Random Musings and Nicknacks

Does he know Clive Owen? (iPhone 4)

On our third full day at sea, the ship finally settled down some, and I no longer need the Dramamine. Also it turns out the main pools aren’t wave pools after all.

I’m beginning to think they were underreporting that swell the first two days.

On the first day we got up and went to the gym, after which I was feeling queasy, went downstairs and had a nap. Got up for lunch, then had an afternoon nap, woke up in time for dinner, then had an early bed.

On the second day I woke up, had breakfast. Had a morning nap, lunch, an afternoon nap and slept through dinner before an early bed.

On the third day, Ling started feeling restless. I have no idea why. So after breakfast instead of the mid-morning nap we listened to the ship’s naturalist talk about the Big Island and about Hawaiian culture. Instead of the early afternoon nap we went to listen to the ships astronomer talk about life on mars, and instead of the late afternoon nap we sat in the wine bar and sipped a glass of a Chilean Malbec.

I’m not sure how much longer I can keep up this torrid pace.

There are good signs though – while in the wine bar, we got talking to a couple from California and the lady explained to us that the secret to long life is to cruise regularly and drink wine. This is a philosophy I can take whole-heartedly, and they seemed to know what they were talking about – he was in his 80’s, she in her 70’s, and this was their eighth time aboard the Golden Princess for the Christmas cruise to Hawaii.

This was actually our second data point – the night before we had dinner at a shared table, four couples in total. The couple across from us I would have placed in their early 50’s – except they weren’t. They were retired, and had a great-grandkid. Their oldest son was 45. They told us this was their sixth cruise this year. They don’t like anything under 30 days, because you barely have time to unpack and settle in. This one was just an impulse cruise to get away.

Apparently cruising is good for your skin.

I haven’t talked much about our cabin, because it is pretty much just a standard cabin. But there is an interesting effect to getting an oceanview so far down – I woke up the other morning and realized the sounds I heard out the window couldn’t be kids, so there must be gulls swooping around. The next time I woke up, still hearing the sounds I realized that there weren’t going to be gulls outside when you’re more than 1,000 nautical miles from the nearest land. Best guess? Dolphins playing outside my window. We saw some chasing alongside the ship the day before.

Christmas Eve in Style (Nikon D80)

It’s Christmas eve today, so most of the staff are wearing Santa hats along with their Hawaiian shirts. It’s also the first formal night tonight, and there’s a sign up outside the restaurant stating that people not in formal attire will be turned away.

I think they’re serious, I’m going to go change so I don’t starve tonight.

After that it will be time for the show (“tonight only! We reprise songs for baby boomers and their parents! Don’t worry we promise no music less than 60 years old”), then midnight mass.

… But I was outclassed (Nikon D80)

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 8th, 2012 at 9:04 pm and is filed under Hawaii, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.