettered by all that "stuff" of everyday life.

Tomorrow promises warmer temperatures and hopefully a bit less wind. I am definitely ready to have some pool time! Also, since a couple of people have mentioned it in comments, nope, we forgot to take photos in the fancy duds. There are two more formal nights, so I'll try to remember then. Thanks for following along and taking the time to comment!

 

 

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