Relaxing day ... and we found Henry!

I don’t know what the Guinness Book of World Records’ current record is for the number of naps a person can take in one day, but I think I might be a serious contender.

Today was one of the two days at sea (the other being the last day of the cruise on our way home), and it was as relaxing as I could have hoped for. We had no schedule, just went wherever we wanted, ate whenever (and whatever) we wanted (coffee and pastry, followed by breakfast, followed by mid-morning pizza, followed by lunch … you get the idea), joined in when we wanted, took naps when we wanted.

One of my naps was on deck – but fortunately I did get slathered up with sunblock (SPF 1-trillion) first. Alas, I will still end up sunburned, because I have very fair skin, and it does not get along well with the sun. Maybe if the two spent more time together.

We did not hit the waterslide as we’d hoped to. The line was just too long, and what can I say, we were not in the mood to wait. Still a few more days to do that, though.

Mid-morning we met up with the Cruise Critic roll-call folks for our meet-and-greet. We were quite the festive gathering with our beads. It was good to put a face to the screen names.

Tomorrow we’ll be in Freeport, and our excursion – as I’ve mentioned before – is the Dolphin Encounter. Looking forward to encountering them.

Oh, and here’s this photo, especially for Amanda. Look whom we spotted in the hallway! It’s Henry!

Embarkation day recap

One of Carnival’s latest features is a huge widescreen flat-panel, and I do mean huge – it’s positioned over the pool area. They show movies and concerts and other things, and both the picture and sound are great. There was a movie – The Bourne Ultimatum – but we watched only part of it (not having seen the other Bourne movies or read the books, we didn’t have a clue what was going on … they should have shown Back to the Future). Still, we stayed long enough to know it’s a quality setup, and we’ll head back for other movies. There’s something really cool about sitting on deck beside the pool watching a movie, with waiters milling around ready to go fetch a beer or glass of wine or some rum concoction.

Last night, after the obligatory lifeboat drill (which: I’m thinking if we hit an iceberg or some equally calamitous thing happens, there’ll be a lot more chaos and a lot less lining up by height, I’m just saying), we did the most important task: finding the fastest route from our cabin to the buffet. (Priorities, people!) The important thing is we found out where the 24-hour pizzeria (oh yeah!) and the ice cream self-serve machines are located.

That task completed, we went to the welcome aboard show, and the comedienne was great: Kim Harrison, from West Columbia, S.C., by golly. I’m hoping to run into her on the ship and talk to her – seeing as how we’re practically neighbors (100 miles apart, but still). (This is what traveling does to me. “You’re from South Carolina? Me too!” And then I do the typical southern thing and ask about “your mama and them.”)

After the show we moseyed around the ship. We found a really good singer in a lounge area outside the casino. As we were looking around for a seat that was close enough to hear but far enough way that our eardrums wouldn’t burst from the loud speakers – what did we run into but the Coral Sea Café, which is a type of dessert bar with about 10 different kinds of chocolate cake and milk shakes and other chocolate desserts and coffee and did I mention there’s chocolate. There is no finer moment in life than this, people.

By then (after I did indeed partake of one certain chocolate creation with fruit on top) we could keep our eyes open no longer and went to the cabin. I know that makes us weenies, but it was after midnight, and we are old married people who lived through three teenage daughters. Cut us some slack. Sail-away parties were still in full swing, though, all over the ship. For those of you who can keep up the pace, you won't be disappointed.

We left the curtains open last night, and this morning we woke up to the sunrise over our balcony. How awesome.

Today we plan to hit the waterslide. I’ll try to get photos of that fun and post later.

ETA: I'm taking creative license with the "teenage daughters" comment because people with teenagers, especially daughters, can relate. But truth is our daughters are terrific, and we're very proud of them.


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