Saturday, November 2nd
Getting aboard the ship was so much quicker than on the Queen Mary II. We got express check in and a personal escort onto the ship. The ship is brand new and quite impressive once on board. Now, before I say anything else, I should explain that because of Diane’s claustrophobia we always choose the largest room we can manage. Phil insists.
Our room is in The Haven area and is a two bedroom family villa. Diane is happy, so Phil is happy too. The room is quite swanky. Had lunch in the dining room and because of the weather we won’t sail until midnight instead of five. It was smooth sailing until we got out of the harbor.
Sunday, November 3rd
Wow! That was a rough night. A lot of rocking. Waves at 42 ft and winds at 32 knots. Being on the 18th level doesn’t help. Made our way to breakfast. People are looking peaked. Decks are closed so not much to do. Back to the room to watch a movie. Phil took a few pictures from our balcony.
Waves now reaching 53 ft and winds at 50 knots. Diane lost her breakfast. We both skipped lunch as Phil was not feeling well, either. Then Phil mentions the Dramamine we brought with us. Not so easy. There are 4 bags to go through and the waves and sea sickness make it an ordeal. Find the pills and take them. We both lie down for most of the rest of the day.
Phil orders room service for dinner. His is not so good. Fish and chips, the fish is square and flat. We just came from England and this is not fish & chips. Diane couldn’t touch her chicken, but saved it for later. We go to bed early, even watching TV is not fun.
Monday, November 4th
Take our Dramamine then head out for breakfast. Diane has white toast and tea. Phil has breakfast. Day is just a bit less choppy than day before. Dramamine starts to kick in. Phil seems better today. Diane is still feeling peaked, but is able to keep food down. At lunch the dining room was a bit less busy. At dinner, the place was almost empty. Even the wait staff was out sick. The hostess looked ill.
Another movie. Made it through the day. No pictures, not up to it. Another rocky night ahead.
Tuesday, November 5
Diane is feeling like her old self. Showered, dressed and went for breakfast. Since we’ve moved clocks back three times so far, Phil has been up since I don’t know when and I mean that literally. So he had coffee and a protein bar and doesn’t plan to leave the room all day.
Diane returns from breakfast with a little snack for Phil and makes him a cup of tea. He decides to join Diane in exploring the ship. Kind of sad that this is our 3rd day on board and we’ve rarely left our room because all open decks have been closed since we set sail due to the weather. No pictures today, you’ve already seen our room.
Wednesday, November 7th
After breakfast walked out on the deck. Started on level 7 as suggested by our room Stewart. Nothing to see except life boats. Glad to see them, perhaps not too photogenic. Each holds 314 sardines. You’re getting a photo anyway.
Tried deck 8. Looks more like a people deck. Not too many people out as it’s in the high 40’s to low 50’s and windy. Got a good pix of people sunning themselves, not. Sadly can’t walk around the entire deck which means we can’t go to the front of the ship for photos. Oh well. Since we didn’t take a lot of photos, we’re posting what we got.
After lunch went to a beginning German class. Walked parts of the inside decks we hadn’t seen. Back at room. Lovely snacks have been left for us.
Dinner at Q Texas Smokehouse. Turned out to be a high priced, not very good bbq restaurant.
Found a few music venues and hung out at them until midnight.
Thursday, November 8th
Get dressed. Eat more food. Relaxed in The Haven Lounge area which is very nice. Eat more food (snacks). It is on the 17th level and is at the front of the ship enclosed in glass, but the view is great. Hard to take photos from there as your reflection is in the photo or the raindrops are on the windows.
Lunch, eat more food. Go to the card room at the “library” and play a few games of scrabble. Decks are closed again. Choppy day, again.
Dinner at Cagney’s a pricey steakhouse. DELICIOUS food. We are stuffed!
Walk to the Atrium to listen to “R & B” music. Wait around for “The Not So Newlywed Game. Enter as contestants. Not too bad! Now we’re celebrities! We even have a bag of souvenirs and a bottle of sparkling wine to boot. Then onto to see a Comedy Club Combo In the theatre. Very enjoyable. Ran into another passenger who commented on our appearance on the Newlywed Game and mentioned we should expect a lot of people to talk to us about being on the show as it is continually broadcast on the ship’s TV channel for the rest of the cruise. What?! I guess Phil was right when he warned me that we might regret it, but he went along anyway.
Friday, November 9th
Breakfast first. Eat more food. Skipped the snacks. Hopped on the elevator and found people who would take some of winnings off our hands. Phil is good at this. Souvenirs gone. Back to the room until about noon. Go to noon meeting about immigration and customs. Back to play scrabble. This time we invite a couple to play with us. Vanessa and Michael explained that they play Super Scrabble all the time. Phil and I smile. We hadn’t played for years until this cruise. not to worry, Diane beat everyone by one hundred points! Phil says we’ll play again in another few years.
Lunch. Finished a movie we’d started. Used our iPads.
Dinner then a musical called Kinky Boots. Very enjoyable. Another music venue. This time a group effort by several of the bands playing on board. A Rock Music night.
Saturday, November 10th
Extremely rocky night with 25 ft. Waves and 30 mph winds. Diane feeling a bit iffy again and she took her Dramamine at 6am. Breakfast. Skip snacks, just Lounge and read. Back to the room so Diane can nap. Lunch. Went German Class #2. Repeat of #1. Left and back to room so Phil can nap. Butler brings more snacks. Diane worked on the blog.