Ft. Lauderdale to Hamburg Transatlantic Cruise – 2017

When we finally got up, we discovered it was another beautiful weather day as we continue to cross the Atlantic.  The time changes have not been easy to adapt to, we will need to try and start getting up earlier so that we can adjust.  By the time we got up and got ready today, it was already 10:30 AM, and we barely made it to breakfast in the buffet before it closed.  They were already setting up some of the stations for lunch.  We were not alone in getting there late, it was actually pretty crowded.  Obviously, other passengers were having the same issues adjusting to the time as us, or, possibly just sleeping in and relaxing on a sea day, why not.

After breakfast, we headed to Deck 6 and the Bellini lounge to work on the blog posts for the first two days we have been on the ship.  While I typed, Stephanie had a classic Bellini and read her book.  This is a good time to work on the posts since we needed to give our cabin steward time to clean the room.

Enjoying The Sunshine

After completing the posts, we headed back to the room, which had been cleaned.  We had visited the open decks outside before we headed to Bellini’s, and had found that is was a little windy, but still warm enough in wind protected areas to sit out in the sun.  We put on our sunscreens and headed out to Deck 17, and found a nice calm and warm spot to enjoy the sunshine.

At about 2:00 PM, we decided we should eat some lunch, so we headed to the pizza and hamburger stations by the pool and Stephanie had pizza and I had a cheeseburger with fries.  We sat at the bar and had a couple of glasses of Pinot Grigio wine with our lunch.

Tiny White Spot Is A Whale Spout

After lunch, we headed back to the lounge chairs and enjoyed a couple of more hours in the sunshine.  I just happened to see something make a large splash out in the ocean, and we discovered that there were a couple of whales swimming as we passed by.  They were at least a half mile from the ship, so we never really saw their bodies, but it was easy to tell they were whales from the spouts we could see as the blew out their breaths of air.  Of course, we did not have our binoculars with us, they were still in the cabin.

Yummy Margarita Made By Arturo

At about 4:15 PM, we headed to the stern of the ship to visit with Arturo in the Wheelhouse Bar.  We discussed key limes and making margaritas, certainly a good topic since Arturo is from Mexico.  He made me a 24K Margarita, but made it the way I would at home, so it certainly had a good kick to it.  It was so good, I even had another.  Stephanie stuck to her Seagram’s VO and ginger ale, not being a fan of tequila.

Captain’s Reception

We left Outrigger’s at about 6:00 PM, and headed back to the cabin to get ready for the Captain’s Reception and champagne waterfall event at 7:30 PM in the Piazza.  Of course, this was the first formal night of the cruise, so we got dress up and headed to Vines to watch the event.  We had a glass of wine at Vines, and then headed up to Bellini’s to get a different type of red wine, one that we like, but is not served at Vines.

Dressed in Our Formal Clothes For the Evening

We had not seen anything on the dining room menu that we thought was worthy of spending time there, so we headed right across the deck from Bellini’s to Alfredo’s.  It is nice because we can get the wine from Bellini’s that we were already drinking while we are eating at Alfredo’s since Bellini’s is the bar that serves Alfredo’s.  Stephanie had pizza and I had a calzone, both of which we thoroughly enjoyed.

Dinner In Alfredo’s

After eating, we headed to the Wheelhouse Bar for a couple of drinks and to visit with Zivka.  We met two different couples there, one was from Berlin, Dagmar and Gerd, so we talked to them about things to do when we visit Berlin after the cruise.  We also enjoyed listening to Simon play the guitar, and he visited with us for a few minutes after his session was over.

Clemson Cufflinks

After the Wheelhouse Bar, we went to see Ref in the Casino Bar, just to visit.  We did not stay long, and headed back to our cabin for the night.