Day-15 (Nov 3) Cruising

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It appears the final 4 blog sessions got "stuck" somehow in their system, so theyall 4 are being published again - please forgive if this is a duplicate notice for you.



Hello from the Atlantic again. Last night we had a couple of hours where there was a little roll to the sea, but it was over well before anyone was ready to get up (except for the insomniacs). We were able to get a pretty nice sunrise picture from the balcony before starting another day of fun and relaxation.

All five of us attended a lecture on the history of Christopher Columbus’ Cruises. It was such a popular session that it overflowed the capacity of the conference room. Basically the speaker explained the courses and countries/inhabitants visited on each of Columbus’ 4 trips. This session was very interesting! The speaker is a Professor Emeritus from the University of Hawaii and is preparing to publish a book called “Geography for the Lost”.

Afterwards: David went in search of the internet to post the last 2 days’ blogs. He also found some cute e-mail pictures of the Brinks in Halloween costume (now grandma wants to find somewhere to print them so she can show them to everyone on the cruise). Jim went to walk his 4 miles on the track. Janet went to the cabin to discover some of the election results and Kathy went to explore more of the ship and try to get to her e-mail (glad to hear that Christy got to and from Chicago - successfully delivering the kitten).

About 1:00 we all got together on the pool deck where they were having a bar-b-que. They were almost out of ribs, but there were plenty of steaks, chicken quarters, corn-on-the-cob, salads and desserts. It was very yummy. The one thing that seems to be lacking on the ship is potato chips - maybe because they take up so much space compared to the volume of food they represent.

After lunch Jim went to the pool and then went with Rich to hear a lecture on the Titanic. Kathy, Janet, and David sat down and transferred pictures from Kathy’s camera and did some work on the blog. Then Kathy went back to her cabin to rest/read, David went back to the pool for another swim and sun bath, and Janet worked on her needle project again. All together, it was another beautiful day at sea with sunny skies and temperatures around 80.

Since we can access the pictures from Kathy’s camera, some of them from earlier days will be posted in this episode of the blog.

It is getting difficult to come up with different descriptions of our daily activities. The simplest (and most accurate) description is simply a “life of leisure”. Coming back to the real world is going to be a harsh psychological adjustment. That being said, there are quite a few people on the ship who started two weeks earlier and cruised from Rome, through the Greece Isles, to Turkey, with a quick stop in Egypt before coming back to Rome to pick up the rest of us. If we are going to have trouble readjusting, think of these folks coming back after 4 weeks of this plush lifestyle.

We have been holding out in reporting one unusual piece of information. All through the cruise we have continued to encounter someone who looks a lot like Helen (Janet’s & Kathy’s sister). If you sit there and study her, it obviously is not Helen, but a quick glance does look a lot like her. We have also discovered this lady has a bad knee and cannot manage stairs very well, and she really likes bread. Anyone who knows the real Helen will recognize those common characteristics.

This evening was the third and final Formal Dining night. The choice really boiled down to Lobster or Prime Rib and dessert was Cherries Jubilee. Afterwards, the chefs came out and were introduced throughout the dining rooms tonight. They explained that about 20,000 meals are prepared daily for the 3,100 guests (you can do the math), and 2,500 meals for the crew of 1,200. So it is going to be difficult cutting back to three square meals a day.

Tonight was the third Production Show in the theater. Janet and Kathy went with Rich to go see it, but Jim and David decided not to give them another chance. Janet reported afterwards that it was “OK - not good and not bad”. That’s actually disappointing compared to all the other aspects of the cruise which have been so much better.

And this evening we found a monkey hanging from the curtain when we returned to our cabin after dinner (look for the picture in tomorrow’s blog).

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Photos

Jim & David
in French Phone Booths - can you hear me now?

Kathy
on her stateroom balcony

Jim
in stage with the juggler

Big Mac for 5.85e
in Canary Islands

Kathy
in Canary Islands