Day 4 Monday at Sea

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Last night was a very good night’s sleep. Not only were the seas pretty calm all night, but the Dramamine helped Janet sleep and we both got a full night’s sleep.

For breakfast today we decided to try the buffet. You start with a plate almost as large as a turkey platter and you choose as much as you want from practically all the breakfast ideas ever conceived. So forget the idea that this might be a smaller meal. But we had nobody to blame except ourselves if we didn’t get all we wanted (which of course we did).

At 9:00 was a short session targeted at new cruisers on Princess, but since we had not been cruising in 5 years we had pretty much forgotten the perks of their program. Later that day we went back to pay the open-ended deposit for a future cruise. While we were waiting, the person ahead booked the owner’s suite for a trip from Honolulu to Tahiti. That suite has almost as much space as our first house and considerably more amenities. It was a tough act for us to follow, but we did sign up and just have to pick a time & place somewhere during the next 4 years. But that is still far enough off that David will put the suitcases away when we get back home.

This morning Janet attended the Crafters session where everyone brought their different needle projects. Janet got to show off her kissing pillows and also picked up a small needlepoint project about cruising. At the same time was the daily session on one of the islands. Today was about Kauai which is one of our later islands. Although Janet missed the live presentation due to crafting, she can watch a replay on the shipboard TV tomorrow.

Then we went to the morning trivia session. It was crowded by the time we got there so we could only sit around the outside. But as a team of 2 we still got half the answers. However another team of 6 got all the answers, so we didn’t win. Maybe next time Janet can join a larger team and not have such a handicap.

For lunch we decided we should try to have a smaller amount than in the past, so we just got hamburgers and hot dogs at the BBQ grill. We dined with a couple from our evening group, so we are beginning to run into people we recognize from other settings.

Then it was back to the room for reading books and taking a nap. That was actually a lot of the afternoon. We did check out the ship library where they always have a daily puzzle and a sudoku. There is also a big jigsaw puzzle being worked and people just stop and add a few pieces. It is just down to the background now.

All day the sky was overcast and with occasional drizzle - better to happen out here at sea than during one of our island days. But that resulted in small wavelets, but we weathered them well and did not have any problems.

Finally all eight people showed up at our dinner table. It made for good conversation. The meals are sort of complex because there is an appetizer, salad, soup, main entrée and desert. You really don’t have to eat it all but it sure is tempting. David had the Danish ham and Janet had the flounder. Both were very good, though we exchanged the vegetables.

We went to the evening entertainment. It was very crowded so it was a good thing we went early. They did a lot of song and dance routines as a tribute to the Beatles, the Beach Boys and the Rat Pack. The last group of songs was a tribute to Cher and other people we did not recognize. You won’t find any of these people headlining the big shows Las Vegas, but it was entertaining and actually impressive considering they worked all day at other jobs first. Anyway, we are gradually adjusting our internal clocks to be able to stay up later at night. But tomorrow morning is another time zone, so more adjustment will be needed.

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