A Day At Sea

One of the interesting (to me) features of this particular itinerary is that we will have a full week of At Sea Days (not consecutively). These are days where we have nothing but the ship and its occupants to amuse and entertain us. Carolyn (she and her husband, David, are our traveling buddies) and I have both heard from several sources that the Panama Canal cruise is one people enjoy doing multiple times. Perhaps it's all the forced days of relaxation? I'll let you know in a few weeks. In the meantime, we had our first At Sea Day yesterday.

Still trying to get on this time zone, Rob and I finally emerged from our cabin at about 10:45a in search of a buffet. Afterwards, we walked around the top part of the ship, gazed at Cuba in the distance, and made our way to The Princess Theater for what was billed to be an informational lecture about our first two ports, including shopping and “what to see, where to go” info to keep us in the know.

Carolyn was smart and left for an art history talk about 30 minutes into what should have been billed as the “Diamonds, Emeralds, Tanzanite, and You” show. David, Rob, and I suffered until the very end because, well, lots of FREE GIFTS, RAFFLE PRIZES and MORE!! were promised. That plus we wanted to know about Aruba and Cartagena. What we learned about Aruba: it's THE place to get DIAMONDS!! Cartagena? Look for the taxi drivers with light blue shirts; the other ones are more expensive. We'll find out in a few days if that tidbit was worth the 90 minutes spent with Professional Shopper Cristina that we will never get back.

I am not sure why, but it appears that the stereotypical female cruiser LOVES TO SHOP! And more than that, she LOVES JEWELRY! Throughout her infomercial for all the stores getting kick-backs from the cruise line, Cristina told us again and again how much we all LOVE diamonds and how we all DESERVE diamonds and how our husbands NEED to buy us diamonds! And if we already have a diamond ring, well, we need a BIGGER one! The one good thing about this nauseating pitch was that I was only hungry for a small lunch at my next buffet visit.

Having sat for far too long with nothing to show for it but muscle spasms, I set out for a walk while Rob, David, and Carolyn stuck around for what turned out to be a much more informative talk about Aruba by a man who could care less about SHOPPING!

Armed with my iPod, baseball hat, walking shoes, and a refilled bottle of water, I found my way to the Promenade Deck where signs told me that 1 mile = 2.8 laps. 7 laps later, my baseball hat was safely in my hand, my hair was standing straight up from the wind, my sunglasses were coated with sea water, and I needed to change shirts. But I had a great time! I enjoyed looking at the incredibly blue water and its turquoise bubbles. I enjoyed watching our ship pull farther and farther away from a rival cruise ship to the east. I enjoyed feeling warm outside for the first time since August. And I enjoyed saying to myself, “Look, that's Cuba!” What I didn't enjoy so much was being passed and lapped by just about everyone else who was promenading. I tell you, the cruise women who don't shop walk. And they walk with gusto and purpose. And they came prepared with sports gear and Shape-Up shoes and eco-friendly metal water bottles. While I was just out for a therapeutic stroll, these women – all my senior – were very serious and apparently in training for something. Or they were trying to knock out their work-out in record time so they could hit the “Spanish@Sea for Beginners” class. Either way, not a one of them was familiar to me from my year spent with Shopping Maven Cristina earlier in the day.

Ditching the Formal Night, the four of us had dinner at the front of the ship in the buffet with others who have no interest in wearing fancy clothes in humid weather. Afterwards, we wandered around a bit, discovered the “Motor City” song and dance revue was packed, and headed back to our rooms. Realizing it was still early and we'd never get on our time zone if we called it a night at 8:30p, Rob and I headed back out a bit later to find some wine and music. We ended up in the Explorers Lounge watching people “dance to the music of Exotique!” The five-person R&B band was actually quite good and I thoroughly enjoyed watching older couples dance to songs of their youth in shimmery gowns and sensible shoes. It was very heartwarming to see love and relaxation and coupleness span so many years.

We have another At Sea Day today. So far our plans include a Soccer Shoot-Out (Rob), a Port Enrichment Lecture about Cartagena (all of us), Afternoon Tea (me and Carolyn), and an outdoor Movie Under the Stars (at least me and maybe Rob since there are rumors of free popcorn and chocolate chip cookies). Tomorrow is our first port...Aruba. After two days of being slightly off-balance (1 Dramamine so far), it will be interesting to see what it feels like to walk on solid ground.