Day 2 - The Day At Sea...
Category Vacation
Today was the day at sea... the day the cruise ship uses to get from the initial destination point to the first point of call. Everything you end up doing is aboard ship, which with a ship this big isn't a problem.
Breakfast was a buffet thing for Ian, Sue and I up at the Windjammer Cafe. They did have a formal sit-down, but I was really in the mood for... WAFFLES! (think the line from Shrek). Cam came in late, so he was still zonked out in the room. After finishing up breakfast, Ian took off to do ice skating in the *tiny* ice rink they have on board, and Sue and I figured it was time to see the ship in a little more detail. Sue wanted to take part in the slots tourney at the casino, so Ian, Sue and I all signed up. It's a weird thing... They put 500 seconds on the machine, and then you just start pounding away at the spin button. Whoever has the most points at the end of the time advances (10 per round). We made the mistake of all signing up for the same round, so we didn't have any chance of more than one of us advancing. Didn't matter anyway, as we lost...
Being the constantly-tired slug that I am, I took a nice long nap in the afternoon. I start out reading a novel, and next think I know it's 3 hours later. Back up to the casino to lose some more money, and it's about time to get the penguin suit on for the first formal dinner. I rented a tux on board the ship, which is a nice way to go. The tux comes to your room, and you just leave it there when you're done. You can check out the pictures when I get them posted to see how well (or if) Tom cleans up OK. This was also the first night that both our boys showed up at the formal dinner. Neither of them were too happy to be "properly attired" (especially Cam), but they were troopers and persevered. Back to the room to change again, and then we just drifted around the ship for the rest of the evening. I blew the times for the evening show (I've been doing that a lot this cruise), so we ended up missing that. Oh, well...
Random impressions...
On formal night, you see everyone dressed up (pretty much). Ian made the observation that you see both extremes. Some people look stunning, and others look... less than stunning. There was one girl ahead of us in line that tried for a pink skirt/white top/bare midriff look. Apparently the mirror was broken in her room, as I would have thought that the stomach roll between the fabrics would have been a clue that the look wasn't happening for her.
It's weird to be watching football with your kid as he's tipping back a drink...
Our first "weather" happened today. The movement of the ship got a little more pronounced as the day went on, and after dinner we went up on deck to stroll. It was one of those "tropical rainstorms", where it's raining harder than our shower back home. Still warm, but definitely not pool time. The poor bartenders working the pool bar were rather bored.
The room steward *still* hasn't seen the inside of Ian and Cam's stateroom yet. Ian won't let him in, as he wants to "clean it up a bit" before the guy cleans it up for real. He actually stopped Ian outside the hall after dinner and asked if everything was OK. Ian said he had his back and was looking out for him... :-)
Tomorrow is Labadee in Hispaniola... RC's private island/port of call. We've signed up for sea kayaking as a family, and *that* should be interesting... :-)
Today was the day at sea... the day the cruise ship uses to get from the initial destination point to the first point of call. Everything you end up doing is aboard ship, which with a ship this big isn't a problem.
Breakfast was a buffet thing for Ian, Sue and I up at the Windjammer Cafe. They did have a formal sit-down, but I was really in the mood for... WAFFLES! (think the line from Shrek). Cam came in late, so he was still zonked out in the room. After finishing up breakfast, Ian took off to do ice skating in the *tiny* ice rink they have on board, and Sue and I figured it was time to see the ship in a little more detail. Sue wanted to take part in the slots tourney at the casino, so Ian, Sue and I all signed up. It's a weird thing... They put 500 seconds on the machine, and then you just start pounding away at the spin button. Whoever has the most points at the end of the time advances (10 per round). We made the mistake of all signing up for the same round, so we didn't have any chance of more than one of us advancing. Didn't matter anyway, as we lost...
Being the constantly-tired slug that I am, I took a nice long nap in the afternoon. I start out reading a novel, and next think I know it's 3 hours later. Back up to the casino to lose some more money, and it's about time to get the penguin suit on for the first formal dinner. I rented a tux on board the ship, which is a nice way to go. The tux comes to your room, and you just leave it there when you're done. You can check out the pictures when I get them posted to see how well (or if) Tom cleans up OK. This was also the first night that both our boys showed up at the formal dinner. Neither of them were too happy to be "properly attired" (especially Cam), but they were troopers and persevered. Back to the room to change again, and then we just drifted around the ship for the rest of the evening. I blew the times for the evening show (I've been doing that a lot this cruise), so we ended up missing that. Oh, well...
Random impressions...
On formal night, you see everyone dressed up (pretty much). Ian made the observation that you see both extremes. Some people look stunning, and others look... less than stunning. There was one girl ahead of us in line that tried for a pink skirt/white top/bare midriff look. Apparently the mirror was broken in her room, as I would have thought that the stomach roll between the fabrics would have been a clue that the look wasn't happening for her.
It's weird to be watching football with your kid as he's tipping back a drink...
Our first "weather" happened today. The movement of the ship got a little more pronounced as the day went on, and after dinner we went up on deck to stroll. It was one of those "tropical rainstorms", where it's raining harder than our shower back home. Still warm, but definitely not pool time. The poor bartenders working the pool bar were rather bored.
The room steward *still* hasn't seen the inside of Ian and Cam's stateroom yet. Ian won't let him in, as he wants to "clean it up a bit" before the guy cleans it up for real. He actually stopped Ian outside the hall after dinner and asked if everything was OK. Ian said he had his back and was looking out for him... :-)
Tomorrow is Labadee in Hispaniola... RC's private island/port of call. We've signed up for sea kayaking as a family, and *that* should be interesting... :-)
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Posted by Joe Litton At 10:17:54 On 26/12/2004 | - Website - |