Cruise 2025, Day 3: Funkin’ Out at Sea

 

While I love the motion of the ship on these wild seas, last night I had trouble getting to sleep… though of course it could have been from our late night snack. No problem, today we were at sea, so I could sleep in… until some annoying lady made a very loud announcement about how we could do random things like make barbecue salmon balls (it was actually bowls) at a ridiculously early hour. What is this, the Army at sea? We have to get up by a certain time?

Travalon and I went to the Caribbean brunch eventually and were sat at a table with some other random women who had all traveled extensively. We had a very interesting conversation. Then he and I wanted to swim, but the indoor pool was full of kids, so we went to the adults-only outdoor pool. Because of the rocking of the ship, it was a wave pool, and I got quite a workout trying to keep my head above water.

After showering, we went to a high tea, where a string quartet played Christmas carols in the background. We sat with a couple from Cincinnati. The wife was quite seasick, which was surprising since in the morning group it was all their husbands who were having problems. This was a “nutcracker” tea. Check out the small delectables.

The tartlet is a reindeer, and there’s also the Grinch and a Santa hat. 

The tea was really good too. Then Travalon read on the back deck while I went to a watercolor class. It was very popular; I got there twenty minutes early and got the last seat. (They did hold it again an hour later.) We painted jellyfish, and one girl did hers in orange and we all thought it looked like a tangerine. They all said mine looked like a party.

Then Travalon and I checked out a scenic bar we hadn’t been to yet. When we got back to the room, we found a towel animal of a lobster.

We dressed up and went to the formal dining room, where we sat with a nurse whose husband was in the room with seasickness, and a religious sister I recognized from the Mass we went to. (She had done the readings.) We had really interesting conversations with them over Parmesan-encrusted sole. Then Travalon and I changed into funkier clothes to watch the house band play funk. I sure hoped they would play Earth, Wind and Fire - and they played “September” right toward the end of their set, followed by a rousing rendition of “Superfreak.” Fifteen minutes later they returned to play disco, but they did some less popular songs, so the crowd wasn’t as into it until they did some bigger hits. 

We did see a beautiful bird that was either a northern gannet or a masked booby (closely related), and Travalon got photos with his good camera which I can’t post until after we disembark. I’m pretty sure it was a booby.

Famous Hat