Transatlantic

After a rough night, we awoke to partly sunny skies, and slightly calmer seas than we had overnight. However, it was still fairly rough, seas were running about 10-12 ft, and the temperature was in the low 60’s. We went to the buffet for our breakfast, and then spent some time walking around the ship. There was a fruit and vegetable carving demonstration in the Atrium that was very interesting to watch. We did not do much else the rest of today, we just spent the time relaxing.

The pools had all been emptied overnight due to the high seas, but also appeared that the crew was performing some maintenance in the pool areas. I guess the cruise line anticipated the cooler temperatures keeping everyone inside, away from the pools, and they were correct.

The seas calmed down some in the afternoon, the sun came out, and made for a nice afternoon. We spent some of the afternoon reading  on our balcony since it was protected from the wind, and the ship was in a position to expose the balcony to the sunshine.   After that, it was off to the hot tub for our standard late afternoon soaking.

Dinner was at 7:30 pm, and we headed to the Dining room for dining with our wait staff, Nicoletta and Rommel. We had a nice dinner, and were able to watch the “Chef’s Dinner” that was taking place at a table located very near to ours. We had a nice view of the ocean during dinner, with the time changes, sunset was not until 8:20 pm.

After dinner, we had planned to go watch some of the live entertainment, but ended up staying in the cabin and watching a good movie on our TV. Tomorrow, we will be celebrating Stephanie’s Birthday!

Today is Stephanie’s Birthday – HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEPHANIE.


It was another bouncy night last night, but by morning when we woke up, the seas had once again calmed some,  only about  5-8 ft.  The temperature today is forecast to be 59 degrees, but the sea temperature is 67 degrees, so it may feel  a bit warmer. Luckily, the wind is mostly coming from behind the ship on our current heading, so there is not a lot of wind out on the decks. The seas did increase as the day went on, once again getting to at least 10-12 ft. However, since the wind was now almost coming  directly from the stern, it was not that rough of a ride.  Our cabin steward, Melwyn, had placed Stephanie’s birthday balloons outside above the door, so we were greeted by that when we left for breakfast.

We spent another day relaxing at sea, reading books that we had gotten from the ship’s library. I was actually able to find a book I had been reading before we left, but since I had only a few chapters to finish, I had not wanted to bring it along since it would not take long to finish.  We had not thought about using the ship’s library and not bring our own books, now we will know better. We also played putt-putt (Stephanie won both games), and shuffle board (Stephanie also won, must be her birthday), and ping pong.

Tonight, we celebrated Stephanie’s birthday at dinner. We took a bottle of wine to drink with our dinner, which consisted of a “surf and turf” main entrée, filet Mignon and grilled shrimp, which went perfectly with our bottle of Merlot.  The wait staff brought Stephanie a special birthday dessert, and about 10 waiters sang her Happy Birthday.

Our dinners have been very nice, there are so few persons on the ship that we get almost personal attention at dinner, and most nights there may be one other couple in our section.  We got to meet several of the wait staff, it was surprising to find out that several of the female waiters are married to other waiters on the same ship, and our waiter, Nicoletta is married to one of the head waiters, Carlos, whom we also met.  These are the nice things we get to experience by being on a ship that is not full.

After dinner, we went to a show at the Explorer’s lounge and ran into Ricky, one of the assistant cruise directors we had met a couple of nights ago that was teaching Stephanie the Waltz. When Stephanie told Ricky it was her birthday, he preceded to take her up to the stage and have the performer, Maritzio, sing her Happy Birthday in front of the entire audience.

Ricky then gave us a bottle of Champagne.  It was a special birthday.

After a couple of dances, we went over to the main bar in the lounge, and happened to meet up with some other couples on the ship, along with the art sales director, who had been on our last cruise. We spent a couple of hours talking with our new friends, and then we retired for the evening. Unfortunately, since we lost another hour tonight adjusting the time changes as we proceed across the Atlantic, it was really 2:00 am before we made it back to the cabin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We awoke this morning to calmer seas, but gray and rainy skies, with a temperature of about 50 degrees.  I guess we are getting closer to the British Isles, and this will probably be typical weather for a good portion of the trip.  It ended up raining all day and into the evening, just a steady drizzle.

After breakfast, we attended a demonstration on how the chef’s make the large decorated chocolate eggs that had been on display for Easter.  It was very interesting to see and hear all of the different techniques used to make and assemble the eggs.

This morning, we were awakened by room service at 8:00 am. They brought me a small birthday cake, compliments of Princess.  Earlier in the cruise, we had picked today day to celebrate my “belated” 50th  birthday on the ship.

Unbeknownst to me, Stephanie had called the Pursers Desk earlier in the cruise to let them know it was my “birthday”, but we were both surprised by the cake delivery, and for it being delivered at 8:00 am.  I tried to convince the waiter he had the wrong room at first, thinking it was just someone’s breakfast being delivered.  However, after I saw it was a cake, I realized it was for my birthday.   We had planned on sleeping in today, but the cake was a nice, but early surprise.  I went ahead and got up and walked to the buffet area for two coffees, to go.

 It was another cloudy and foggy morning; the temperature was about 49 degrees.  Throughout the day, it looked like it would clear up, but had not done so by 1:30 in the afternoon.  The temperature did rise into the high 50’s, and it did not seem to be too chilly.  The sun actually appeared briefly a couple of times.  I guess we are getting more used to the lower temperatures, but we hope to once again see the sunshine.

We did a load of laundry, and then headed to one of the specialty restaurants for a “Pub Lunch”.  The lunch was nice; they had several typical pub choices, fish and chips (which we had), bangers and mash, cottage pie, and another dish we had not heard of.

 After lunch we went to a quiet lounge area to work on the blog. Tonight is the second formal night, the Captain’s Circle Reception, and my Birthday Celebration Day.   Nice of Princess to go to all of that trouble just for me!

 At 7:00 pm, we headed to the Captain’s Circle Reception, and ran into a couple we had met on Stephanie’s birthday, Ruthe and Brian. from Lakeland,  FL.   After the reception, Stephanie and I went to dinner, where it was lobster night.   Of course, we ate too much (well I did), and then we had my birthday celebration with the dining staff.  Once again, they  did a great job helping us to celebrate, and I even got another small Birthday Cake.

Since we had some of the birthday cake left over, along with a few of the assorted sweets that had also brought out, we asked for a “to go” container. One of the nearby wait staff actually put it into a handmade foil swan. We had fun taking pictures with our new pet!

We caught up with Ruthe and Brian later on in the Explorer’s lounge, and then we all went up to the Skywalker’s Night Club, which is located in the very top and rear of the ship, giving it the appearance of a car spoiler.

 We danced some and just had a fun night talking about things we have in common, and various different cruises and trips we have been on.  We had a great time, just ended up staying up late, and we had another hour time loss again to make it even later. We are now 4 hours ahead of Eastern Time, with one more hour to go before we are on London time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today we woke up late from the previous nights birthday “celebrating”. The wind had picked up, but at least it was somewhat sunny. According to the noon weather report from the bridge, the winds today are blowing about 30-35 knots.  However, the seas are not that bad.  The water temperature is now at about 53 degrees, and today’s high is supposed to be in the low 50’s.

It is nice to have the glass covered pool on the Sun Deck, towards the middle of the ship, and also nice that it is no longer empty due to maintenance. It is a comfortable place to sit out of the cool and windy weather.

We walked around the ship and also played some cards in the afternoon before heading out to meet up with Ruthe and Brian in the Atrium area.

We sat around chatting with them before Stephanie and I went for Vigil Mass at 5:30 in the Explorer’s Lounge. We then got back together with our friends for drinks before we all headed in to get ready for dinner.

After dinner, everyone met at the Explorer’s Lounge to listen to music. Later on, we all went to the Skywalker’s Nightclub for dancing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we are approaching Ireland and Scotland, we have seen more small ships and birds. Once again, it is somewhat cloudy and overcast, and of course, cooler as we continue to head North-Eastward to Scotland.

We went for lunch at the buffet, and walked around the atrium shops. In the afternoon, we attended a champagne art auction, where the ship’s navigation chart was auctioned off for charity for $500.

We took it easy today, mostly resting for our first port of call tomorrow in Scotland, and knowing we still have one more hour to change  on the clocks tonight. We realize it will be tough getting up early for the first day in a while, we were getting used to sleeping in. The ship is scheduled to dock in Greenock, Scotland tomorrow at 7:00 am, and with the time change,  it will seem like 6:00 am to us. We certainly questioned the logic of making the last time change on the night before our port call instead of the night before, but since we are not in charge, will have to accept it. It means that not only do we have to get up early, we will also lose an hour of sleep at the same time.

Later in the afternoon, in the distance, we could see a lighthouse on the western coast of Ireland. It was the first land we had seen in six days since leaving Bermuda.

We went to a casual dress night dinner and turned in early. Tomorrow will be our first port of call, Greenock, Scotland. We will be getting up early to catch our trains for the trip into Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland.