Fort Lauderdale to Copenhagen Transatlantic Cruise – 2016

The windy weather continued during the night and also into this morning.  We attempted to sleep in a little after yesterday’s tiring travel day.  We were only partially successful since the ship was rocking from the waves.

I went ahead and got up to see if there would be a sunrise photo opportunity from our balcony.  However, since we are heading almost due east, the sun was directly in front of the ship and I was unable to get any good photos without leaving the room, and that was not something I was eager to do.

We slept a little longer before going ahead and getting up and showering.  I went out and got a coffee, two bottled waters, and a Diet Coke for Stephanie.  There was a lot of activity going on in the Atrium for what I though was a fairly early time of day, around 8:00 AM.  However, we had forgotten that there was a scheduled time change overnight, so it was really 9:00 AM, we had lost an hour as we are slowly adjusting to the time in Europe, which will eventually be a total of six hours ahead of Eastern Time.

After Stephanie finished getting ready, we headed out for breakfast in the Buffet.  After breakfast, we walked around up on decks 16 and 17 trying to locate somewhere that might be out of the wind.  The temperature was supposed to be in the low 70’s today, and partly cloudy, so we hoped that we might find somewhere protected to sit in the sunshine.

We found one area on the starboard side of the ship, so we went and put on our bathing suits.  By the time we got back it had turned cloudy, so we wrapped up in some towels and sat out anyway.  Eventually the clouds diminished, so we were able to get a little sun, but the sunshine was often obscured as we headed through cloudy areas.  It was interesting because there were also periods where we felt very light misty rain showers falling from the lower clouds.

By later in the afternoon, the clouds almost disappeared, and we actually had to put on sunscreen.  However, it was still not that warm with the steadily blowing winds of around 25 mph.

Even later in the day, as the sun was more towards the stern of the ship, we found that the Outrigger Bar area on Deck 16 was fairly protected from the wind, and there are some really comfortable chairs to sit in and enjoy the view out the stern of the ship as we head across the Atlantic.  We met a couple of the bartenders there as we sampled some of their specialty drinks.  The Outrigger Bar specializes in making various types of Bloody Mary’s and Margaritas.  Their Margaritas are made from fresh juices, and not from margarita mixes.

Stephanie tried one made with fresh Jalapeño peppers that are muddled in the drink, similar to a Mojito.  The bartender had said it was really hot, and it was.  It even got hotter over time as the pepper oils continued to come out of the peppers.  There were only two or three rings of pepper slices in the entire drink, but they were hot.  It was just an overpowering pepper flavor that was not really enjoyable to drink, so, as the bartender had predicted, the drink went unfinished and was replace with something more enjoyable.

We headed back to the cabin to get showers and dress for dinner.  We did not see anything on the dining room menu that incentivized us to go to the dining room, so we just headed to the buffet for dinner.  There were a few good items on the buffet, and we did not leave hungry.

We had been told by the Bartenders in the Outrigger Bar that the Bellini’s Bar in the Atrium specialized in Bellini’s (hard to imagine) so we headed there for Stephanie to try one of their specialties.  It is made with pomegranate juice, champagne, and a some other items, and she really enjoyed their version of the Classic Bellini.

It was getting late so we headed back to the cabin, we were still tired from yesterday’s travel, and the time change last night did not help.  We also change another hour tonight, making it even worse.