2 Days at Sea

            Thursday, 4 Jan 2018 – We slept late and arrived at the Terrace Café  a little after 10:00 am.  Since they were already closed, we didn’t obtain our usual oatmeal and eggs; however, we did enjoy other menu items at the Waves Grill.

By the time we finished unpacking, it was already lunchtime, when we both tried unsuccessfully to limit our food intake.  After lunch, we went for a swim.  The pool is not very large.  In fact, Sally figured that she would need to swim about 108 laps to equal the half-mile that she swims at the Family Y in Bettendorf.  So we decided to just swim until we got tired.

At 5:45 PM the Captain’s Cocktail Party started in the Insignia Lounge, with live music and dancing to the Insignia Orchestra, so that we danced and enjoyed complementary cocktails before dinner.  We sat with another couple, who also danced, and later joined us for dinner.  They suggested that we eat in the Terrace Café instead of the Grand Dining Room.  After seeing the long line there, we were glad that we had followed their suggestion.  The other couple was Gordon and Kath who are members of the ship’s crew on this cruise, teaching Bridge on-board.  This is their 4th cruise on this ship.  After dinner, we enjoyed 30 minutes of pre-show dancing in the Insignia Lounge. We set our clocks and watches forward one hour before retiring for the night.

Grand Dining Room with Bob, Dan, Carol, and Brenda

In summary for Thursday, after 10 hours of sleep, we swam, danced twice, and ate lobster for the second day in a row!

Friday, 5 Jan 2018 – We made it to breakfast at 9:30 AM – before closing, where we limited ourselves to oatmeal, eggs, and yogurt (Sally only) this time.    For lunch, we had soup, salad, and dessert (Jesse only).  Since the pool was closed (probably because fairly rough seas was causing the pool water to slosh), we skipped exercising for the day.  Although this ship has a very nice fitness center, we were not that ambitious.  At about 5:00 PM, we went to the Horizons Lounge to dance for a half-hour, and then to the Grand Dining Room for dinner this time, where we joined a table for six.  Dan and Carol from CA, near Orange County, and Bob and Brenda from Prescott, AZ.   Both couples are on the 180-Day World Cruise.  We found it interesting that Bob and Carol were born in Waterloo, IA, and Dan was born in Sioux City, IA.  After dinner we danced again to the Insignia Orchestra.

Dancing to the Insignia Orchestra