Cruise: Day 3

(OK, I counted my days wrong... it will be Days 4 and 5 that will take me a while to pound out. Day 3 will be a piece of cake. So here we go...)

Day 3, Monday, September 29: At Sea

Our wake-up call woke us around 8 AM, and it was another gorgeous day. See?



Room service brought our breakfast around 8:30 and we ate leisurely on the balcony once again. After that, we decided to hit the upper decks early, so we wouldn't have as much trouble finding lounge chairs, and so we could get maximum sun time. We ended up on Deck 12 again, but a little closer to the pools--we could hear the music this time, and it wasn't as insanely windy.

My handsome man...



This was pretty much the view we had of the pool, if we turned around and craned our necks. (Hey, we had to face the sun, you know, to minimize the shadows and such.)



Facing forward, we could see the adults-only pool. Check out that big old red lounge chair to the left of the pool--nifty, huh?



I don't know why, but I felt like taking a picture of our feet. (This is not the last foot picture you shall see.)



We got a passing waiter to take our picture.



It wasn't hard to snag someone, since the waiters would walk by nearly every 2 minutes--never the same guy twice in a row, either. Like it's not enough that there are 2 or 3 bars surrounding the pools--nope, they have to have guys making the rounds, taking drink orders. Like I said, they spoil you on these cruise ships. Eventually... we gave in. Tony ordered the "drink of the day"--every day they had some sort of drink special, and you got to keep the snazzy little cup too. I'm not sure what this one was, but I know it had peach schnapps and cranberry juice, among other things. (And check out that gorgeous blue sky behind him!)



I tried a sip, but it was too peach-y for me.



We went to lunch around 1:30 and got a seat by a window, right at the back of the ship. I took a picture of the wake, mostly because I was surprised by how small it was. You would think such a massive ship would leave a bigger mark.



Seated next to us was an elderly couple from the U.K., and they were really sweet. This was their 13th cruise, and they were heading to Vegas once the cruise was over.

After lunch, we wandered around the Sports Deck. We watched the FlowRider (the surfing simulator--pictures later) and played minigolf (which was extremely difficult to do because of the wind). I got a hole in one, so even though I lost miserably, I considered the game a success.



Our aimless wanderings took us to Deck 14, which was kind of like an adults-only area. At the very least, it was a quiet area, removed from the hubbub and noise of the rest of the ship. There was a room for board games, a couple separate rooms for card games and bridge, and a classy lounge (which we hung out at on another evening). The lounge offered a fantastic view of the ship.



Then we decided to find the very, very front of the ship. We leaned over the edge and the very first thing we saw was a huge swordfish, that quickly disappeared under the ship. It was also ridiculously windy--that explains the craziness of my hair.



Someone came along and offered to take our picture. See how "wrinkled" our shirts look? That's because they were flapping around in the wind so much. (And I know I keep saying this, but just look at the sea! And the sky! Unbelievably blue.)



We lurked about until we were alone out there, then struck our "king of the world" poses. (Yes, one of my goals on this trip was to get out to the very front of the ship and imitate Leonardo DiCaprio from "Titanic" when he flings out his arms and yells "I'm the king of the world!" Yes, I'm aware I'm a dork.) I went first. I wanted to actually climb the railing a little, but because of the way it was slanted, it was impossible.



Then it was Tony's turn. (His picture looks so much more impressive.)



Soon it was time for dinner once again. Our waiter, Davut, told us he was going to sing for us, and we assumed he was joking... until, at the end of the meal, all the waiters marched around the room and then congregated on the stairs. They sang "O Solo Mio" (after pointing out that they only had one waiter who was actually from Italy).



After dinner, we decided we needed a nice group picture of our table, and Davut was kind enough to oblige. (Notice that I'm the "tallest" girl of the group? All 3 of us are actually about the same height, but I guess I was the only one wearing heels.)



After dinner, we had about an hour to kill before the nightly show, and we ended up spontaneously hanging out with Kyle and Amy. Amy came up with the idea to take pictures of each other at various places throughout the ship, which was a lot of fun.





("Rembrandt" was the name of our dining room.)



Before the show, we went to the On Air club, a small bar that featured lots of TVs. Why? Because the Steelers were playing, and Tony wanted to watch, and he had Kyle on his side. We compromised a little by agreeing to watch the game for a little bit, leave for the nightly show, and then come back.

The show started at 9, and was called "In the Air." The best thing I could compare it to is a Cirque du Soliel show--it was the same kind of funky music, crazy costumes, and wild acrobatic feats. But it wasn't quite at the same level. Maybe I'm just "spoiled" because I've seen 4 Cirque shows. It wasn't bad, though. Just a little... interesting. Plus, our seats sucked since we arrived at the last minute, so that put a little damper on our enjoyment of the show.

We returned to the On Air club right after the show, and watched the Steelers. I decided to go work out and come back (I didn't feel bad for ditching Tony, since he had Kyle and Amy to keep him company), but soon found out that the fitness center was closed. So I returned to the club and watched the rest of the game. Kyle and Amy were tired, so they cut out around 11:30; I stayed until midnight, when the game went into overtime. At that point, I was nodding off, so I returned to the room and Tony decided to stay and finish the game. He was only about 15 minutes behind me, though--and don't ask me who won, because I don't remember.

We turned in for the night, excited because we knew the next day would be our first day in port!

I'll leave you with our towel animal of the night...



Next entry... St. Maarten!