Feb. 11, at sea 4º and cloudy

Feb. 11, at sea, 4º and cloudy

Sea days are nice and relaxing, no hurried breakfast, no rushing to get off the ship to take an excursion and nothing to do but enjoy the ship and the activities onboard. There’s about a million things you can do, some with a price if you don’t want to simply chill. There’s the casino always open on sea days with tournaments and fun, the gym, spa and thermal suite, getting a massage or manicure, pedicure or a hairdo etc. but there’s always something going on for free, shopping (don’t buy until the sales start) art auctions, more eating, playing games, cards, reading in the library, scrabble, working on a jigsaw puzzle and millions of games to play, watching a movie in the theater or you could watch in your cabin, attend a seminar on lots of different subjects, go on a ship galley tour, go for a swim or hot tub, walk or jog around the ship, basketball, shuffleboard, ping pong, chess, there’s tons of things to do, even people watching can be entertaining until it’s time to eat again.

We had 12’ swells and a rock ‘n roll ride for most of the morning; hey, it’s fun to walk when that’s happening and good exercise keeping yourself upright too. Around noon we passed by an island otherwise water surrounds us with just an occasional sighting of a freighter or another cruise ship in the distance so very peaceful. No birds are flying with us and it’s too cold and windy to sit on the balcony except to do a quick nail colour change.

After breakfast we started wandering aimlessly, looking for something to see or do lest we end up in the very smoky casino. We found a trivia game about to begin and ended up involved with two other couples on our team playing against a dozen or more other teams in a Broadway show tunes contest. The MC played a bit of music and we had to name not only the show but the song title as well. Out of 40 possible points our team got 6 correct without any help from me as show tunes are def not my thing. So it was difficult but some of these people go on a lot of cruises and I do believe maybe they study up on possible themes. But c'mon, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious from the Sound of Music had to be spelled correctly and one team got all 40 correct!

Then I was going to play the digital camera scavenger hunt with their list of wacky items to find and take a pic of like a tan line, flip flops, red flower, sunglasses, a pic of the captain etc. These things might not have been that difficult but the contestants were all young and spry. At GO they took off running up the stairs to get their pictures while I limped towards the elevator wondering how far it was to the bridge. That’s when I knew it was a lost cause for me so I sat instead. Soon, very soon in fact some were back with all 20 of the required pics. I know I would have gotten the booby prize and that would have been alright except the hostess would have been long gone to the opposite end of the ship to call the Bingo by the time I returned if I could even remember where it was being held! I think I’ll stick with the 20 questions trivia which I also will never win but someday maybe they’ll have a theme that I know a little something about. It’s fun and you can participate while seated so my kind of game.
Soon it was lunchtime and the typical mob scene in the buffet. We each went our own way loading up at the many food stands of our choice and then couldn’t find each other to sit down and eat with so I ended up eating with a non-English speaking German couple and Pat had shared a table with others as well. Eventually we got together for dessert. I had planned to go to the art auction this afternoon but decided to go to our cabin and chill for awhile instead. Cruising can be tiresome with so much to see and do.

The dinner theme tonight was seafood and I ate all my favourites and then some. I also enjoyed pumpkin and peas which was a new combo to me. I went to the casino and played poker for awhile before the smokers literally drove me out with their Asian, and European and American cigarettes, so gross. People!!! Cruise managers listen up, there’s 4 smokers in your casino, wouldn’t you rather have a couple hundred people making those machines sing than cater to those 4 idiots?

So, I watched dance class and then listened to a piano player/vocalist for awhile before retiring to our cozy little cabin for the night.

 

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