Much missed sea day...
Happiness is a deep sleep on a gently rocking ship… sliding glass door open, sea air, sound of waves. Actually, it’s been quite awhile since I have enjoyed such an amazing sleep. Funny because each night we come into our cabin, our steward has closed the curtains and turned down the bed. We immediately open the curtains all the way… and open the sliding glass door! Fresh air!
After enjoying our morning ritual of Bailey’s and Coffee… we settled into the Viking Lounge for a little friendly (or not so friendly) competition. This is our favorite place to play games because of the bird’s eye view! We can see what goes on at the pool, the temperature is perfect and it’s a very quiet venue during the day.
Ultimate Dining Package purchased pre-cruise, we need a stretcher every night after our meal. With a set dinner hour of eight o’clock, it’s usually food coma time by nine thirty. The appetizers (as many as you want) are filling on their own. Then add a delicious entree with shared sides and it’s difficult to make room for dessert… but somehow most manage.
In addition to the complimentary Main Dining Room, Adventure of the Seas offers Chop’s Grille Steakhouse, Giovanni’s Table and Izumi’s. Each venue has the ability to cater to my very restricted diet. Giovanni’s Table (R) offered a gluten free pasta… with a white wine/garlic sauce. The clams made it even more special! On the left is a sample of what Izumi’s has to offer. Thankfully, they had a soy free/gluten free sauce to compliment the rolls. My favorite was the champagne lobster roll!
Can’t be sure but it looks like my friends are enjoying their first cruise! Booked spur of the moment, and intended to be a surprise, they took to cruise life immediately. They’ve been the perfect travel companions. We do things together and we do things apart… but we have come together each night to share our meal at dinner. It looks like they are on the verge of booking cruise #2!
During the sea day, there was a Belly Flop contest. Our friend, Jeff, talked about participating but never signed up. After seeing the competition (or lack thereof) he wished he’d tried. Sitting at the bar right outside the Diamond Lounge, we ran into the official winner… the rules are, if you win the gold… wear the medal everywhere! People HAVE to make room for you in the elevator for the entire cruise. Since our friend was so convinced he would have won, I had to take a selfie with the one sporting the hardware!
Quite the popular game… using a toggle, the goal is to place a rectangular piece of plexiglass into a ever so slightly larger, same shaped opening to snatch the bunch of bills. Some of the batches are worth quite a bit. It looks like it would be easy for a video game player but it’s a challenge. Several were taking turns and cheering each other on.
In addition to the already mentioned things I have missed about cruising… getting dressed up for date night every night is fun! We had formal photos taken before dinner. My dear husband only allows one click of the camera on each cruise. Some photographers find this stressful, other see it as a challenge. On formal night, he surprisingly made an exception and allowed several shots to be taken!
Sunsets are always stunning out at sea. As though there aren’t enough other things that make this form of travel perfect, the changing colors of the sky are an added bonus! Another day ends … the ship rolls up in most places. There is always somewhere to get food… always someone walking around to talk to. However, it definitely gets peaceful in the wee hours. Tomorrow is another day…
