Day 5 – Sea Day
May 8th
I woke around 6am when someone sneaked
into my cabin and tried to toss me out of bed. OK- so not really,
but there was such a rough sea that I woke, grabbing the edge of my
mattress to keep from hitting the floor. Holy cow, it was rough ...
so I was rather surprised to fall back to sleep. (This whole liking
the motion of the ocean is still confounding me, but that's not a
complaint!)
It also meant I wasn't surprised when I
woke the second time to this announcement : “Good morning ladies
and gentleman. This is Gary, your cruise director, speaking. I am
sorry to report that Captain Marino has made the decision that it is
unsafe to dock today at Mahogany Bay, due to high winds. As always,
your safety, the safety of his ship, and the crew are paramount.”
Since this was the port I was looking
forward to the most, and I wanted to spend my birthday with my family
the monkeys and wandering through the jungle and botanical gardens, I
was disappointed. I understood and respected the captain's decision,
of course, but yes, I was disappointed. He did try to find an
alternate port, but nothing was available, so we had an at-sea day.
That means a lot of work for the crew. They need to plan last
minute activities, and then they need to reprint the daily Fun Times
with all these new on-board activities. They need to plan to feed
lunch to 2000 people that they had expected to be ashore during the
day. And they do this all very well, and with smiles. We have
chatted a lot to our dining room servers, and learned that they work
10-12 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 6 months, and then have 2
months off. And still they smile. (Savio said that's why they love
the song and dance portion of the supper – it relaxes them and
makes them happy.)
So, a complete change of plans. There
was a lovely birthday card under my door from the dolphins (!) and
ship crew, wishing me a good day, and Cathie gave me a beautiful
card and gift. Nice start to the day. Off to the Lido deck for a
leisurely breakfast, and to read the new Fun Times. The ship was
full of activities. I watched karaoke, played trivia, listened to
music, and then discovered a quiet oasis... Deck 3, right off the
main lobby. It's just a narrow stretch of deck with lounge chairs
facing the railing. No music, no bar, no people! I stretched out on
a chair in the shade, where it was still very warm, and enjoyed the
breeze, the ocean, the occasional spray of sea water (it was still
pretty windy), and the absolute peace and quiet. There were only a
couple of other people out there, reading or napping, and it was
wonderful. I spent a few hours out there, in just a semi-conscious
state of complete bliss. (I found Cathie later and showed her the
“secret”, and she enjoyed it, with me for a while, until it
started to get a bit cool and spritzy.)
At some point, between our afternoon
naps and supper (which is at 8:15), we have gotten in the habit of
wandering to the Taste Bar on the Promenade. This is a small alcove
where they have samples of the various menus around the ship – on a
rotating basis. The food is fabulous, but the real attraction is the
staff. The 3 chefs and 2 servers are just hysterical. They are pure
entertainers. I love sitting there for a while and being
entertained.
I had forbidden Cathie to announce my
birthday (no singing waiters, please!) but I had mentioned it at the
Chef's Table on the 7th because one of the women
announced it was her birthday that day, and then John (the young
fellow in the wedding party) said his was on the 9th, so
of course I then admitted mine was on the 8th – just
because it was neat that three of the twelve people there had
birthdays in a row this week. So, John remembered when we ran into
them after supper and gave me a big birthday hug ... and so did Matt
(John's boyfriend) and then Taylor and Mike (the newlyweds). We
actually ran into those 4 many, many times during the cruise.
We headed to the show after supper-
which was a life size Hasbro game show- and John managed to get
himself in the game. Those 4 young people are making some amazing
memories. Afterwards, I listened to music in the lobby for a while
before heading to bed. No monkeys, but a perfectly wonderful
birthday, nonetheless.
Weather permitting, Costa Maya
tomorrow.
Cat news : all fine on the kitty mafia
front. Kizzy is letting them pet her (which means she misses me!)
and Mia is asking for belly rubs (and they are properly honoured!)
Food rundown :
Breakfast : French toast, bacon,
fresh fruit, and hot chocolate.
Lunch : Guy's burger (they're
awesome!)
Taste Bar : I dunno... but it was
good!
Supper : Oysters Rockefeller, steak
and fries, and warm apple pie a la mode
The monkeys on BD miss you
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