SUMMARY Too muggy and windy to walk decks in the morning. Lunch at the steakhouse where we have yet to order actual beef. More time on our iDevices, hanging out, etc. - Karen
DETAIL We gained another hour last night so now we’re just two hours different from NYC. We’re ’cheating’ a little bit in terms of how we think about this ‘time change’ thing. We normally fly from Paris to Austin, which are seven time zones apart. We did start in Hamburg but were in Southampton two days later. As such we can tell ourselves we’re going from the UK to NYC, which is only five hours difference. Easy peasy. The only tricky part is paying attention to which days we do change our clocks and which we do not.
After we are really awake we peek out the window to see what horrors Hurricane Ernesto is wreaking on our weather. It doesn’t look bad at all. There are some clouds, and a little more chop and white caps. Maybe the captain can pull this off, after all. We sit in bed, sipping coffee and catching up on who said what at the DNC last night.
Eventually we realize we can’t stay in bed all day (or can we??). We go up to breakfast at the ‘healthy’ area on deck 7. We sit on the other side of the ship from where our cabin is. On this side (south) it’s mostly sunny with blue skies covering a lot of the sky. There are people walking around the ship on this, the promenade, deck (as always) and people soaking in the sun, reclining on the deck chairs. It’s a bit funny, when we do go to the pool/hot tubs we frequently see people trying to examine where on their backs the sun block reached, and where it was missed. To us it’s obvious. Ouch.
Cabin #4040 is on fire on deck 4 (our deck). Well, the ship’s captain would like the crew to act as if it’s on fire. Apparently the regulations under which this ship “sails” require the crew to periodically do certain elaborate drills to prove that they know what to do when “this” happens or when “that” occurs. We’re warned in advance that this will be going on and are requested to steer clear of the action. We’re also asked not to use the promenade deck (deck 7) during the drill. They use smoke bombs and (I assume) repel down from deck 7 to deck 4 to gain access to the “burning” cabin. The alarm goes off (proceeded by an announcement asking that we not abandon ship). Eventually it’s all over. The ship is saved, yay!
Back to our regularly scheduled cruise. The captain, as he does every day, comes over the PA system to update us on our progress and the weather. The captain confirms that they were able to skirt the worst of hurricane Ernesto. We have another 1,117 miles to go, which means we’re more than 1/2 way to New York. We’re crossing the southern tail of The Grand Banks. If we’re going to see any sea life this is where we’d do it. Apparently we’re about 87 miles north of the wreck of the Titanic, but we see no ice burgs.
We have lunch again at the Verandah Steakhouse, looking out the window for any seals or whales or anything. The only fish we see is the sole on our plate. :-(
In the afternoon we walk the deck. The seas are up a bit but still not bad. In the evening performances all of the dancers are in sync. As we walk around the boat all of the walkers similarly lurch to one side, in unison, as the boat moves. It’s a sight.
Karen does one last load of laundry before we get back to Austin. I help her out by keeping my hands off the whole process.
We have dinner planned: we’re eating in the room. Of the two bottles of wine we’re allowed to bring on board we still have one remaining, so that will be our beverage. There’s left over strong cheddar from Karen’s Ploughman’s Lunch the other day. From the buffet we get bread, crackers, more cheese, and desserts. We juggle them as we carry them down the three flights from the buffet restaurant. No disasters, but it was close at times. Everything was tasty and with a bottle of wine the rest of the eventing was spent reclining in bed.
Photos
Running from the fire in Cabin 4040?? No, just out for a morning jog. We're having breakfast and the promenade track is just outside.
Lots of art all over the ship. Much of it is of ships. This one depicts a passenger vessel
but also a "lightship". My mom's dad was an author in the Pacific Northwest and one of his books is named (and is about life on a) Lightship. With GPS they're surely no longer needed.
Karen's starter for lunch. A Caesar salad, made tableside. Not bad.
I had the crab cake. Also pretty good. [Are we digging deep to find any pictures of the day, or what?]
This is the promenade deck, aka the deck chair deck. They're along the railing and also next to the ship proper. We poor promenaders have to walk in the small space between the two. But oh my the blue of the ocean and the sky, it's just ongoing beauty.
Karen doing a load of laundry. Without Scott's help it goes much more smoothly.
Dinner! Who's hungry. Certainly not we, but we eat anyway. Food from before and some stuff scrounged from the buffet. Oh and the bottle of white by Francis Ford Copola. Pretty good dinner. Really liked the wine (bought in Hamburg).
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