Anniversary Cruise! A Day at Sea

Day at Sea
Photo by Chris. All rights reserved.

Fabulous. Relaxing. Unwinding. That's what a day at sea is for me. I love the visits to the exotic ports, the tours, the sights. But at sea, you have a chance to just...be. So what did I decide to be? A laundry woman and packer. I know, I know. How crazy is it to spend your last cruise day doing [gag] laundry? But the laundry room was right down the hall from our cabin, and we still had four days of vacation left on land in Puerto Rico. I wanted clean clothes, and I didn't want to pack dirty clothing into our suitcases. Maybe I'm a little obsessive-compulsive. But I'm getting ahead of myself again.

Hanging out on the balcony.
Photo by Chris. All rights reserved.

The sea was very smooth, with barely a whitecap to be seen. And the weather was very warm and muggy, which surprised me for some reason. I guess I expected it to be cooler and drier out on the open water. But it was still lovely. Disappointingly, there were no lounge chairs on the Promenade Deck, only regular deck chairs. But they redeemed themselves by being made of wood instead of plastic. We decided to sit out on our balcony between loads of laundry, then went up on deck, and finally managed to alight in the lounge. So much spare time, so little to do but relax. Sounds terrible, no?

Terri, Mick, and Harry
Future hunting buddies? Maybe...
Photo by Chris. All rights reserved.

At the lounge, we enjoyed a beverage and some casual conversation with the Mick and Terri, the couple we had met on the tour in Grenada. They invited us to come to Colorado for a visit. We invited them to come to California to see us (He's only been as far west as Nevada). It won't happen, of course, but the whole point is that it definitely could. And we'd be delighted.

Light-hearted fun night.
Photo by Chris. All rights reserved.

The talent show tonight featured the ship's crew, and quite talented they were, too. I was expecting something akin to a high school production, but it was really very entertaining. We had been tempted to do some late-night clubbing, but we opted out in favor of returning to the cabin to finish packing, as you're supposed to have your bags outside your cabin door by 10 p.m. Are they kidding?

Chocolate decadence.
Photo by Chris.
All rights reserved.

But I guess that with so many people on board and with so many different destinations for the bags to go once the ship docks early in the morning, it takes all night to organize everything. Keeping in mind that the cruise line is not responsible for your bags when they're in the hallway, how comfortable do you feel leaving them out there for who knows how long, at the mercy of who knows what kind of brigands passing by? But simply put those thoughts out of your head, because it'll be fine. Really. Just don't put your camera or jewelry out there. Keep things like that with you, in your overnight bag. And keep a change of clothing with you in your overnight bag, too, because you don't want to disembark in your jammies. Or maybe you do, but most people don't.

I couldn't get to sleep. I guess I was pretty excited about meeting Bob and Karen in San Juan and exploring Puerto Rico a little bit. Harry, however, was sleeping soundly. So, I went out on the balcony, and it was very dark and raining, but it was not hot. We were passing around the west end of Puerto Rico. I could see what I thought must have been the light from a lighthouse in the distance, and then far-away lights on shore. My anticipation grew by the minute and I wasn't tired, but I forced myself to go to bed anyway. And the next thing I knew, it was the gray light of dawn.

Follow me to land.
Photo by Chris. All rights reserved.