Sunday, February 13, 2011 – Day at Sea
I woke up before sunrise and put my camera out to warm up. Twenty minutes later I went outside to see what the sunrise would look like. Things could not have been much worse. There are low clouds overhead (high clouds are better) and there are clouds on the horizon. I just took the camera back inside and when back to sleep.
I am finally able to have breakfast on the balcony this morning. I like to go up to the buffet, get breakfast, bring breakfast back to the cabin and eat it on the balcony. However, for one reason or another, I haven’t done that yet this cruise – until this morning.
I leave the cabin at 9:00am to check the onboard stores for anything I missed and end up buying a couple of the ship’s key rings. To make sure the room steward has enough time to clean the cabin, I also check for pictures I missed. The two pictures I found I put in the recycle bin. I’ve collected several photographs over the years and have learned to limit myself (usually). This cruise so far I have purchased three photographs plus the group photo taken by a Carnival photographer. I keep track of all my purchases for two purposes. One is to catch any errors and the second is to make it easier to fill out the custom form on the last day.
When I return to my cabin too work on this I notice my missing towel has returned. Last night I notice one of the blue beach towels was missing. I never remove them from the cabin so that only left the cabin steward. He admitted he removed it. I didn’t ask why. As long as he admitted it was him I didn’t care. Well this morning it is back. I don’t know what is up, I realize I am single but I have never had balcony chairs and towels removed before (I still only have one deck chair).
Something I use cruises for is to try out new things. For the last two nights at dinner I have tried to order a drink I have never tried before. They are out. That is the first time I have had that happen also.
I was going to do a little swimming this afternoon. However, it clouded over and, well it is February in the northern hemisphere. So, instead I get to sit out on my balcony and work on this for a while. We are close enough to Haiti to see land, so I assume we will make it home on time.
The kids pool and the whale tail funnel.
Upon my return to the cabin to work on this I find I have received a first, a daytime towel animal. I am not sure what warranted such a gift. I sit down to work on this and once again have to move the trashcan from under the desk to next to the wall. Of course the room steward will stick it under the desk again, and I’ll have to move it again. All the room stewards do this. As for me, experience has taught me that the lip of trashcan lines up with my shin. Normally I put it under the table, but this cabin has no table.
The water slide.
You have to be this tall to go down the water slide.
Tonight is the final elegant night. Apparently I am a little more tired then I realize. I laid down to rest before dinner and woke up twenty minutes before dinner. I quickly shower and dress, but I am still about ten minutes late when I arrive. Part of that delay was leaving the room before verifying that I had my room key, which I did not. Fortunately the room steward was in a nearby cabin.
The forward most pool on embarkation day.
The same pool on a sea day.
I had two main courses and no appetizer this time. I had the shrimp and the alternative steak selection. My shrimp order was turned into an appetizer and the assistant waiter seemed embarrassed by this. He made it a point (twice) of telling me that if I wanted anything all I had to do was ask him. Well, I really hadn’t done much during the day and the two main courses, or the one and three-quarters main courses, were enough to fill me up.
The miniature golf course.
Tonight I decided to take in the production show. In the past I had always taken pictures at these shows, since the only restriction was to flash photography, and I didn’t use a flash. However, on my last cruise (a few months ago on the Carnival Spirit), I was told in no uncertain terms not to take any more pictures. When I double checked the wording I noticed that the word flash had been removed (instead of “no flash photography†it now said “no photography†– oops).
So, I didn’t bring my camera this time. As a result, when at first the cruise director said no flash photography, I was disappointed. However, he later added no photography of any sort, and he repeated this several times. The show, a Ticket to Ride, was themed after the Beatles and several of the Beatles songs. It was fantastic. I was glad I attended.
