Sunday, day at sea

Victoria was not interested in attending the character breakfast on board. We ate with Darlene and Sandy outside, aft, at 8:30am. The girls went swimming and while Stan watched them me and Darlene went to our travel agent’s suite and had a chat. We wait listed a repositioning cruise for 2010. I booked two cabins, a category 7 and an 11. Very quickly Victoria spoke with my parents on the phone as we were sailing away and they said they didn’t want me to book them another cruise but what the heck, it’s two years away they can decide later. I chose a 7 navigator’s verandah and an 11 inside cabin with the thought of both cabins being able to take advantage of the verandah. I don’t have to name people now, I can do that later.

I like my travel agent. I like the fact most of my cruises, I’ve sailed with him. If anything goes wrong, he’s there to fix it. Usually he checks in a couple of times during the year. This year the shirts he provided were very comfortable, a great color and some great advertising. He has always treated people I refer to him very well, like VIPs.

After chatting, I went back to deck 9 - lunch time! Chicken fingers and german chocolate cake for lunch, mmm good. The girls had their Princess tea this afternoon so Victoria took took a shower at 2pm and put her gold Princess dress on. The girls were announced as Princesses at Lumiere’s and we were shown to our table. On the table were finger sandwiches and petite desserts. Snow White, Dopey, Belle, Cinderella, Peter Pan and Wendy, Alice and White Rabbit, and Suzy and Perla all posed for pictures. The girls are getting a little old for stuff like this, but it’s fun. The girls were indoctrinated to princess status, taught to curtsey and do the royal wave.

By 4pm we were done and I showered to prepare for semi-formal night. I put on clothes to be worn for three hours maximum. Dinner was in Parrott Cay and was the Prince and Princess menu. I had the fried ravioli, the sausage and potato soup and seafood stew. Mickey bar for dessert!

The kids wanted to see the show, Twice Charmed. I heard the cruise director, Christian, suggested not to bring valuables into Cartagena. I’m not sure what he meant since I was not there but it made a lot of people nervous about the Columbian port. Victoria went with the families and I took the opportunity to post to the blog. I haven’t been keeping up too well but mostly have not had the time to go online. The connection from my stateroom isn’t so good, as usual.

I walked around on deck 9. Most of the chairs and loungers were packed up in preparation for Panama Canal Day. I walked through the Cove Café area and spotted the Amandas! I had never met them before and had looked for them all week without spotting them. They introduced me to their husband and friends. I wandered off to the Spa to inquire about some treatments. I made an appointment for a pedicure for Panama Canal day at 11:45am.

I like Christian, our cruise director. I don’t usually pay much attention to the cruise director but he is a friendly fellow and who cracks a pretty good joke from time to time. I like his daily announcements and he always seems to be able to personalize the announcements, making them feel less announcy and more conversational.