Note: Yesterday, I made an error and didn’t upload the post. Thus, we heard from several readers last night asking if we were okay. Gosh, we appreciate the concern. And yes, we are fine. In the flurry of activity aboard the ship, I simply got distracted and failed to upload the post that I am loading now. Tomorrow, we’ll catch up, but today will be an easy day for me since I’ll only upload this one post instead of doing another.
This cruise ends in four days. There will be two more sea days over the next four days until we disembark in Boston on the 30th. We don’t mind sea days. It gives us plenty of time to relax and enjoy lively conversation with other passengers. Some days, we take a nap; others, we do not. It all depends on how late we got to bed the previous night.
Last night, after dinner with Laura and Les, a couple we met early on and another couple. We had a lovely dinner, and then Tom and I headed to the Rendezvous Bar and spent time chatting and rocking to the music. By about 11:00 pm, we decided to make it an early night. We nodded off by midnight but woke up very early this morning.
There have been several time changes, including a few 30-minute changes, which is odd. I can’t get my broken Fitbit to show the correct time. I’ll have to wait until we get to the US and buy a new device since mine broke on the last cruise, and it can’t keep recording sleep time and the correct local clock time. When the WiiFi works well, I may consider some options online, but I haven’t purchased anything yet.
This morning, as always, we’re comfortably situated in Cafe al Bacio at our favorite table for four, which somehow ends up available for us each morning after Tom has breakfast. He gets up early and heads to the Oceanview Cafe, where he orders bacon and eggs.
Afterward, he heads back to the cabin to collect the laptops and races to the coffee shop to ensure he can get our favorite table. At that point, I get up, shower, dress for the day, and do whatever little projects I may have on the agenda before departing the stateroom. Usually, by 8:30 or 9:00, I join Tom at the table. Often, passengers ask if they can “share” the table with us, and we’re always happy to do so, especially when an interesting conversation ensues.
During these conversations, I get sidetracked and stop writing the post to participate in the conversation. Often, it takes me the better part of the morning to get a post uploaded, especially with the slow loading of photos, which is much better on this ship but still a challenge at times when so many passengers are online.
We love our little routine on the ship in the same way we relish routines we establish wherever we may be living at any given time. There’s a pleasing sense of comfort in having habits in our nomadic life, unlike most people when they aren’t traveling. We never feel bored or disinterested in our routines, providing us with a great balance in our peculiar lifestyle.
It”s a pleasant feeling knowing we’ll be visiting family and friends when we get to the US in only five days. This will be the longest period (one month) we’ve stayed in Minnesota since our travels commenced almost 11 years ago (as of October 31). It will be fun to spend extra time with our kids and grandkids. During this stay, we’ll have enough time to see many of our friends while in Minnesota, which has been tough to do on shorter stays in the past.
Sorry, we don’t have much exciting news today. Tomorrow, we’ll be at a port and take photos and share experiences after returning to the ship. On these quiet sea days, there’s little to share other than to say how much fun we’re having and how much we like cruising.
Be well.
Photo from ten years ago today, August 25, 2013:
