My Caribbean Cruise Blog Day 2

Cruiser’s Log, Day 2 (1/10/10)

I woke up again at 7:30am, but decided to roll over and go back to sleep. This is our day at sea, so there is absolutely no reason to get up early. We finally got up about 9am, giving me a total of 13 hours of sleep (minus the three times I woke up in the night)! I guess I needed that!

I had worried about being seasick, but I haven’t had any trouble at all. The rocking of the ship almost gives you a dizzy feeling. It makes you feel kind of floaty (I know, duh, right?) and is sort of soothing and relaxing. I have never had an alcoholic drink in my life, but the word “tipsy” comes to mind when I want to describe the feeling of being on a moving ship.

We got ready and headed off to breakfast. We ended up eating at the same restaurant, the “Garden Café.” We split up, agreeing that whoever reached the area we sat in last night, would grab a table and wait for the other one. I got my food and headed that way, looking for Scott. I kept walking around and couldn’t find him or even an empty table anywhere near our place from last night. I overheard an employee saying that this was the breakfast rush, that everyone sleeps late today, and that there was more seating down further. I kept walking and looking, but didn’t see Scott or an empty table. I ended up at the doors to the outdoor deck. By this time, my food was cold. I was sure Scott had found a seat and I was just missing him, so I gave up, sat down outside and started eating. I finished quickly and went to the bar to buy a Pepsi and headed back inside. I finally found him, plates in hand, looking for me. He hadn’t sat down and his food was cold. I felt horrible. I ate without him while he was still looking for me! We got him some fresh, hot food and headed back outside. He ate and I got an unlimited soda upgrade, more food, and then he got an unlimited soda upgrade. $50 bucks each but individual sodas were $2.24 each. After we finished eating, we headed back to the cabin to relax a bit and I sat at the desk, blogging and enjoying the view with the sliding deck door open. I wanted to write on the balcony, but was worried about a sudden jolt sending my laptop flying overboard! Scott said I was a chicken!

At some point, we met our cabin steward, Garry, who is quite funny and says, every time he sees us, “Yo! Scott! Robin!” We thought the bed runner would make a good beach blanket, so he went in search of some smaller ones for us and delivered them to our room later in the day!

We walked around and explored a bit more. It strikes me that the ship is like a cross between a hotel and a mall, with some entertainment thrown in. Kind of like the Crown Center in Kansas City, with the hotels attached, all the shops, and even a movie theater. We have multiple bars and restaurants, a spa, a bowling alley, lounges, pools, a fitness center, an arcade, a theater, shops, etc.

We seem to be stuck in a rut already as we again ate at the “Garden Café.” This time we ate together! They had really cushy booths and it was near the window with a great view of the ocean. An elderly man offered to take a picture of us together.

We again strolled around and checked out the shops. Then we went to the theater to hear “Flash” Gordon give a talk about shopping in St. Thomas and received lots of coupons for free merchandise at the shops in St. Thomas and also raffle entries for drawings for prizes from the shops.

Afterwards, we showered and changed into nicer clothes and went out for formal portraits to be taken. Then we went to dinner. We were going to eat at the fancier restaurant (break our monotony), the “Summer Palace,” but when we got there, we looked over a menu posted outside and we didn’t see much that we would care for, so we decided to go to “La Cucina,” the Italian restaurant on board. Scott had the chicken parmesan and I had a seared salmon which was really good.

We walked around after dinner and saw that the pool and hot tubs were nearly empty, so we decided to take advantage of it and changed into our swimsuits. We stopped at the gift shop and bought a tote bag, then went by to see “Flash” Gordon to get a couple of vouchers, refilled our drinks, and went to the hot tub. We spent some time there and then retired to our room to relax and watch a ship TV channel, where they had recorded the bar’s “game show” called “the Not-So-Newlywed Game.”

For a late night snack, we tried to go to the “Great Outdoors” eating area, but the food selection wasn’t that great. I ate a bit, while Scott watched me. Then we went to get drink refills and found the “Blue Lagoon Café” where we found a better selection of food, but worse service (which is bad since the “Great Outdoors” is a buffet, no service!). Then it was back to the bar for another refill, a quick stop at the customer service desk to ask a question, then to check out the arcade where Scott played a round of Guitar Hero. After that it was back to the room for the night where we changed our clocks ahead one hour and watched some TV.