4 Days at Sea

            Friday, 8 Feb 2018 – We were up by 7:45 AM.  After breakfast, we went for a swim, where we were joined for a little while by a couple from Switzerland.  French is their native language, but the man speaks pretty good English; the woman very little.  Then we joined a couple from Czech Republic in the hot tub, but didn’t stay there very long since Sally had gotten a little sunburned yesterday.  Afterwards, Sally continued to work on her family genealogy.  After lunch, she napped for two hours, while Jesse enjoyed watching TV.  We danced for 45 minutes before dinner.  Sally had lobster for dinner for the ninth time.

            On a side note, we’ve been getting an amusing notice on our I-Phone:  “DO NOT DISTURB WHILE DRIVING.  You will not receive notification while you are driving.”  (I don’t think there’s any chance that the ship’s captain will allow either of us to pilot the ship!)

Dinner in the Grand Dining Room

            Saturday, 9 Feb 2019 – We were up by 9:00 AM and went for a late breakfast.  Since the sea was rough again, Jesse thought the pool was sloshing a little too much to swim safely.  Except for lunch, Sally worked on genealogy all day.   The Insignia Crew Purser, Thamantha, had invited us (and another couple) to dinner at 7:00 PM in the Grand Dining Room, so we dressed up a little more tonight.  Thamantha lives in Granada, but was originally from Trinidad/Tobago.  Before Oceania, she worked for Princess Cruises for 7 years.  Also invited were Kathleen and Richard from Tallahassee, FL.  Richard spent 15 years in the army; the first seven years as a military policeman before he suffered a broken back.  Then he was trained as an air traffic controller.  After leaving the army, he worked as an accountant/credit manager until retiring 4 years ago.  He is very overweight and diabetic, and walks only about a block and a half without a walker.   He has also fallen twice since boarding the cruise ship and is wearing an arm brace from his second fall.  Kathleen retired only about 6 months ago.  They are on the world cruise, roundtrip Miami, with a cabin on Deck 3 (the lowest deck – our cabin is on Deck 4).  Thamantha also purchased a bottle of white wine, which she shared with the table.

            It was two hours later (after 9:00 PM) by the time we finished dinner, so we missed dancing for the night and retired to our cabin.

            Sunday, 10 Feb 2019 – This morning we were up early (about 6:15 AM) and went to breakfast at 8:00 AM.  We sat near two very friendly couples from Hermosa Beach, CA (near Los Angeles).  Marie and Ken have been together for 20 years, but married for only 6 years.  Pamela and Henry have been married for 36 years.  After breakfast, we swam for about 20 minutes before the waves in the pool became dangerously high.  Jesse kept envisioning one of us getting slammed against the side of the pool.  We sat in the hot tub for a little while; Sally sat very low in the tub to prevent getting sunburned again.  A crossing the equator ceremony was held on the pool deck at 11:00 AM.  We had crossed the equator several times before, so we did not attend: however, Jesse did take a few photos of the ceremony.

A special stir-fry station was set up in the Terrace Café for dinner, where Jesse enjoyed an extra-spicy chicken stir-fry and three desserts.  Sally enjoyed lobster and brownies and ice cream for desserts.  After dinner, we danced for in the Insignia Lounge.  Before retiring, we sat our clocks forward by 30 minutes.  This is the life!

            Monday, 11 Feb 2019 – We went to breakfast early, a little after 8:00 AM.  (Breakfast is served until 10:00; therefore, 8:00 is “early.”)  Afterwards we swam for half an hour, even though the water was a little rough.  For a little while, we were joined by the Swiss couple.  They have cruised a lot, but mostly on Costa Cruise Lines.  The woman asked Jesse if he speaks French and he responded, “Bonjour!”  We went to lunch at about 1:30 PM; Sally napped afterwards and Jesse nodded while trying to watch the “Destinations” channel on the TV.  Before dinner we danced for 45 minutes in the Horizons.  Jesse asked the band to play a waltz, which we really enjoyed.  (Otherwise, they still play mostly jazz.)  Afterwards, one of the passengers and a crew member complimented us on our dancing.  On this cruise, we’ve been given lots of complements on our dancing and swimming.  Also, Jesse was told by a group of the Terrace Café waitstaff that he looks like a movie star!  Look out, Hollywood!  (It’s a good world here on the ocean!)