Tuesday, April 7--Calmest Seas Ever

Ship seems to be making me sleepy with its gentle rocking. Seas still very calm—amazingly so for the open ocean. Also very sparkly, like someone has cast a thousand diamonds over its surface. During the night last night, I woke up and had a strange, eerie feeling—realizing that we are out here in the middle of the ocean that is 2 ½ miles deep and no other ships around at all. Haven’t seen even one. And to the south is nothing until Antarctica!

At lunch in the Lido, we saw our first ship—a tanker off the starboard bow. And right after that, 2 whales spouted on the starboard side of the ship!!! We are not alone out here after all. Found myself wondering about the reflective lines in the water’s surface. Looks like a tiny ship passed through and left the mark of its path. Maybe they are whale paths or paths of schools of fish. They are smoother than the rest of the water’s surface and fairly frequent in occurrence.

Nice to be able to email and check in. I felt so out of the loop the last few days.

Captain just came over announcement system to say that he has NEVER been on as calm a crossing as this one. Also says a whale is following us on the starboard side of the ship. Have to go check this out. : )

Ray saw a pod of dolphins and 2 whales with his binoculars. We aren’t even halfway to Lisbon and still so calm. Captain said not to ever expect this again—very rare to be so calm. Both of us off to exercise. With all this food, it is a necessity!!

Absolutely stunning sunset this evening, but no green flash.

Monday, April 6--To Tux or Not To Tux

Relaxing day. Exercised to my DVD. Learned some Italian today and read The Secret Supper—about Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of The Last Supper and its significance—very interesting.

Ray’s tux arrived, but since the first formal night has already passed, he took it back. We actually enjoyed just eating in the quiet Lido last night.

Sunday, April 5--Are we on the Titanic?

Breakfast in Vista dining room by the back window. Now we are diverting to Bermuda to get spare parts to repair satellite system so we can have email again. Lunch in the Lido. Interesting people on this cruise compared to others—they are more traveled and definitely have more money. And there is one VERY interesting woman—about 65, very thin and tall, with fiery orange/red poofy hair that is very thin. And she wears these pink tube tops with a furry-edged jacket and tight leggings that are blue and shiny. Hmmmmm. I keep expecting her to show up on stage one night as one of the entertainers, but, so far, no.

Apple juice and cookies as a snack before sitting on deck watching the deep, deep blue water pass by. Talked with Tom, the port advisor, to get information on best way to get into Rome. Very helpful. Discussed shore excursions to take and decided on Lisbon as it is the only port on this cruise where you can’t easily get into town from the dock.

Suddenly Ray has decided that he MIGHT like to do formal nights after all. His whole elaborate story about the airline losing his tux has not yet produced one for him even though he was paying for it and the whole story was unnecessary. But I have done enough formal nights anyway, so this is fine with me.

Finally able to text Laura, Katie, and Luanne and Ashley as we neared Bermuda to pick up parts and a technician to do the work. Ray stood outside on deck as the technician was brought on board. He said that they set up a bar out there and with everyone milling about in their formal wear, it was very reminiscent of that horrible night on the Titanic. Even music was playing. No icebergs though.

I don’t want to jinx anything, but the ocean has been amazingly calm and beautiful. : )

***pictures from top: my favorite thing to do as we cross the ocean--feet up and staring out at the waves; the notorious red-haired lady : )

Saturday, April 4--Diverting to Bermuda

We slept in until 9! Guess all the adrenalin finally wore off. I swear, I think we’ve been running on nervous energy for the last 2 weeks.

After debacle with lack of hot water and hair dryer only working in one particular outlet, finally I got my hair done last night and fell asleep the minute my head hit the pillow. The gentle rocking of the ship lulled me deeper all night long.

Breakfast in the Lido as we were too late for dining room. Walk on the promenade and shopping and STILL no internet. Hope everyone on shore realizes that glitches can happen—wish I could check in with Katie, Laura, and Luanne though. Maybe soon.

Wrote postcards to send from Rome, as we will have a limited amount of time there. Need to start learning some Italian—Yes, they are just vitamins, Mr. Customs Inspector. Please don’t arrest me. Where is the post office? I’m lost, can you tell me how to get to the train station?

Okay, so it turns out that the internet problem is a satellite problem that needs repair parts to fix it, so we are diverting to Bermuda to pick them up.

Lunch in Lido. Strawberry Daiquiri in Crow’s Nest for me! Lazy afternoon reading. Dinner in Vista Dining Room—snapper was kind of rubbery so hid some of it under my potatoes and spinach to make it look like I had eaten more than I actually did. Tiramisu was delicious. Show was the Unexpected Boys who did Frankie Valli and The Four Season’s songs.

Friday, April 3--Cruise to Rome

Repack by Ray as I slept late. Omelets at Moonlite Diner for breakfast, back to check emails on laptop, then taxi to cruise port. Oh, excuse me, LIMOUSINE to cruise port arranged by the hotel. Very nice to arrive in style.

16 Night Passage to the Mediterranean to Rome, cabin 4107

We were allowed onto the ship and into our cabin as soon as we arrived—this was a first. They had just come out of dry dock so all rooms were ready. And our luggage arrived safely!

Hodgepodge lunch in the Lido, unpacking, and lovely dinner in the Vista Dining Room. There seems to be a problem with the ship’s email service—no one can sign in. And with the hot water in our room which was not working.

I think Ray agreed to room service on the bed tonight to make me feel better about not being able to keep in touch with my girls and Luanne. Room service of smoked salmon and Ray’s Jim Beam package with ginger ale. And hot water back around 11, so everything except email going well.

Thursday, April 2--When It Rains, It Pours

Up at 7:30am. More nervous waiting. Luanne took us to Cracker Barrel then to the airport. I’ve got the best sister ever in the whole world.

Reminiscent of Chicago airport experience—we changed gates from T4 to A27 to E18 as our plane was delayed over an hour. Some turbulence on flight—glad I had watched The View the day before and heard the pilot say that turbulence is like a bump in the road—you don’t expect your car to fall apart every time you hit a bump. Same goes for planes. And if Whoopi can fly after being terrified to for 13 years, I can do it. Didn’t even flinch as our plane bounced around. Taxi to hotel—Sheraton Suites Cypress Creek, in Fort Lauderdale, room 821. Very nice with lovely atrium.

Only when we got settled in did we realize that the 3 pieces of checked luggage—which held all our clothes for the next 9 months and my Obama calendar that Katie had given me AND which we weren’t even going to unpack til we got on the cruise ship—were damp. We opened them up and everything not in a Ziploc bag was SOAKED!!! Wow—what a way to start our trip. Delta must’ve left the bags sitting out in the rain while our plane was delayed for that hour in Atlanta!

So our hotel room looked like our luggage had exploded, with clothing hanging to dry over every chair and every piece of furniture. Ray called Delta and they will pay for our laundry bill and calendar once we submit our bill in London.

Dinner at Moonlite Diner down the street—quesadillas for me and meatloaf for Ray and shared a key lime pie.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009--So We Begin our Adventure

Well, it was “hurry up and wait” as we had planned our trip so well, that we had nothing to do today. We got antsy, so we headed out to Conyers early at 2:30pm, got gas for car and went to Target for last minute forgotten items, then went to wait at Daruma’s for Luanne, Butch, and Ashley to arrive at 6pm. Had a really good time and feel like kicking ourselves for not getting together like this more often.

Back to house to brief Luanne on files, etc. She will be handling our mail while we are gone. Watched TV—Top Gear (really funny) and Life on Mars (the series finale which I think the writers just came up with the weirdest, stupidest ending—really dumb)!

Then at 12:30am, we all got hungry and went to Waffle House!! Fun!! I know, girls, this was strange for me, but I was so keyed up over the trip and too excited to sleep. By the time my head hit the pillow, I was gone. Slept so well with the thunder rolling all night.