The seas were much better today than yesterday. Even though there were still some large swells, there was hardly any wind, so the ride was much better, and it was easier to walk around on the open decks.
We did not sleep in quite as long today, we are gaining some hours as we adjust to Eastern Time as we cross the Atlantic Ocean. We will change by an hour once again tonight, and will then only be two hours ahead.
We kept our routine of having breakfast sandwiches in the room, it is easier than going to the buffet, and as I said before, we eat less. I am always surprised how many other people are in the line at the International Cafe, it is pretty popular. Part of the reason may be that it is next to the coffee bar, so people are going to both. There are a couple of other places to get fresh brewed and specialty coffees on board, but the normal buffet serves coffee in bulk made from concentrated coffee syrup.
After breakfast, we walked for about 40 minutes out on the walking path on Deck 18. It was a lot more enjoyable today, especially since the wind was not nearly as strong as yesterday. We actually got a little sore from our walk yesterday, having to fight both the wind and rocking ship movement was physically difficult, and we were putting a lot more effort into maintaining our balance than would be the case on a normal walk.
After exercising, we headed to visit with the bartenders at the Seaview Bar and get some bottled waters. After drinking our waters, we both had one morning drink, my usual Bloody Caesar, and Stephanie’s Bellini. We needed to spend a little time outside so that our room steward could clean the room.
We headed back to the room to apply sunscreen and put on our bathing suits before heading up to Deck 17 to sit in the sunshine. It was a little more overcast at times today, but was warmer and quite enjoyable to be outside. At 12:20, Tyrone came out to the pool deck stage and played his steel drum for 45 minutes.
After the steel drum session ended, we headed to the buffet for some lunch. The selections were not that appealing. We had thought about pizza, but the specialty pizza for today had tuna on it, and that was not something we liked on pizza.
We found a few things to eat, and then headed to the pastry line, where the selections for today were really good. At least I was full, but Stephanie does not really like the pastries, so she opted for a cone of soft serve chocolate ice cream at the outside ice cream bar.
We headed back to our chairs in the sunshine. At 2:30 PM we headed to the Seaview Bar to watch the flair show. The weather was much nicer than for the previous show several days ago, so there was quite a crowd at the bar for the show.
After sitting in our chairs for a while longer, we headed to the putting green on Deck 19 at the rear of the ship. We initially thought it was a putt putt course like on some of the other ships, but it was only a putting green, with several holes.
We sort of made our own putt putt course by alternating through the different holes. Since the green was in the shape of an “H”, we played some holes that required going around corners and bouncing off of the perimeter barriers.
After playing our modified putt putt, we headed to the bow of the ship to the pool there. We had wanted to visit with Jorge who works at this pool’s bar, but he was already gone on break. We had a refreshment and enjoyed the hot tubs in this area, which seemed warmer than when we had tested them at the beginning of the cruise. They were almost too hot, but felt good on our muscle aches from walking and using the resistance machines along the walking path.
It was about 5:15 PM, so we headed back to the cabin to get ready for dinner. We stopped by to look at the menu for the dining room. It was a Mediterranean themed dinner, and we did not see much that warranted spending time there.
After showering and dressing for dinner, we walked through the buffet to see what they had to offer. It was also a Mediterranean theme and there were some interesting items, but nothing really appealed to us. We stopped by at Vines and had a glass of wine, some tapas, and a plate of cheeses from the International cafe. We decided to just head to Alfredo’s Pizzeria for dinner instead of going to the buffet.
There was some nice music being played in the Atrium, there was a string quartet playing that alternated playing in the afternoons and evenings for the entire cruise, so we had pleasant music for our dinner. We also got to sit next to the window, and enjoy the ocean passing by while we ate.
There were some rain storms developing and the ship passed through a few while we were eating dinner. Alfredo’s is on deck 6, so you are really close to the level of the ocean, and at times, some of the waves made by the ship’s bow seemed higher than we were.
After dinner, we headed to Bellini’s to visit with the crowd there and have a couple of drinks. While we were there, Jorge came by to visit with us. He and Nemo are best friends on the ship. We did not stay late at Bellini’s because we wanted to walk around on the pool deck since we have not really been out much after dark on the open decks.
We stopped by the Seaview Bar and visited with Franz and Orville, who were doing an inventory check. Rommel came by and sat with us and we had a good visit with all three. The crew was having a crew party tonight, and Rommel had to leave to go and be the bartender for their party. We also called it a night and headed back to the room.