Sea Days are Fun Days!

 December 11, 2022

It's another lovely day, even if we can't see the sea very well!  Coffee is coming around seven thirty, after yoga, and all is well!  We hang out on the balcony watching the scenery, drinking our coffee and shooting the breeze with Ma and Robin.  Around ten we decide that a little breakfast snack is in order and go down to the Windjammer.  It's hard but not impossible to find a table and I notice the funny sayings hanging from the ceiling.  I like "All you need is love; but a little chocolate is nice, too!"

This is our sea view!!

Giggle!!

The car is for scale!!

We've been looking at the excursions and decide to go down to Deck 5 and see if we can get some expert guidance and leadership as to the accessibility issues.  While searching for the excursions desk Ma gets drawn into the diamond store and before you know it she has a new pair of tanzanite studs! 

We continue aft and there's an announcement for the celebratory parade!  And we're in just the right place to watch it! Everyone in the various casts is a participant, as well as some of the crew!  We are recognized by the lady who helped us with our internet connections the first day! It's like a cross between a circus and Disney!  There are policemen and firemen and Lady Liberty and birthday cupcakes and St. Patrick's Day dancers and a bride and groom celebrating St. Valentine's Day and pumpkins and a dancing skeleton, all with accompanying music and a light show in the ceiling above! 

We're always on the wrong side!

Now what were we doing before we were so rudely interrupted??  Oh, yes, the excursion desk.  Hmm it's just iPads and no live person in sight.  We've been separated from Robin all morning and decide to go back to the rooms to see if we can connect.  We had read that everyone would be able to text, even without the internet package;  but it's not so!  

Surprise, surprise!  She's in the room and we decide to go ahead and book the excursions for Aruba and Curacao.  Labadee, Haiti will take care of itself. We've also noticed that the Sexiest Man Competition is coming up shortly and we can just make it!  But first we have a fun conversation with our room steward, Igusti, from Indonesia about the way that cruise routes are selected.

So cool to see through the ceiling!

Even with that distraction we are still just in time to watch some very pretty men doing their best to impress!  One of the finalists tries to curry favor with the crowd by turning the spotlight on his wonderful wife!!

About four million watching the sexiest-man competition!

Robin and I are heading down to Deck 5 for the first rehearsal of the Christmas flash mob dance!! We're early and we don't see anybody but about five after two our instructor arrives and there are about thirty of us brave souls.  Only one older couple drops out but the rest of us are in it for the long haul!  It's not too mentally taxing and Robin agrees to stick it out, even though she was hesitant to come with me! We have another rehearsal tomorrow at 11:15 and then the performance is the Day 6! I hope we still remember it!

Ma and Maureen are at the pool and we go back up to our rooms so Robin can put on her suit and I can get my computer.  Whatever I get written this afternoon is less time I'll be up tonight! The breeze is blowing, there music, and life is good!  On the way we ran into Dean.  He's been on his own most of the time because Tobi is really exhausted by doing pretty much anything.  She's been napping off and on all day. Tonight is one of the two formal nights and she's looking forward to that, so that's good! Dinner is at 5:00 (don't ask!) so I should just have time to get this caught up before we go down to change.

The top part changes daily!

calamari with lime aioli sauce - delicious!

baked cod in lemon-butter sauce with spinach hiding underneath

We've been thinking that after dinner we need to go to the Robot Bar and watch an automaton fix us a cocktail! And who knows what other trouble we can get into!!

We get changed into our formal attire, or at least as formal as some of us get, get to dinner just a few minutes after Dean and Tobi, who is all glittery in her formal wear, as are Ma and Robin.  Maureen and I have gone for the less glitter look, but it all works.  Dinner is lovely and our waiter gives us a riddle. "Tim is the son of Jim, so Jim is the _____ of Tim's father."  Answer at the bottom of today's post!

After dinner Dean takes Tobi back upstairs, although there may have been a slight detour to the casino. The rest of us go looking for trouble!  Oops, I mean music and drinks!  First we go searching for the Bionic Bar and finally have to ask one of the ship's personnel.  He points us in the right direction (we were on the right deck, at least!) and I don't feel so bad when he says there isn't a name on it.  But you can the robotic arms if you know what you're looking for!  It's pretty interesting but we decide we don't really need to get a drink there!

Our next stop is the Schooner bar because there is supposed to be piano and music and singing.  It's pretty quiet and we learn that the music doesn't start until ten!  We get drinks and people watch for a while.  Because it's formal night there are ship's photographers everywhere and people are waiting in long lines to immortalize their adventure. We can also see the bar that goes up and down and decide that the people on it look pretty bored!

I had so much fun dancing at Dazzle that this is the only shot I took!

Jazz at 4, with a 20s vibe and a great quartet!

Ribbit! Ribbit!

When we've finished our drinks and exhausted the possibilities of the people watching we do off again in search of music!  We've been using the Royal Caribbean app and it's pretty helpful but it's still hard to find music this early.  Dinner at five really makes life difficult. We find our way to Dazzle and it's pretty quiet, too, but I ask a well-dressed man who is by a computer when the music starts and he says in four minutes! We can wait that long!  He turns out to be a DJ which isn't quite what we had in mind;  but after a short while a real live band kicks in and now we're happy!  After a few numbers I convince Robin to come dance with me and we have a ball, even doing the twist!

Ma's about ready to pack it in so we take her upstairs and then go out one more time.  Now we're hunting for Jazz on 4, and learn that you have to go through the casino to get there!  It's quiet, too, but the quartet is just on break and when they return it is worth it!  Piano, bass, drums, and a wonderful female vocalist who can scat like Ella!  They are really, really good and I learn that water in a glass, not a bottle, is free!  I've already had a rusty nail and don't really need anything else!

We feel droopy and when the band takes a break we go upstairs to discover Kermit in our stateroom!  Fun day and more to come tomorrow!

HMMMM For some reason my phone has decided not to airdrop to my computer, so it will be a while before you get photos, except for a couple I took with my camera!  Sorry!  Working on it!

I've found a work-around!

In the meantime, here's a girl about to fall off the rock-climbing wall, and another of one of the tight-rope walkers from the aqua show practicing a backflip!

And before I sign off here's a video that Maureen took of Ma while Robin and I were dancing in the morning.  She's 94!!!

Answer:  name