Terry At Breakfast
This was the first full day of the cruise, and was spent at sea. We started by sleeping late, and then had the breakfast buffet in the Windjammer Cafe.
Terry At Breakfast
The cafe was at the front of the ship, and the picture shows the kind of scenery we had from the cafe windows.
While we ate, I noticed another cruise ship going by in the opposite direction. This also led to an interesting observation about distances at sea. On land, your view tends to be limited by buildings, or mountains, or various other things that stand between you and the horizon. At sea, there's nothing between you and the horizon - and the horizon is farther away than you realize. That other ship remained in view for a good couple of hours before it finally disappeared.
After breakfast, we did another deck walk (Rob and Lee joined us for this one), and then went for a short dip in the pool. The ship has two pools. Both are on the same deck, but one is out in the open, while the other is indoors, in what they call the Solarium. It's basically a pool deck with a large glass roof. We went to that one, mainly because it's the one that's reserved for adults.
Later that morning, Robert gave a talk about View International, and Shirley gave a talk about Creative Adaptations for Learning. They each had various samples of materials created by their respective organizations. It was very informative, and gave us a chance to get to know some of our fellow cruisers a little better.
Then we went to lunch - also at the buffet - with Esther and Vicki, following which Terry, my wife, the intrepid adventurer, tried her hand at...
Climbing The Wall
Alas, she only made it about halfway up.
According to my notes, the next thing we did was to get dressed for dinner. Well, we must have done something else between lunch and dinner, but I guess it was nothing worth writing about. We probably just... relaxed.
It used to be that, on a cruise, you were required to dress for dinner every night. These days, on two out of the seven nights, the "suggested" dress for dinner is formal, one night it's "smart casual," and the other nights it's just plain old casual. And they don't enforce the dress rules very strictly, if at all. On one of the formal nights, I noticed that some guys weren't even wearing ties, and no one threw them out.
Still, Terry and I decided to play the game. I have a tuxedo, and Terry bought a formal outfit. Before dinner, we went to get our picture taken. This was the one and only time I let one of the ubiquitous ships's photographers take our picture.
Dressed To Kill
Unfortunately, when I went to get dressed, I discovered that I didn't have my bow tie. So I had to go rent one.
Before dinner, there was a Captain's Welcome Aboard Reception, a chance to meet the Captain, Nikolaos Antalis. Alas, it took us so long to get dressed (and it took me so long to get my tie), that we were too late for the reception.
After dinner, we went to the show. This night, the show was a song and dance revue called "Film To Footlights," featuring songs from a variety of Broadway and Hollywood musicals, from "Kiss Me Kate" to "Rent." Lots of fun.
Of course, there were lots of onboard activities that Terry and I didn't participate in. For one thing, there's always several things going on at once, so you always have to pick and choose. Also, since there's always something for every taste, that means that not everything will be to your taste. For example, we didn't spend much time in or around the swimming pools, and we hardly spent any time in any of the bars or lounges.
Just about every night, there was some kind of late night activity, or party, or something. This night it was a "70's Disco Inferno Party," featuring a performance by the "Almost Village People." We didn't go. But it sounds like it might've been fun.
One of the nightclubs on board was the Anchors Aweigh Lounge, featuring the music of a four-man band (okay, three man, one woman) called The Castaways. This night, the lounge featured an event called Rock-a-Rokie. It's like karaoke, except you get to sing with a live band. Well! You know I was there. In fact, I was the first one up to perform. I sang "Lookin' Out My Back Door," by Creedence Clearwater Revival (those of you under 50, ask your parents). I asked someone to take my picture while I sang; alas, the picture didn't come out.