TA Day 6. At Sea.

Wow, what a difference a day makes. This morning's view of the ocean (pic. 1) is definitely not as nice as all the other mornings. This is what I've been expecting for a couple of days - windy and cooler.

There was nothing on the schedule I was interested in doing/attending today so I found chairs in Cafe-Lattitudes and continued work on my 2nd quilt block. Over the course of the morning, Tracy, Valerie,  Brenda, Jim and Melissa hung out with me.

Valerie showed up in her Seattle Seahawks Superbowl sweatshirt I brought her (pic. 2). It was great fun converting an Australian to American football!

After lunch, I went back to Cafe-Lattitudes and finished my 2nd quilt block and started the 3rd with the same people hanging with me as above with the exception of Brenda.

This afternoon's picture of the ocean (pic. 3) shows that at least it's not as cloudy now but it's still windy and cold. The ocean is still choppy but with the following sea, we're not getting a huge amount of rocking and rolling.

The show tonight was not that good - a couple that did some bad magic with ballroom dancing. They danced good but should have let the magic go by the wayside.

We have no idea what our towel animal is tonight (pic. 4). I've left a note for Ferdinand asking him what the creature is!

The ocean is really rocking tonight. That should mean we'll sleep good!

TA Day 5. At Sea.

Every sea day so far has been just like the last one - blue skies and sunny (pic. 1). This morning was a little different in that it didn't seem as windy since apparently we were cruising the same direction as the wind. After coffee, and before breakfast, we walked a couple of laps up top on Deck 10.

After breakfast, I was going to take a shower and was advised the water had been shut off ship-wide due to a leak. It was off about an hour. At the same time, they were fumigating the cabins. The crew on this ship is taking the norovirus very seriously. All precautions are being taken to make sure nobody gets sick.

I finished my first quilt block today (pic. 2). Once all the blocks are done, I'll use gray fabric strips to sew them all together. The back fabric will be gray and the border will probably be green unless I have enough of the Seahawks fabric left!

After lunch I took another picture off our balcony (pic. 3). I've heard stories about the bad weather crossing the Atlantic Ocean but lady luck is on our side this crossing! We even crossed through the Bermuda Triangle with no problem!

As I was leaving the Windjammer after lunch, one of the couples I'd met on our Cruise Critic board commented on my Seahawks shirt. They live in Seattle so we had to spend a few minutes (or 20) bashing the Broncos and 49ers and reliving the Seahawks Superbowl win! What fun we had! LOL

I wasn't in the mood to watch the game show this afternoon so I started anotherquilt block and then took a nap (this cruising is hard work)!

After my nap, I spent time teaching Valerie how to make frig towels. We got row 1 done before she had to rush off to trivia and I headed off to the spa to get my hair cut!

After dinner, we watched Hypnotist Christopher Caress. Some of the volunteers were quite comical. But the discussion afterwards was: was it real or fake and plants in the audience?

After the show we were going to walk around the top deck but it was closed due to high winds. Fortunately, we must be going in the same direction as the wind because we're only getting a little more movement than normal.

TA Day 4. At Sea.

Wow, I can't believe how beautiful the mornings have been. Here's my first view today (pic. 1). Every morning has been incredible.

We had a very lazy day. We did absolutely nothing all morning. I had every intention of quilting but we just never got around to it. This afternoon we went to see Gary Lovini, the violinist, at the matinee. Again, as before, he put on a great show. Not only is he a great violinist, he's a very good showman.

I took another picture off my balcony this afternoon (pic. 2). It's another beautiful day in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean! Hard to believe since we cruised farther north than planned to stay out of the wind and really choppy seas.

At dinner, I surprised everyone with Easter sacks of goodies! That load of candy made my suitcase overweight flying to Florida so I won't have to worry about it going home!

The evening show tonight was Pete Matthews, juggler/comedian. OMG, I haven't laughed that hard in so long. If he does another show, even if it's a matinee, I'll definitely be going again.

And finally, our towel animal tonight (pic. 3). Our cabin steward, Ferdinand, has been doing a wonderful job. We have always been so fortunate to get great cabin stewards. If I'm by myself, he always asks me where Mr. James is!

TA Day 3. At Sea.

My view first thing this morning (pic. 1). It was sunny again but cooler than yesterday. The Captain told us yesterday that we had traveled farther North than planned to avoid the high seas which would in turn save fuel. Today he told us the big rollers we'd been having were behind us. That's good because as we were leaving the Windjammer last night after dinner a huge "dip" up then down sent a stack of plates crashing to the floor.

The Captain also advised us that we had traveled over 700 nautical miles and still had over 2200 to go before we reached The Azores off the coat of Portugal. Our waves today would be between 4 and 8 feet.

I got a start on the first block of my Seahawks quilt. I realized the only thing I forgot to bring was the back fabric. My plan was to quilt each block when it was done. Even without the back fabric I think it will still work out. I have an idea!

Our cruise critic group had a cabin crawl today that I attended. It was very fun to see all the different types of cabins on the ship. Since I've already booked our 2015 cruise in a balcony, I'll leave it. However, when I book the 4 cruises for 2016, I'll be trying for a junior suite with an aft balcony. I love being in the back of the ship watching the churning water from the engines and the wake from the ship.

Jim took in a movie in the theater this afternoon while I slept it away! It was great!

The evening was very uneventful. The entertainment was a production show which did not interest us so we walked a bit before heading to bed (pics. 2 & 3). Cruising is hard to do! Hahaha!

TA Day 2. At Sea.

We had a bit of rocking and rolling last night; however, I woke up once and it was very calm!

This was my first view of the ocean today (pic. 1). I was shocked it was so nice. I figured since we were heading across the Atlantic it would be cold. The forecast for today was 82°!

After breakfast, we attended the Meet & Mingle (there were 254 of us who signed up on cruisecritic.com). The ship sponsors a get together with drinks and snacks. A few of us also participated in a gift exchange (something that represents where you live - my gift was a New Holland tractor for Quincy and a Mardi Gras necklace I grabbed this year for New Orleans). Somebody brought a Superbowl reusable grocery bag (pic. 2) from New York. When it was Valerie's turn, she grabbed that bag, held it up to me and asked what it was worth, and I told her it was worth a week in Tasmania! She brought me the bag and I gave her mine when it was my turn!

It's been a pretty lazy day. Jim & I went to the matinee to see the juggler. He was pretty funny. Afterwards we went for a walk and had a mocha frap (pics. 3, 4 & 5).

With the rocking and rolling of the ship, the barf bags (pic. 6) were put out!

I was very pleased to see that my favorite cruise line (Royal Caribbean) shops at my favorite store (Costco) (pic. 7).

The show tonight was a violinist from the U.K. named Gary Lovini. He put on a great show and is an awesome violinist. I bought 2 of his cd's.

And we got our first towel animal tonight (pic. 8).

Trans-Atlantic (TA) Embarkation Day 1.

Before heading to the ship, we ate breakfast at the Cracker Barrell. Jim had grits for the very first time (pic. 1). I loved all the rocking chairs that line the front of the restaurant (pic. 2).

After checking in for the ship, we only had to wait about 15 minutes before we were allowed to board. We immediately went to deck 9 and found a table where we could pass the time - and people watch and holler GO HAWKS when we saw other Seahawks fans - until our cabins were available (pic. 3).

Our cabins were ready by 2:30. We usually get our cabins by 1:30 but the crew did a deep clean before we headed out across the ocean. We're in a junior suite for this cruise with a big balcony, lots of storage space and plenty of seating (pics. 4, 5 & 6).

After Muster (pic. 7), we made our way back to deck 9 for sail away and drinks (pics. 9, 10, 11 & 12).

Due to the deep cleaning, we were late leaving Ft.  Lauderdale. The sheriff's boat escorted us out (pic. 13) and right before we got to open ocean we saw this beach. We also held our 12 flag out the window in case somebody would see it and know we were Seahawks fans!

We had dinner in the Windjammer then headed to our cabins. It had been a long day and with 3 Margaritas under our belts, we still needed to unpack our suitcases before heading to bed. 

Trans-Atlantic Cruise; travel day

Our day started at 2:00 a.m. when the alarm went off. We were all packed and ready when the cab came. Apparently the saying that you should get to the airport at least 2 hours early doesn't apply to New Orleans! The United Airlines kiosks weren't even open!

The flight to Houston was uneventful. The pilot set that plane down so smoothly!

The flight to Ft. Lauderdale was a different matter! We were very close to landing (I'm talking wheels down, nose up and feet from the concrete) when all of a sudden the pilot pulled up, the engines started roaring and we started climbing. We flew out over the ocean and it wasn't until we had climbed up to the altitude he wanted that the pilot let us know that a plane had not cleared the runway and we couldn't land (hm, I wonder what happened to that air traffic controller?). We made a big loop and came back around for landing. When we finally arrived at our gate, the wheels on the jetway were frozen and it could not be moved into place. They tried to push the plane into place and that didn't work. Finally they decided the plane would just need to be dragged to the next gate AFTER the luggage removing equipment was moved away.  The good thing was our luggage was already on the carousel when we got there!

Tracy and Melissa picked us up and took us to Melissa's time share, Wyndham Palm Aire in Pompano Beach. Pic. 1 is our room. I particularly loved the view from the lanai; pic. 2.

After getting settled, we desperately needed food. We didn't have enough time in Houston to get anything to eat. We went to IHOP and boy was it good (pic. 3).

We're off to bed fairly early (9:00 ish)! I'm certain we'll sleep good!