Day 5 – Saturday – Sept 29 – First Day at Sea

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Hello,

We started the day with the “sit down” breakfast in the Bordeaux Dining Room. We were seated with a couple from England who had started the cruise in Anchorage and had taken the Alaskan Cruise, the 2-day cruise from Vancouver to San Francisco, and were staying on all the way to Ft Lauderdale. They said that each time the cruise changed, they had to move to a different cabin, but that the staff had loaded everything on racks (not needed to pack suitcases) and moved stuff for them. Anyway we had a good breakfast to start our day.



After breakfast we stopped in one of the ship’s stores and bought a couple of souvenirs for ourselves. Janet always gets a mug from each cruise and we try to find a representative T-shirt for each of us. Later in the cruise they sometimes go on sale, but the selection is picked over by then, so we got what we liked while they still had a large selection.



We were going to attend a presentation about cruising Europe in 2013, but it has been postponed for sometime later in the cruise. Instead we considered attending the Fruit & Vegetable Carving session but there were no seats available. We’ve seen this entertaining demo on previous cruises and have enjoyed each one, but didn’t want to stand for the hour. David saw the results afterwards and they had done another cute job, we don’t need to see the same show every cruise.



Instead Janet sat in the Card Room and worked on the daily Sudoku they hand out in the library. She did not do very well on the puzzle but spotted several whales through the ship’s windows. Meanwhile David went to a refresher course on Digital Photography. It was kind of a sales pitch explaining the features of a popular Nikon camera that they sell on the ship, but in doing so they refreshed his memory on many features that his own camera can perform but which aren’t always remembered. They also answered more specific questions afterwards, which was helpful.



At 11:00 Janet went to Arts & Crafts for making journals, and David went to the Martini Demonstration. They made 19 martinis during the show and chose 19 volunteers to drink one each. The Head Bartender was pretty funny and it was half a comedy show too. To answer your question now, NO he was not chosen as a volunteer. Janet was really happy with her project and plans to go back to all our previous trips and select a few special photos to put in it. She met some other crafters and heard about a knitting group that meets on board in the morning so she plans to try that sometime. The journal continues to be a work in progress but the kit included some nice scrapbook papers, stickers and embellishments.



The weather was partly cloudy this morning but fairly clear in the afternoon, and the sea has been pretty smooth with only a few whitecaps. There were some people using the pool already, although it was still a bit too cool for David’s taste (air temperature of 63), it shouldn’t be long before it’s warm enough for him. Even though David only saw a few “white bellied Alaskan whales” in the pool, Janet did see some other kind of whales swimming in the ocean off the side of our ship.



We had lunch in the Horizon Court and ate with a couple from just outside Toronto. They had also joined the ship in San Francisco and we shared opinions about the ship. After lunch we went back to our cabin for awhile so Janet could work on a needlework project and David could read. Janet got interested in a movie on the TV and David dosed off for a short nap.



At 2:30 David went to the Arts & Craft demonstration where he learned to make “lanyards”. Janet warned that he would probably be the only man in the room, but actually almost a third of the group were men (9 out of 31). Anyway, now he has a nice elastic card holder to go around his neck. Being thoughtful, be got a second kit (in green) for Janet so she could have one too. She worked on it this evening and has is ready for the teacher to “crimp” the end tomorrow so it doesn’t unravel.



Meanwhile at 3:00 Janet went to watch the movie in the Princess Theater – Iron Lady. This is about Margaret Thatcher. She has wanted to see this movie for awhile and said it was very good. She thought David would have enjoyed it, but he can’t do everything.



This evening was the first of our Formal Dinners, so we all got dressed up in our suits and gowns and had a fancy dinner. We both had the crab/shrimp quiche appetizer and French Onion soup. Janet’s entrée was a veal ravioli and David had the beef tenderloin medallions. We had two desserts afterwards. Our tablemates – Vic & Caroline – were celebrating their 63 anniversary and got a small cake for everyone to share, and Janet had the Bananas Foster while David had the Peanut Butter Cake. For anyone who hasn’t followed our blogs in the past, you will notice that we talk about food quite often – partly because we seem to eat so well.



After dinner we attended the Captain’s Reception in the Atrium (4-deck open area in the middle of the ship with overlapping balconies and staircases). They served Champagne and we got our picture taken in our formalwear. This was followed by a production show in the Princess Theater called “Do you Wanna Dance”. It was a fairly high octane show put on by the staff singers and dancers and was done nicely. Both evenings so far, the shows have been shorter than we remember on other cruises – don’t know why exactly. But we have still enjoyed them.



We lose an hour on the clock tonight as we not only go south, but gradually head east too. Now it is time to close and try to get this launched for all you blog-readers.



Anyone who thinks that days at sea would be boring – well you better reread today’s entry. Good Night.

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