Day 4~Just your Average Sea Day

The journey, not the arrival, matters. ~ T.S. Eliot

 

A journey by ship is the definition of adventure. You’re never sure exactly what may happen, but the getting there truly is half the fun.

A lot of people have asked me what on earth we find to do on the ship between ports. The truth is, there are so many options for activities, we could run ourselves ragged trying to do them all. Each evening the Princess Patter arrives in the mail bin outside our stateroom with the details of events for the next day. But we could easily just check our phones.

Princess has a handy little app that lets us sign in without using any precious wifi minutes. We can check the schedule of events, and choose the ones we want to be moved into our cruise personalizer. That way, we always know where we need to be. Also, in case the DH and I become separated, we can send messages to each other through this app without having to switch our phones off airplane mode. (Note to future cruisers: ALWAYS switch your phone to airplane mode before you leave port. Otherwise you might get an extremely nasty surprise in your next cell phone bill. Our friend Vicki ended up with a $700 bill because her phone and tablet were "talking" to each other even when they were turned off and stored in her room safe!)

Here’s what my average sea day is shaping up like so far:

1.   6:30 am—Wake to the soft rap of room service delivering our morning coffee.

2.    @ 7:30 am—Make our way down to the Club Restaurant for breakfast and pleasant conversation with our new tablemates. We have assigned seating for the evening meal, but breakfast and lunch are good times to meet new people.

3.    9:15 am—Enrichment lecture on Hawaiian culture

4.    10:15 am—Hula lessons. Yes, I took the class. As long as I stay within 7 feet of Herkimer, I can sway with the best of them.

5.    11:00 am—Trivia. On the first sea day we were invited to join a trivia team. Getting to know Mary & Brian, Reynald & Pierre has been a delight. Of course, the fact that we’re doing pretty well helps too.  We won the first day and finished 2^nd the other two.

6.    11:45 am—Harmony Choir. This group has grown to 63 singers—10% of the passengers on board! When it comes time to perform, we may have to put the audience on the stage and arrange ourselves around the theater!

7.   

12:30 pm—Lunch in the Club Restaurant. We could easily go up to  Panorama Buffet, but I enjoy the more formal Club. I’m enough of a princess to enjoy being waited upon. And the fact that dining in the restaurant leads to better portion control than a buffet is also a win. Of course, if I veer off course with decadent desserts like this chocolate marquise, I might as well hit the buffet line.

8.   

1:45 pm—Return to the cabin to rest, check email, write this blog and read. I joined the book club yesterday so I need to finish Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng before we reach Aukland. I’m also reading a manuscript by my dear friend Darcy Carson as well as making a final pass through my second book in the House of Lovell series called Lord Bredon and the Bachelor’s Bible (written under my Mia Marlowe pen name). It’s due to my editor shortly after we return home.

You may have noticed there’s no lounging by the pool time on my schedule. That’s because the highs have been in the low 60s and the sky has been overcast for much of the journey so far.

9.   

 @ 6:ish pm—Begin to dress for dinner. This is usually not a big deal. I normally just put on some make up, change my top to one that’s a bit fancier, and I’m good to go. But last night was our first formal night. That meant the DH had to wrestle with his bow tie. (The tie won the first round, but he muscled it into submission with only half an hour of trial and error.) I had to put my hair up (which also required several attempts) and don my long black gown (which will be making more appearances with different jackets throughout the cruise.)

On the subject of tuxes…everyone said Princess formal nights were more laid back than other lines, but last night we lost count of how many men we saw tricked out in full on James Bond attire. I’m glad we invested in a tux for the DH. He looked terrific! In addition to tuxes, a number of gentlemen opted for classic white dinner jackets.

10. 7:30 pm—Dinner in the Club Restaurant. We had hoped to be in the first seating which is at 5:15pm, closer to our usual time at home, but lots of folks who have more days with Princess than we, also wanted to be in first seating. This is definitely a case where seniority counts. However, we’re really enjoying our table mates, Shirley and Dave. And Rajesh and Kadek, our servers, are very attentive.

11. 9:30 pm—Show in the Pacific Lounge. Tonight we’ll be treated to an encore performance from David Klinkenberg and his violin.

After that, as our cruise director Sammi says, we stay up till 2 or 3…minutes after 11! Then we settle into the ultimate water bed and let the Pacific rock us to sleep…

More soon!

PS.  Oh, oh! I want to wish my dear sister Cindy a VERY happy birthday! Love you, kid!

May 9, 2018 Update: After a while, we started to gravitate to the Panorama Buffet for breakfast and lunch instead of the Club Dining Room. Not only could I get my omelet made with more than ham, cheese & mushrooms (the only choices on the Club menu), I could watch while Anthony, my favorite omelet chef, flipped it in the pan. Plus, even if we got a window seat in the Club, the view was no match for the fantail!

After much experimentation, I finally settled on bacon, jalapenos, onions, mushrooms and cheese as my favorite omelet!

Breakfast here was quicker than in the dining room, in case we needed to be at a 9 o'clock lecture or to be ready to go for an early excursion.

Then there was another consideration that made the buffet a good choice for us. It solved a problem unique to me. Since I was diagnosed with NSIP in 2010, I've developed an extreme sensitivity to chemical smells, specifically the ones common in perfumes, after-shaves, hair spray, body powders and lotions. Sometimes the people we were seated with in the dining room were wearing personal care products that triggered a reaction. I'd be reduced to a coughing fit. I hate that I'm this way. I really miss wearing my own favorite perfume, but I just can't tolerate it anymore.

If we ate in the buffet, we could choose who we sat with and I could quietly avoid the heavy aftershave/perfume/powder/hairspray wearers.  No feelings hurt. No coughing fit. Problem solved.