Ft. Lauderdale to Hamburg Transatlantic Cruise – 2017

We woke up much earlier this morning, having set the wake up call for 7:30 AM.  It was still really dark outside at that early hour, possibly due to our being farther northward.  This was the last time we needed to adjust our watches, we are finally on the same time as all of the ports in Europe we will visit.

Our Position This Morning

We did not get up and going right away, it took about thirty more minutes before we actually got up and dressed for breakfast.  I worked on the computer and Stephanie rested just a bit longer, but we were still way ahead of yesterday.  We got showers and were ready for breakfast at about 9:30 AM, maybe a record time for a sea day on this cruise so far.

We both went down to the International Cafe on Deck 5 for breakfast instead of bringing our breakfast back to the room.  We wanted to let our cabin steward clean the room, and we needed to get out and start our day.

We got our breakfast sandwiches and I also got a hot chocolate from the coffee bar, and Stephanie had her usual Diet Coke.  We sat near a window and watched the ocean go by.  It was quite rough this morning, but the sun was peeking through the clouds at times.  The waves were about as high as the windows on Deck 5, and being so close to the water, it appeared we were going really fast, although we were sort of creeping along at about 16 knots.  The wind was from the bow of the ship, so we could tell it was really windy out on the open decks.

After breakfast, we headed to the Wheelhouse Bar, it is really quiet there in the morning since the bar itself is not yet open, nor is the adjacent Crown Grill restaurant.  We had left the International Cafe mainly due to the noise from the hula hoop exercise class that had started in the Piazza area of Deck 5.  It was funny to watch people that are not coordinated trying to hula hoop, but the music was too loud, as well as the constant high volume of voice commands from the person leading the exercise class.  It can be quite annoying when you are trying to read or concentrate on something else.  Plus, who really wants to watch people doing exercise, especially with a hula hoop.  We really wish there was another venue for the exercise class, not the main floor of an open area of the ship.   I guess they have to have a central area for all of the extroverted people to get entertained in public.

I worked on the blog while Stephanie read her book.  We stayed in the Wheelhouse Bar for about an hour before deciding today was a good day to do a load of laundry. 

We had a few things we needed to wash that we did not want to have over dried by the ship’s laundry service, so we went back to the cabin, got the laundry and Gain Detergent pods and headed to the laundromat, hoping it was not too busy.  There are laundromats on each deck, and they are close to the rear of the ship, quite a distance from our cabin nearer to the bow.  We had to chance it that we would find an open washer since they are too far away to visit first just to see if they are busy or not, we would probably lose any open machine in the time it takes to go back to the cabin, get the dirty laundry, and walk back.  There are only four washers and four dryers on each deck, not many compared to the number of passengers.

We lucked out, there was one open washer when we arrived, so we purchased washer and dryer tokens from the machine and got our load started.  They post approximate times for a wash cycle and for a dry cycle, so we checked our watch and headed out to get an adult beverage while the clothes were washing during the 35 minute cycle.

Laundry Beverages

It is our tradition to have one adult beverage while doing laundry so that it seems like part of our vacation instead of a chore.  We went to the Outrigger Bar on the stern of the ship for our favorite morning beverages, a Bloody Caesar and Bellini.  Unfortunately, Arturo was not there, so we ordered drinks from his replacement,  who we do not really like.  She did not make me the drink I requested, using bloody mary mix instead of the Clamato that is the normally used mixer for the Bloody Caesar.  It tasted awful, but we did not want to make a scene, so we left and headed to another bar to get a properly made drink.  It was really cold and windy outside, so we did not stay any longer than it took to get my replacement drink.  What should have been an easy drink order and relaxing wait for the washer to finish turned into a hectic run around the ship, arriving back at the laundromat with our drinks close to the time the cycle ended.  We did not want to tie up the washer more than the 35 minute wash cycle, it causes people to get a little angry. 

Issues With Our Tokens And The Token Machine

We only had to wait a couple of minutes until washer was finished.  Luckily, someone was also just finishing unloading their dryer, so within a few minutes, our clothes were in the dryer.  Unfortunately, I had not purchased the correct tokens for the dryer, having purchased two soap dispenser tokens instead.  It took us a little bit to figure out why we could not get the dryer started, it used the same tokens as the washer, not the smaller tokens for the detergent dispenser.  When I had made my selection on the screen, I had assumed I was choosing one washer token and two dryer tokens, obviously I should have worn my glasses.  Now, the automated token machine was not working, so I headed downstairs one floor to the laundromat there, and found that the token machine there was not operating either.  Now I had to go to the purser’s desk on deck 5 near the bow of the ship to report the token machine issue, and hopefully, get the correct tokens for the dryer.  They did not have tokens at the purser’s desk, but called someone to reset the token machines.  I was able to turn in the soap tokens there and they credited my onboard account for the $3.00. 

By the time I returned to the laundromat, the person was there to reboot the token keypad, but it did not work initially, and he had to reset it several times.  Finally, after about 30 minutes of token problems, we were finally able to start our clothes in the dryer.  This laundry adventure had gotten way more complicated than we had ever envisioned.

During the dryer cycle, we planned on going to the buffet for lunch.  They were having sushi at the buffet today, and we wanted to try it, having missed out on eating any on the only day they had served it earlier in the cruise.  It was better than on past cruises, but still not quite as good as at most any restaurant at home.  The rice is gummy and sort of hard.

Stephanie headed back to the laundromat to pull my shirts out of the dryer before they completely dried, and I headed back to the cabin to get some hangers.  We met about halfway back between our cabin and the laundry, it had taken me much longer to get the hangers than for Stephanie to get some of the partially dried clothes out of the dryer.  We both went to the cabin to hang them up, and waited there for the remainder of the 45 minute dryer cycle time.  Apparently, there was a little rebellion going on in the laundry when Stephanie had gone for my shirts, people had pulled out someone else’s washer load that had finished while they were not there, and they were not happy when they returned and found that their wet clothes were sitting on top of a washer.  We did not want to be late and suffer the same fate for our clothes in the dryer.

We got back about two minutes before the dryer finished, pulled out the remainder of our clothes and took them back to the cabin.  Laundry had been much more tedious than we had planned, but we were finally done.

We headed to the Piazza to read and try and upload some pictures to the blog, but the satellite internet was too slow, either from the rough seas or from high usage by fellow passengers, or both.  The entertainment staff was hosting a “horse race” in the piazza, so we went up one deck to watch that from above, and ran into Sam and Glenda.  The horse racing is interesting, they take bets, and then use three dice to move the horses based on the numbers that are rolled.  Once the race is over, the winning tickets are paid out based on the odds and amount of money placed on the bets.

We talked with Sam and Glenda for a little bit, and then went to their cabin to see if my Nikon camera battery charger would work on his different model Nikon camera battery, Sam had left his charger at home.  Upon inspection, it looked like they used the same battery, so I went to the cabin to get my charger.  Sam and Glenda have a mini-suite cabin, and it was really nice and quite large.  We had never seen the inside of a mini-suite on either of the newer ships, the Royal Princess and the Regal Princess.  While the battery was charging, we had a nice chat in their cabin.

Stephanie and I headed back to Vines to play some cards, and drink a glass of wine, and listen to the music in the Piazza.  We stayed until about 5:00 PM, and then headed back to the cabin to get ready for the last formal night of the cruise.

String Quartet In The Piazza

Once we were dressed, we went back to Vines for a tapas and glass of red wine.  We had decided to eat in Alfredo’s tonight, so at about 6:30 PM, we headed up one level to the restaurant. We had gone through the buffet earlier to see what was being served there, and discovered that they were serving Stephanie’s favorite spicy cheese rolls, normally only served on formal nights.  We knew they served them in the Dining Room, but apparently, they now also served them in the buffet. 

Tapas And Wine in Vines

When we arrived at Alfredo’s, Stephanie asked our waiter if she could get some of the spicy cheese rolls for us for dinner.  At first they were not sure, but in a bit, four of the rolls arrived at our table.  Even our waiter said they were her favorites.  After having our appetizers, I ordered a specialty pizza and Stephanie ordered a pasta dish with eggplant.  

Stephanie’s Favorite Rolls

After dinner, we headed to the Wheelhouse Bar and eventually were joined by Dagmar and Gerd, our new friends from Berlin.  Eventually, Sam and Glenda also joined us, and we had a good evening there, staying a little later than we had planned, go figure. 

Chuck, Gerd and Dagmar in the Wheelhouse Bar

At about 11:30 PM, we headed back to the cabin for the night, happy that we were not losing another hour to the dreaded time change.  I started watching the latest Jason Bourne movie on the TV, but did not last long before I was falling asleep.  We set a wake up call for 8:00 AM tomorrow, still trying to get up earlier to force ourselves to adjust to the time.