Checking Out the Nightlife Aboard

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Sunny – 72°F - Warm and humid



All the talk about the first two days is correct. After a cool beginning, this morning it's sunny and warm. The sea is as smooth as a mountain lake . Awake by 7:30 and up by 8am, it still takes us until 9 to get out of the room. Karen tears down our Halloween door decorations on our way up to the breakfast buffet, preserving my two dozen candies still in the drawer just for me. The breakfast isn't too crowded for some reason and we have our usual light meal.

Today is a perfect day to explore the rest of Deck 14. The buffet is not the only thing up here. Several pools and spas occupy this level, from bow to stern and we visit them all. None are crowded. The large open pool amidship has the big TV so you can lounge or swim while watching a movie or like last night, the World Series. Movies like "The Mummy, "Going in Style" and "Baby Driver" are but a few of the 25 or so scheduled for this cruise. Watching movies is low on our priority list while cruising but it's nice for backup, even in our stateroom. We find that, unlike our last Caribbean cruise of the "Allure of the Seas", lounge chairs are aplenty whether in the sun or shade and all activities are available with no lines at any of the food stations. At the big TV pool, you can get a pizza baked while poolside, grab a soda, beer or cocktail next door and add a burger and fries at the fast food place right next door to the bar. Don't forget to get some fancy coffees or ice cream and you'll never have to leave the pool area.

Now we return to the room for Karen to change into something more "Hawaiian". She returns to the pool by noon with her book from the ship's library, "You Come When I Call You" and wearing her sunglasses. I'm sitting right behind her while writing this but she's sound asleep. Here is where we spend most of our afternoon. You're probably wondering, "How do they keep up that pace?" I can assure you it's not easy but we make the attempt. With our first formal night approaching, we cut short our sunbathing event, returning to the stateroom to get ready. We have two hours and since Karen takes longer, I lounge on the bed watching a biography of Gavin MacLeod from "The Love Boat". I learn that this guy has been in a lot of movies and television shows and is credited with revitalizing the cruising industry during the 1960s.

With no tuxedo this time, I just have to put on my suit and tie and we're off to the Michelangelo Dining Room for dinner, beating the crowds at 5:30. You see, game 7 of the World Series is on, Astros ahead by 5, and I'm hoping our fellow guests will hold off on dinner for awhile. My plan works and we are immediately seated at a table for ten made up of couples from San Luis Obispo, Berkeley and Scotland, some new to cruising and others seasoned veterans. Tonight Mom had Ceaser Salad, bowtie pasta and sugar-free cheese cake while I had a mahi mahi skewer, medallions of beef and Hawaiian brulee. All good. The early dinner gets us out and about the ship early so I check my online Princess Cruise Planner to see what's up.

Our first manner of business is to get free wine. We stop at the room to fill our wine glasses with Raymond Cabernet Sauvignon 201, a bottle from Costco that we brought aboard. Karen liked it because of it's pretty red label. With glasses in hand, we make our way to the Promenade. Settling on the "Explorer's Lounge", we arrive just in time to see "Mosaic", five black guys in tuxedos that played all kinds of music. Turns out their wearing tuxedos because its formal night. There's probably 25 people in the lounge and none of us are dancing. He stops the music, runs around to everybody convincing each of us to get out on the dance floor for a nice slow dance followed by another. While he's singing with the microphone and dancing with a single lady he grabbed from the audience, he suddenly leaves her, cuts in to another couple, leaving the man to dance with the single lady he just left. He repeats this over and over with each couple so that by the end of the two songs, no one is dancing with their original partner. They were, by far, the best entertainment we've seen on board. Next comes a game show, Majority Rules, where the audience writes down and submits answers to questions from the host and the winning answer is the one that's most popular. Some of the answers are hilarious which is the whole idea.

It's now 9:30pm and being a party animal, I'm ready to call it a night. Not Karen. She wants to stay until 10 to see Karaoke. I've never actually watched a Karaoke show and now I know why. Being subjected to people who somehow think they can sing and expecting applause upon completion is ridiculous. Karen says, "You have to clap. They tried." Tried? They should be written up, fined and banned from the show. Oh no. The MC invites them back tomorrow night. Thanks for the warning! Karen insists that we remain fro the entire 40 minutes of agonizing torment before returning to the sanctity of our stateroom.

I try to forget the past hour by watching the news. I never hear the World Series results so, with the clock approaching midnight, the party animals retire into bliss. I'm telling you, Greg was the absolute worst singer. Where was Simon Cowell? What I wouldn't do to be a judge!

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