The ocean trough

The good (going to the gym); the bad (hitting the buffet line or restaurant); the ugly (us at the end of a day of eating.

Our Chef and Head Waiter, Franz, await us at the Horizon Court, the 19-1/2-hour buffet line.

Day 2 (the second full day of sailing) came with our food service attendant arriving with coffee, juice and the continental breakfast we had ordered.  We’d changed time zones and he had awakened us.  Rather than a civilized 6:30 a.m. it was really 5:30.  We’d sprung forward.  We groggily got up and poured coffee to try to get some semblance of order.  But it didn’t happen quickly.  We looked out into the darkness and as it was beginning to lighten up, we could see some fog or clouds.  We could also still see the moon.  It was way too early.

Our plan for the day was to work on our blogs, which got posted between the previous night and this morning (Monday, February 17), hit the gym, maybe have a bit of food and then seek out some entertainment. 

We got to the gym later this morning, and while still crowded, there were a couple of elliptical machines, so we hopped on.  We got in our 30 minutes, did a little weight work and wandered back toward our room.  However, there was a bit of breakfast, including cooked food, being served in one area.  We did manage to avoid it, only snatching up some more orange juice and coffee.

Everywhere you turn there is food.  Of course, it is a cruise.  There’s an ice cream bar, but it’s vanilla, chocolate or swirl.  I was able to avoid that as they are not my favorites by themselves.  I may be more tempted later, but we’re having such wonderful desserts (last night crème brulee and bananas foster) that maybe that won’t happen.

Rhubarb Napoleon with nectarine ice cream.

The ocean trough does not mean the ocean waters, my friends.  I’m talking about bellying up to the food trough, like the hogs we are.  It’s hard to resist when it’s so plentiful.  There are three main dining rooms, the food court buffet, a pizzeria, two fancier restaurants that have a $25 cover charge to eat there, the ice cream bar and a bar and grill.  To make it more challenging, the ice cream bar is located on our way to and from the gym. 

You can stay here all day and eat to your heart's content.

You can eat starting at 5:30 a.m. until midnight.  That leaves only 5-1/2 hours that you can’t get something to eat.  However, we do have a small refrigerator in the room so you can squirrel away something for those hours that nothing else is open.

We sometimes get there early so we can be first in line as the race is on to get to the buffet line.

A plate of artistically-arranged food.  Franz told us we should use the platters, still larger plates that you can stack more food on.  I think not.  Okay, well maybe.  Sure, I can do that.

Our usual has been a little bit in the morning with coffee and juice, lunch at the Horizon Court buffet and dinner in the Bordeaux Dining Room.  Of course, it’s a matter of what you want and how much of it.  It tests our will power, of which we have none, so the gym has to be our fitness crutch … but I know I’m not burning anywhere near the calories I’m eating.

Just one buffet line with hot foods ... then there's the dessert line, the salad line, the sandwich line, the soup line.  Too much and I like to try as much as I can ... too much food, too little time.

The Horizon Court up top provides food of every kind, from soup to dessert.

Who gives a damn!!  I’m on holiday and my clothes still fit!!! 

To the left, the Maitre d'Hotel Rui Pereira and the Head Host in the Bordeaux Dining Room where we usually eat dinner.

The day has been gorgeous.  We’ve continued exploring the ship, revisiting some areas such as the splash pool up on top.  The water in this pool is only 8 inches deep, no diving allowed.  The water swirls around with little waves coming at you … and we put our feet in which felt wonderful.  The cool water and warm air is so relaxing.  All around us were folks on their loungers worshipping the sun, and you could smell the coconut scent of Hawaiian Gold sunscreen.

The splash pool up topside.

This felt so very good on our feet.

There are sun worshippers everywhere catching rays, getting as brown as they can.

We lounged on chairs on a lower deck so as to not be in direct sun.  It felt good and we watched people who were deck walking, around and around.  Three laps equals slightly more than a mile.  There’s always that in the event you cannot get to a treadmill in the gym.  

A whale made an appearance, but not nearly close enough to photograph.  We later heard there were dolphins playing around the ship, but we didn’t see them.

We attended a photo raffle, looked at art that was for a live art auction, located the casino, found that we shouldn’t enter the Winston Churchill Lounge which is the smoking lounge and quite hazy, and partook of afternoon tea.  At dinner we learned there are 380 Canadians onboard, more than a 100 from the UK, and then the rest of us.  It’s fun to have our little onboard community which keeps us entertained and we never have to go far.  There are way more activities than you can pack into a day … fitness classes, bingo, art classes, movies, wellness seminars, dance classes, live and DJ music, games.  The Princess Patter newsletter arrives every afternoon so that we can plan the next day. 

To round out the rest of Day 2, we arrived early at the Universe Lounge and watched part of a ballroom dance class … the waltz this time.  We then took our second photo seminar where we’ve learned a thing or two, and were sent off with homework.  We wandered around taking our photos to turn in on Day 3.  It’s fun to have a mission.   And we checked out music in the various lounges, but ended our day listening to the gentleman in the Crooner’s Lounge who was playing and singing some music that even I was not totally familiar with, with 30s, 40s and 50s songs.  It was lovely.  

A lot of folks take the dance classes.

Playing with the camera as another beautiful sunset overtook us.

But still, our work was not finished and we grabbed the cameras, long lenses and tripods and headed to the top deck to try to photograph the moon.  While that didn’t work out too well, we had an experience of a totally different nature.  Jaz said, “Look up.” Over our heads, moving above us back and forth, drifting and drafting with the ship’s movement were some large birds with white heads.  We were fascinated with them.  They were huge and just hovered over us, their large wings outstretched, slowly flapping up and down.  We watched for some time until they finally moved on.  What were they?  Jaz had brought her bird book and we identified them as Laysan albatrosses … a sea bird with a 32-inch wingspan.  They feed on the ocean, eating mostly squid.  They often follow boats for food and apparently showed up just for our entertainment.  Then, at midnight, it was time to end our day, a long one for us.

Day 3 (Tuesday, February 18) brought with it some fog that quickly burned off.  Our coffee attendant once again woke us, and the worst part is we lose yet another hour tonight.  He’ll think we are very lazy ladies when, in fact, we have been very busy every day conducting our business.

Our Captain's Log provides information constantly so we know exactly where we are, what the seas are, the time and so on.  It's interesting and we like to know these types of facts.

Guatamala, our first land stop.

These seas are great, no large amount of rocking and rolling by the ship necessitating us to hold on to handrails. 

Rather than hitting the gym we decided to do deck walking.  (Three times around equals nearly one mile).  We walked 2.4 miles … being rewarded with a wonderful breeze, a school of jumping fish of some sort and smiles and chat with other walkers. 

Our normal schedule is to now clean up and then wander to lunch.  Our head waiter, Franz, has taken a liking to us.  He has brought us dessert and taken my camera to photograph us.  It’s so nice to be among people who are always smiling and friendly.  (Yep, I know they get paid for that, but when I worked we were paid to do a job and it was always easier … mostly … to be pleasant and nice to others although that didn’t always happen.)

Franz brought us strawberry-filled meringues. 

Our usual lunch attendant is Manuel.  He hadn’t smiled at us up until yesterday although I heard him singing under his breath.  My mission was to crack that one … and did, being rewarded with a small smile.  Today there was a major breakthrough.  Manuel and Franz like our Canon cameras.  Manuel chatted about purchasing one for his son, and how expensive they are.  He said when we get to Cartagena to be very careful in how we carry them so they do not somehow get removed from us. 

After lunch was our third camera class.  This time we were doing a walkabout photographing different things such as low light and high light objects, no flash.  We were having a great time with our instructor, Julia.  We wanted more.  More classes, more assignments.  She said she’d do more assignments.  Our first one was low light with people, no flash.  That means we have to wander around looking for subjects.  But we got side-tracked. 

No tea for us today as we were too busy with our homework.

We’d been working so hard we needed a nap, so that became a high priority.  But to get to our cabin we once again got turned around on our own deck (Emerald).  “Ladies.”  We turned around and there was our cabin attendant, Allen, showing us to our cabin.   I think he wonders about us … but it was certainly a good laugh.  Even on board … good grief.

There's lots to photograph.

Once we’d drug ourselves from our nap, it was off to dinner as we were going to watch the “Movie Under the Stars.”  A big screen is set up on deck, along with lounge chairs and lap blankets.  Johnny Depp was Tonto in a spoof on the Lone Ranger.  It was thoroughly entertaining and we laughed out loud.  Popcorn completed the perfect movie setting of warm weather and stars creating a roof over our heads.  We’ve decided we need to do that again.

There is a lot of art on the walls around the ship, offering many photo opportunities.

There was a 50s trivia contest so we wandered down to the Universe Lounge.  We were divided into two teams, the Pink Ladies, and the Thunderbirds.  Jaz and I were part of the Thunderbird team (go East High Thunderbirds … my Anchorage school).  The idea was to name that tune and the artist.  To do that you had to run up front and sit in a chair to name it.  Jaz and I were sitting up front so it was easy to get up there and name it … and it’s always easy to name an Elvis tune.  Yep, the Thunderbirds were up by 2.

The songs were mostly known to me, but not the artist.  The Pink Ladies had a guy who knew them all and between him and his brother they were outscoring us.  Bah!!!  It was time to get tough.  We had help from our team and we pulled ahead by one point.  Our emcee said we needed a tie breaker.  What???  It was to get our team members up to do a chorus line to the song New York, New York.  The team with the most dancers would be the winners.  We were like the Rockettes … Jaz and I running up to start the line.  Left foot up, right foot up.  We didn’t have the numbers.  I broke out of the line and ran up and down the aisle and seats to muster my team, hustling members from their seats until our line snaked around through the seating, outdoing the Pink Ladies by half.  WINNERS!!!  Yes, Jaz and I certainly know how to get a group going.  It’s what we do.  Another success chalked up.

The next part of the evening in the Universe Lounge was “So You Wanna Be a Rock Star.”  The other name is karaoke … I signed up.  It was my first, and probably only opportunity to sing with a live band.  What fun that was.  So what if I couldn’t hit a high note … I had back up from the band and their lead singer. 

Our evening was complete by going on deck to see if we could see any more albatrosses.  Nope.  They were long gone and that may have been a very special sight for us to have seen them.  We wandered all around, but saw nothing.  When I say nothing, that’s exactly what I mean.  No people, no crew.  It’s like being on a ghost ship late at night.  Everyone is either at a bar listening to music and dancing, or gone to bed.  This has been great.  We even wandered into the Sanctuary area where we’re not supposed to go.  Hey, the gate was open.  Late at night, it’s quiet and there’s an element of peace just wandering and listening to the ocean as our ship glides along toward our first land destination.  Another late night for us as we made our way down deserted stairwells, our sandals silently landing on each step.  Another day at sea, another group of memories.

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