Friday, May 22, 2015
I don’t know what time Clay got up but I didn’t wake up until
he started making a lot of noise at 7am. I guess he figured I’d slept long
enough. It wasn’t that long because we lost an hour last night. We lose another
half hour tonight! The good news is that we are just sailing the St. Lawrence
all day. By the time I checked the location map on the TV we were already in
the big part by Anticosti Island. We saw a lot of wind farms and snowcapped mountains
behind them on the shore today. I guess when we came through here the first
time all we saw was Anticosti Island on our side. I was watching the bridge cam
in the cabin that day, but I guess I never saw what was off to the side. The
water has been pretty rough and it is very cold and windy. It rained this
morning but by afternoon was partly cloudy. A pretty good sailing day.
We went up to breakfast at Terrace. Clay had his usual. I
had a yogurt parfait and 3 Swedish pancakes. Our cabin wasn’t ready so we went
up to Horizons and got comfortable chairs in the front windows and enjoyed the
view through the rain-spattered windows. I brought my needlepoint and Clay was
downloading an audiobook. 9:30am was the next needlepoint meeting and the first
one of them on this cruise segment. I guess because technically this is a
crossing (with all of 3 sea days!) that are a lot more crafters onboard. There
must have been 50 women there and it was a mob scene. While the last 2 sessions
have been mostly just kit handouts, today was a loud and raucous craft session.
People brought up all kinds of projects and saw and talked while working or
not. I stayed until 10am because I had told Clay I would meet him in the
theater for the lecture. It was Dr. Paula Smith on Closing the Circle-The Story
of Vikings in North America. Now I wish we stopped L’Anse de Meadows. We
decided to just keep our seats and stay for the cooking demonstration with Exec
Chef Alexis Quaretti and Chef de Cuisine Biagio Gallo. Then it was lunch time! We
finally made our way back to the cabin where we found a Canadian customs form
which we filled out and returned it to reception. We went up to Terrace for
lunch. We found a very cold 2-top near the door. It was very busy in there. I
guess no one could eat at Waves outside, but it still seemed very crowded
today. It turned out Terrace was serving a Mexican buffet today and our first
one onboard, so I was definitely not giving up and going down to the GDR. We
both liked all the dishes we had. Our favorite, after a couple of sorry dessert
days, was buenelos de san somebody. I don’t remember who. But they were like
small warm raspberry filled doughnuts. I had 2!
We spent the rest of the afternoon in the quiet of our
cabin. The people onboard this segment seem to be louder and ruder than those
on the last one and maybe there are a lot more of them or else it just feels
that way. We watched a movie, Elsa and Fred and napped as well as watched out
the sliding doors. We decided to skip the Captain’s welcome cocktail party this
time around.
I have never liked being around a lot of people and it seems
that is growing into a stronger tendency as I age. I used to love cities. Now I
notice I don’t care for them that much anymore. As I think about our recent
travel, we have been doing more nature, landscape and wildlife travel and
enjoying it more. The capitals of Europe coming up are weighing heavy on me
right now. I will hope for the best. We have a lot to see and a lot of ground to
cover. Fingers crossed.
A note about the cabin, 7055. We like the location about 4
cabins from the forward elevator and 6 from the stairwell. The deck location is
good for us. But, as a couple we had lunch with who had a similar location out
of NYC and got moved after 2 days complained, it is noisy. It was an unexpected
reason and as I pointed out to him, you couldn’t know it from the deck plan.
Directly across the hall from us is an interior door marked staff only. There
are several of these along the halls. I am not sure what happens at all of
them, but ours is very busy. They haul the steward service carts in and out of
there, they deliver ice to the ice chests each steward station in our area
uses, they deliver linens there and they stand out there folding them properly
for use and chatting. Now, as I also pointed out to him, when he told us to
demand to be moved that I could hear it all, but it wasn’t really bothering me.
Mostly the noise is when I shouldn’t or wouldn’t be trying to sleep and it is a
necessary activity that takes place in every hotel, motel, inn or ship with cabins.
I wouldn’t complain about it. But after a few weeks, I can see his point. It
was marring his expected luxury experience. He had paid a lot for it and he
didn’t think he had paid a discounted rate for a cheap seat so to speak. I
understand now. For those sensitive to noise, avoid 7055. I don’t know if the
cabins on either side of us can hear what we can hear or not, but it is very
obvious from where I sit now at the desk and it has awoken me on mornings like
disembarkation day.
After our nap, it was raining again. Definitely, a good sea
day. We went to the Terrace and had it almost all to ourselves as everyone was
in the bars enjoying the free booze from 5:45pm to 8pm as the Captain’s
welcome. Clay made the right call when he said we should avoid it. I wanted to
go to the gym and weigh myself before dinner and we used the elevator up and
tons of people were in them, some with drinks, complaining they couldn’t find a
seat in the bars that they were a zoo. They certainly weren’t in Terrace. Since
Waves was closed they shut down the auto doors there and it was no where near
as cold as it had been at lunch. We both had good desserts again.
Clay watched a Nichols Sparks movie last night and tonight
he is watching A Most Violent Year. The show tonight in the theater is a repeat
of Backstage Pass, the Broadway one. We enjoyed it, but once was enough. We
move the clocks ahead again tonight. Only by a half hour this time. Tomorrow we
move them back a half hour. Weird and annoying.
Clay says he has no photos today. I took some, but I guess
he didn’t and mine evidently don’t count!
