Cruising the Drake Passage & the Scotia Sea

            Friday, 5 Jan 2024 – Today, we were scheduled to cruise back across the Drake Passage and the Scotia Sea to South America, specifically, the Falkland Islands.  We went to our usual breakfast in the Terrace Café.  It was still cold cutting across the pool deck, but nothing like last night.  Maribeth was working behind the buffet as a server as she had been quite often, so we didn’t benefit from her personalized service.  After we got back to our cabin, we got ready for Sally’s 11:00 AM pedicure.  However, when we arrived, we were told that her pedicure had been scheduled for 6 January, not 5 January.  Anyway, we were able to reschedule her pedicure for a little later today at 12:15 PM.  Back in our cabin, Sally read until time to return to the salon/spa.

Sally had the same pedicurist again, Elizabeth.  Jesse went next door to the fitness center again.  The exercise bicycle that he had used previously was occupied, so he chose an alternate one.  Actually, that one worked a lot better.  While cycling, he watched part of the movie, Gringa, which was pretty good.   Sally’s toenails looked as stunning as her fingernails.  After returning to our cabin, Sally started her afternoon nap.

Tonight, we had been invited to another Oceania Club cocktail party at 5:45 PM.  We had found that the passengers tended to dress up more on this cruise segment, so we decided to dress in some of the formal attire that we had brought along.  Several of the women were wearing semi-formal dresses and many of the men were wearing dress jackets; however, other than the members of the Marina Show Band, Jesse was the only one wearing a tuxedo.  We received lots of compliments on how sharp we looked!

We didn’t see Keith & Carol, so we sat at a table on the dance floor.  We limited our complimentary drinks to one each, rum punches.  We started dancing before the program started and were soon joined by several other couples.  After the program concluded, we continued dancing to the Marina Show Band, and later to the 4 Corners Band.  Ed & Alicia joined us at 6:45 PM.  This was their first Oceania Cruise, so they had not been invited to the Oceania Club Cocktail Party.  When the crowd thinned out, we spotted Keith & Carol sitting in the audience.  Carol was still suffering from a cold and warned us to keep our distance.

Sally was tired after the dancing and drinks, so we left the Horizons at 7:00 PM and went to the Grand Dining Room for the first time.  We sat a table for two.  The dinner was okay, but menu-wise, we would have both preferred to eat at the Terrace Café!  We saw Ossman there, working in another section of the dining room and Jesse went over and spoke to him.  Jim and Pat were also there.  Jim suggested that we share a meal before the end of the cruise.  Jesse gave him our cabin number.   We were back in our cabin before 8:30 PM.