After Canal and Cruising to Costa Rica (No photos)

 Sorry about the lack of photos, folks - the internet is just flaky.

After Canal

Bootcamp, just Jo and I, and then a very quick change into one of my Cape Cod dresses for dinner. The luck of the draw says sometimes you lose one, and we had a terrible tablemate. He attempted to monopolize the conversation, tried to show off his knowledge of cruising in a very condescending manner, and aggressively brought up politics. Fortunately the other folks at the table were very good companions (Joy and Pat; Mr McClennan and his just friend Caroline, who I had breakfast with earlier) and everybody just talked around him. Mr McClennan worked for Exxon and told a story about an escapade on the Red Sea; in it he is given a letter which says to people he meets “help him in every way you can to succeed in his endeavors”, and I would like a letter like that.

After dinner we spent some time on the decks looking at stars – we were at about 8 degrees north latitude, which is about as south as we get, and it’s very fun to see the stars, and we also saw the beautiful just-past-full moon rising through the mist. We tried Nestor the guitarist again, but his show was just as bad as last time and I had to leave after the first song. We went bac to our cabin and sat our on our verandah listening to the waves for a while, and when we were both falling asleep in our chairs we decided to call it a night.

 

Sea day 3 - Cruising to Costa Rica

Another day of cruising, so not much to report, fortunately. We went to stretch class, which was just ok, and then headed to the lido for breakfast. We had a nice table in our corner. Dave went to do his walk, and I stayed to finish my tea, and then went and got a second one. I saw three interesting ladies sitting together and went and sat with them for a few minutes – Joy from last night, and Norma and Veronica who I met in stretch class. We had a nice chat and then I headed over to boot camp. It’s been a disappointment to me that the fitness classes are just ok, and today’s bootcamp wasn’t any different. I bumped it up a notch and at least got a very good workout, although it made Pat think I was showing off. I hope I got her to understand that I’m just having to work harder to get the same level of workout.

I then went on a search for a place to practice Nia; Dave suggested The Loft, a space used when they have families on board. Unfortunately it’s locked, and guest services wasn’t sure they could get me in there. Stay tuned. I found a corner on the 4^th floor aft that is somewhat private and practiced there; I am playing with the first 6 songs of CURE.

Then it was time to go chat with the Captain, a Q&A session in the World Stage. It was well run – two employees with mics gathered questions and took turns asking them, and Captain Michael was personable and engaging. We didn’t learn anything particularly new, but it was interesting. A few tidbits: Each ship has two captains, who alternate 3 months on/3 months off. Captains and upper level staff can have their families on board as much as they want. His favorite port is Skagway, in Alaska, because you can get off the ship and be hiking in the forest in just a few minutes. He’s never taken a cruise as a passenger. And he will not announce when they see a whale, because everyone will rush to the side of the ship where the whale was sighted and by then it will be gone and he’ll have disrupted everything on the ship. And no, the ship won’t tip over if everyone goes to one side.

We ate lunch in the dining room with a couple from England and Pat from Tucson; they were good tablemates. Most of the afternoon was spent relaxing at various places on the ship. I took a break from relaxing to take Estephania’s merengue class, which was a delight as always. I’m so impressed with her as an instructor. We worked our way up to a fairly complicated series of moves, and then she added speed to the mix and nobody sat down. She says if several of us write to guest services we might be able to get more or longer classes, so I’m going to talk to people. Other than that, relaxing.

Eventually it was time to stop relaxing and head over to the Pinnacle restaurant, one of the specialty restaurants on board. Last time we ate at the Pinnacle was on our way from Barcelona to Florida, when our whole table decided to go. This time it was just us and it was kind of nice to have a little one-on-one time at dinner. They had a nice wine pairing to go with dinner and we ate way too much, but the food was indeed a cut above the standard dining room fare and we enjoyed ourselves.

Then of course it was time for some dancing, and we had a great group of women out on the floor. Norma was there and insisted on taking a picture of me and Joyce since she wants pictures of “all her special ladies.” We danced until the band took a break, and then it was bedtime because we had a very early shore excursion tomorrow.