Artwork

Handyman Hal wanted these pictures of elephants with faucets. There is a lot of unusual art around each staircase. We climb 78 stairs to meals and rarely take the elevators...our exercise.
Nov 13 at a diamond quality shopping talk for Nasseau, there was a raffle. When Judy got #055, she knew she would win.... 3 prizes out of 200 people. I got Thomas Kincade picture ....oh well.

Eating

We like the formal dining room best. Slow eating with reasonable portions....even for breakfast and lunch. The buffet Windjammer cafe on the top deck we have nicknamed "The Trough".... How do you spell the thing that pigs eat out of? We overeat when we fill our plates. My stomach is definitely controlling my portions....I always quit before Cliff, Kristen and Hal. We have 4 courses ...warm appetizer, soup or salad, main course and dessert.

I am craving salty chips..... We will insist on Mexican food with Smiths in Texas. There on tons of chefs on ship, but they botch up the items. The descriptions on the menu were written 20 times better than the products and build false hope.... Or perhaps it is because we can never get hungry?

We are sure we have gained weight, but the many, many obese people on ship help make us feel like we are thin.

The high point of sea days is meals.....and we have 9 sea days on this cruise of 16 days!

Nov 11 formal night 2

Hal was honored at a Veterans day gathering. He talks a lot about Vietnam when he travels with other old guys.

We drank 3 glasses of champagne at the art auction and had sangria later so felt pretty good for the evening entertainment before our 8:30 nightly dinner.

We have worked out at the gym 3 sea days in a row! The elliptical machine includes arms and is difficult for me.

They put a wood floor on the ice skating rink for late night ballroom dancing. We went out for dance lessons and Hal's knee went out so it was difficult to hobble back to the room. Fen the next day, so I am thinking Hal did not want to dance.

Nov 10. Sea day

This is the 237 birthday of the Marines...our table mate from Chicago was a Marine pilot. Cliff is traveling with a 30 years younger blonde German woman from Berlin. They met on a cruise and travel yearly. She talks with an accent just like Heike .

We look daily at the ship camera from front and the positioning of the ship like you get on airlines. We are moving slow but surely across the Atlantic. It will take us 6 days to the Bahamas. The record for crossing the Atlantic was set recently by Frank Cammas at 4 days, 3 hours, 57 minutes and 54 seconds.


We sit on the deck and read.... I finished Lowell's book.

Nov 9, day at Sea

First day at sea. I found a private place to read Lowell's book and reflect. First I checked out the ice skating rink, but decided not to sprain my ankle to break my butt. I sat with a jacket on the deck chair pictured. I read a couple hours then went to find Hal on the top deck. He was resting up for our hour at the gym. We tried some new liquor from Cartahena, Spain called 43 mixed in some mango juice. 5 more days to go before Bahamas.

Departing for 6 sea days

We left Canary Islands around 3 pm...sat on the top floor and took a picture of the last piece of land we will see for the next 6 or 7 days. It is all about eating, I guess. Tonight was lobster and steak... surf and Turf... And hazelnut tort. Let's hope I really do get to the gym daily.

Nov 7: Tenerife, Canary Islands

Three cruise ships were in town at the same time, but this is a descent sized town. Hal and I did a "walk about" for a few hours...church, trying to find wifi, liquor to sneak on board. This island has the largest mountain in Spain..12,000 feet. It was warm and kinda rainy.m next is 6 days at sea.