As the Captain had forecasted yesterday in the noon weather update, this morning was foggy and windy, but with the wind coming from the stern instead of a head wind from the bow like we have had on all of the previous four sea days. Today is the last of the five sea days before we arrive in Halifax tomorrow. We had some periods of sunny weather yesterday, especially in the afternoon, but it doesn’t look like we will see the sun anytime today.
We did sleep in, even with the additional hour from moving back the clocks, we were not inclined to leave the room early today after seeing the weather outside.
I went to the International Café and got us yogurt parfaits and a specialty coffee. We are both suffering from some congestion, Stephanie has had it for several days, and I started feeling the effects a couple of days ago. It is not bad, just more of an aggravating issue to deal with, especially in the mornings. The hot coffee certainly helps to loosen the congestion up.
After we got ready, we headed out to try and find somewhere to sit inside, knowing it was probably not going to be easy. We first tried to see if the weather outside at the Outrigger Bar was tolerable, but the wind from the stern of the ship was blowing faster than the ship was travelling, so it was windy and rainy out there. Then we tried the middle of the ship out by the pool, but it was both rainy and windy there. We headed inside and wandered around several decks and could not find an open seat anywhere. Finally, we found a seat in the gelato bar and started to play some cards. We played a few hands, and then they started the egg drop contest in the Atrium. Quite a few people entered the contest and most were successful in protecting their eggs from the two story fall, several using parachutes. One group cheated, they entered a hard boiled egg, and it was fun to see them get caught. They obviously knew they would get caught, they had hardly protected the egg, and everyone was amazed it only cracked a little when it was first inspected. The judge dropped it on the floor and it bounced, and the joke was out. In past times when we have seen this contest, all of the successful eggs are dropped after they are taken out of their protection to verify they are still raw eggs, but it was not done for each successful drop this cruise, probably too messy.
We stopped at the Vines Bar and talked with Terri and Bill, and then headed up to Bellini’s to get a beverage. Afterward, we headed to lunch in the buffet, and it was really crowded with people just sitting and talking at the tables, so it was hard to find a spot to sit and eat. We have concluded this might be our last cooler weather cruise, it is just too crowded inside the ship when no one can get outside.
After lunch, we got a couple of small Korbel Champagnes to go and took them to the room to have while we started our packing effort. It was early to start packing, but with the bad weather today, it was something we could get accomplished. Stephanie had gone by Crooner’s and Jason made her a small Bellini kit, some orange juice, peach schnapps and the two small Korbel’s so we could make Bellini’s in the room while we packed. We were certainly done with all of the formal clothes, and also some of the clothes we might have worn to the dining room, which we were no longer going to need. If we do decide to go to the dining room again before the cruise ends, we have some long pants that we can always wear there that are acceptable, but a little more casual than we would normally wear.
After packing as much as we could, we rested some in the room. I worked on the blog, and Stephanie napped. We had hoped the weather would improve as the day progressed, but it was still very windy, and the ship was rolling some because the waves were from behind and to the side. The Captain had said that the waves were about 4.5 meters, mainly due to the interaction of the wind and the opposing direction of the Gulf Stream currents.
We headed out again at around 5:15 PM, going to the Crooners Bar to see what was going on in the Atrium area. There was not much of a crowd, many people were already going to their 5:00 PM early dinner seating, so we were able to get two chairs at the bar and visit with Jason and Henry, the bartenders there.
At about 6:30 PM, we headed up to the buffet for dinner, the theme tonight was southern Asian, and we had no idea what that really was. There were several oriental dishes, and the best one was shrimp and vegetable tempura, which we had not ever seen on a cruise before. It was really good. While we were eating, the Captain came on the loudspeakers requesting anyone with a blood donor card for O-negative blood to come down to the ship’s medical facility, there was a patient in critical need of a transfusion. It was sort of a scary thing to think about, it was too rough and windy for any type of helicopter evacuation. We hoped the ill person would be OK.
There was a comedian, Carlos Oscar, doing shows in the Princess Theater at 8:00 PM and 10:00 PM, so we stopped by Crooners again before heading to the 8:00 PM show, right before it started. The show was really crowded, and there was not a lot of room to even stand in the back, which was our plan. Luckily, there were some large TV screens on the sides of the stage, so we mostly watched him perform via the screen, which was fine, we still got to hear the live interaction of the crowd’s responses to his jokes. He was really good, and we were glad we had decided to go. He will do another different show on the last night of the cruise, so we may go and see him again.
We headed back to Crooners for a nightcap, and once again, the Captain came on the loudspeaker thanking all of the blood donors who had responded to the earlier request, and that the patient was stable, but still critical, and we were now heading to Halifax at maximum speed. We could tell there was more vibration in the ship, and the additional speed actually made the ride smoother. We were now scheduled to arrive in Halifax at about 1:00 AM, instead of 7:00 AM, and they would anchor in the harbor and use a tender to evacuate the patient. Apparently there was a ship staying overnight at our spot on the pier and since it was not leaving until tomorrow morning, we had to anchor.
We had another beverage in Crooners and then headed back to the cabin. We gain another hour on the clock tonight, but we did not want to stay out late since tomorrow is a port day with Barb and Mike in Halifax. We actually were able to finish a movie we had started before retiring for the night.