Two Sea Days – Thursday and Friday

So lovely to have two sea days at the end of the cruise.  This lets us really relax and for those heading home the chance to unwind before returning to work.

We have a relatively quiet day. 

I did partake in the Speedy Sudoku where over 40 people participated. What was different this time was they had two puzzles for us to do.  The first three to finish win a prize.  I am excited to report that I finished first!  Yeah – I won a notebook.

We also went to the morning trivia and we did respectfully for just playing as a team of two.

Bernie is up on the sun deck for the afternoon to get some rays of sun.  It is a bit too hot for me.  Of course there are a lot of chair hogs but there are also a lot people picking up their towels and returning them to the laundry bin too.  Work in progress I guess.

There is a large Apparel Blowout Sale in the Island Dining room and I did stop in for a minute but there is not that much I am interested in. But it is busy and lots of people are buying things. 

British Pub Lunch is happening in the Crown Grill.  I had a nice meal in the WorldFresh marketplace. 

Tonight is our last formal night.  You can see that a lot of passengers are opting to enjoy the sun decks and pool well into the evening and are skipping formal night altogether. I am actually guessing but I would say that a third (Bernie says higher) did not do formal night. 

There is a lot of things that lead to this.  First it is the second formal night so many are opting out.  Second there are almost 600 passengers under 18 and that means that many families are enjoying the time together by the pool or doing family events and most are dining at the buffet which is busy.  Third there has been a shift away from formal attire industry wide we have been told.  For whatever the reason it is key to enjoy whatever you like on your vacation.

For us we are in shorts and t-shirt and we go to the Outrigger Bar and order drinks then sit watching the wake.  The early evening is perfect to be out here.  Still warm, but a light breeze.  I so do miss this aft pool/deck on the Royal.  We sit and reflect on the past week and cruise.

Tonight is the Captain Circle Party. We had an invite to the 7:30 party and I actually think there was only party this voyage.  Wow that means there are not a lot of Platinum/Elite Passengers on board. Big difference from the Royal 10 day Caribbean that has five parties a cruise.  We opt to skip the party tonight.  We just don’t feel like dressing up and the dress code is formal and after the Most Travelled Party the night prior we are going to relax tonight.

And relax is just what we do.  We have a wonderful night with friends we haven’t seen in awhile and catching up.  It is an early evening and we end it by watching a movie called Finding Your Feet.

But there are a lot of things happening.  Including Abba Music Trivia, Production Show Bravo, Disney Trivia, The Marriage Match Game, and then the fun Formal Gala Party.

The second sea day I awake to the sounds of people running around the Lido deck.  A downfall of this cabin is that the Lido deck is right above us.  Normally we do not hear much but if someone is running we hear that.  We are in F303 and it is a wonderful cabin. I especially love the window views.

The last sea day sees people lining up at the Purser’s desk with inquiries about disembarkation. A station has been set up to the right of the desk for those wishing to change their disembarkation allocation.

We received a letter yesterday for everyone who is “in transit” they are holding an in transit meeting to discuss everything about staying on board and what to expect.  It is not mandatory to attend but it could be very helpful for those that have never done a back to back.

The sun is shining and the decks are busy.  I watch a movie in the cabin while Bernie is out enjoying the sun. The pools are busy, lots of people soaking up the rays before heading home tomorrow.

I forgot to mention the most travelled this voyage are Mr Bruce Goldenberg and Joann Kelly with 1571 days. 

This afternoon saw Shark Week festivities in the Atrium.  Lots of tables set up all over with button making, jewelry making, face painting, pictures with a green screen where they add a shark background later, two remote control sharks swam (aka flew) in the Atrium, shark cookies, and a shark mascot you could take pictures with.  It was fun to watch everyone enjoying themselves, and I love those shark cookies!

The snowball bingo is at $2,295 and must go today!  We don’t play but it was a packed room.

We got our cruise cards for the next sailing.  We noticed we are in a different cabin than the one we booked.  We check with the Purser staff and we were upgraded from an inside cabin to an ocean view on Emerald deck midship. That is nice but we had the same cabin for the 2^nd and 3^rd leg.  I actually just recently moved our 3^rd cruise cabin when I saw the cabin came available that we had for the 2^nd leg.

The front desk was willing to move us back to the cabin as it was still available but Bernie really wants to move to the ocean view so we will move to the Emerald Deck cabin.  Oh and we are in another Emerald deck ocean view cabin for the 3^rd leg.  Moving is not that big a deal as we only have one bag each.

Was chatting with a nice lady who has two daughters on the cruise who were taking part in the Shark Week events in the Atrium.  I laughed when she said to the girls “I will supervise you from the bar here”.  How many places can you say that!

Well it is late afternoon and we are not sure what we will be doing tonight. I would like to head back up to Skywalkers for the Elite lounge.  Will probably do dinner in the dining room. 

Week one is coming to an end.  It has been an amazing cruise.  Have really enjoyed it and look forward to the next two. 

Thanks for following.