At Sea

 During the six weeks we were gone, sixteen of the days were spent at sea.  Most of those were during the first cruise as we crossed the Atlantic.  We like the sea days.  We both bring things to work on during those days.  We read (I read six book while on this six-week trip,) we relax, we nap, we eat.  Ken walks on the top deck and rides a stationary bike for exercise. We enjoy eating in the dining room in the evening, then going to good entertainment.  After the show, we can go to a lounge to listen to musicians or play games. They are relaxing and fun days.  They are the essence of cruising.

Our room on the first ship.

We loved our balcony.  We are sold on balconies on cruises.  Most days, even while we were sailing, were quite pleasant out there.  We saw beautiful scenery when going by land, dolphins, fish, other ships, windmills, and lots of birds.  Ken was thrilled to see many birds as we sailed- many of which were new life listers for him.  Some birds are sea birds and you must be on the water in a boat or ship to see them.  Our balcony was the perfect place for that.  He spent quite a bit of time out there with his binoculars.

One day, I was working at the desk in our room (on the 14th deck) when a fighter jet flew right past our window.  I saw it; then came the deafening roar.  It was way too fast to even think of getting a picture.  I had just settled down, when, about ten minutes later, it came back, flying right past our window again.  We never did find out what it was about.  I overheard others talking about it, but never got the details.  Of course, we did a lot of speculating.  It was loud and exhilarating.  

I got this picture off the Internet.  I don't know if this is exactly the same kind of jet that I saw.  

The delicious meals are always a highlight of a cruise.

Donna, our waitress from the Philippines.  She was very good.  Notice that every employee always wore a mask.

On many of the at sea nights, we went to a lounge and listened to Daniel Oliver, a big black guy, sing and play the piano.  He was very talented, singing many familiar songs.  He performed almost every night.

Following are some pictures of some of the entertainers we enjoyed:

This guy was great.  He was a concert pianist and a comedian- a rare combination.  He really put on a good show.

Before the show both nights, he visited with people in the audience.  Then, when they announced him, he leapt on the stage to start his show.  That's a unique entrance! Ken took my picture with him before the show.  He said, "Let's pull down our masks, 1-2-3!"

This was one of my other favorite entertainers.  Elaine Gray was a soprano from Scotland.  She had a beautiful, flawless tone.  

She did two shows.  Both were excellent.

As you can see, the first cruise was not full and the shows had more empty than full seats.  That was not true on the British Isle cruise, which was more full.

This guy, Phil Baker had a beautiful voice.  He has starred on London's equivalent of Broadway and even won the Laurence Olivier Award for his role in Taboo.

He did two shows.  During the couple of days between the shows, he fell going up into his bathroom in his room and broke his arm in three places.  He had to wait until the next port to get it cast properly, and I'm sure he was in pain.  But he said the show must go on, and did his second show with his arm in a sling.

I really liked this guy who did Phil Collins tributes.  He was really good.

On the sea day evenings, we enjoyed playing games together.

On Easter, our room steward left us treats- a far cry from the chocolates they used to leave!  We missed the chocolates.  Princess has discontinued that.

This little animal greeted us just inside the door when we came in one evening.

We bought some of the professional photographs:

Kevin, Melanie, Kay, Ken, Ada, Don

Ken is writing his autobiography and wanted a professional photograph for the cover.  I think all three of these are nice handsome dude!

We saw many other ships from our balcony as we sailed.

Many, many windmills out in the sea.

We saw so many incredible sunsets.

We really enjoyed our days at sea.