A QUIET DAY

September 24, 2011.



It's been a fairly quiet day aboard the Norwegian Dawn, which is more than I can say for last night.  Our ship was attacked by a great leviathan of the deep.  Throughout the night all I could hear was its guttural roars as it raged and thrashed about, causing so great a disturbance I feared the ship would break apart.  At least I thought it was a leviathan . . . as it turned out it was just my step-brother Joe snoring away in the bed below me (I have the bunk that folds out from the wall).  I always travel with earplugs, but somehow I forgot to pack them for this trip, and I sure could have used them last night!  After breakfast this morning I went to the ship's shops to see if they sold earplugs, but they didn't have any.  That will be a priority once we reach Bermuda.




Becky E. remained quarantined in her room all day.  Joe looked in on her from time to time to make sure she was OK, and ordered her meals for her through room service.  After breakfast he went to the ship's library and checked a couple of books out for her, so she would have something to read in the cabin. 




The rest of us just kind of lounged around, either sitting in the sun or napping.  I took a late morning nap, and got up around 1:00 PM and went to check out the Mr. Spectacular contest which was held at the Oasis Pool.  I was under the impression it was a physique contest, but none of the entrants had any physique to speak of.  How disappointing.  I dare say I was in better shape than any of them, but that is not saying a whole lot.  I had tried to get Joe to enter, thinking he would be a sure winner if he could have his Hispanic lady friends there wildly cheering "JOELITO! JOELITO!"  But he could not be persuaded.  I had seen some guys around the ship who really SHOULD have entered the contest, and certainly would have won, but they were no where in sight.  I wasn't intrigued enough by any of the contestants to even stay around and watch it. 




After lunch I lay in the sun for about an hour, and then went down to the Spinaker Lounge where a game of "The Weakest Link" was just finishing up.  I stayed for Bingo, and bought a package that included a t-shirt and some pull tabs in addition to the Bingo cards.  I didn't win anything at Bingo, and I haven't pulled the pull tabs yet. Maybe I'll be lucky with those!




After a phone conversation between Joe and the ship's nurse, Becky E. was finally released from Quarantine around dinner time.  She didn't feel up to eating any place "fancy", so she and Joe had dinner at the Garden Cafe.  Having eaten there for breakfast and lunch, I wasn't crazy about going back there for a third time. I asked if anyone else wanted to go to the Aqua restaurant with me, and Lois, James, and Becky C. all agreed.  There I got a roasted pumpkin, fennel, and arugula salad for an appetizer, a burrito for entree, and all four of us got cheesecake for dessert.




We finished in time to rush up to the Atrium where Captain Steffan Bengtsson was greeting passengers and posing for pictures.  I've had my picture taken with the captain's of all the cruise ships I've been on, but no one else except Lois was interested in doing it, so it was just the two of us.  After that we went to the gift shops for a few minutes, then to the cabins to see if Joe and Becky E. were back yet.  They were;  Joe was already in bed with his bare feet sticking out from under the blanket, sound asleep.  Becky E. was by herself in the other cabin. 




Becky E. had spent most of the cruise so far in her room, so we invited her to go out with us and walk around the ship.  We went up to the 13th deck, and went outside.  It was quite windy, but even before we hit the wind Becky E. seemed to be having a great deal of trouble walking.  The ship was rocking a little, but not so much that anyone else seemed to be affected; still, it was all she could do to stand up.  Even with Lois holding on to her, she had trouble.  Needless to say, we didn't stay out there very long, and Becky E. decided she needed to go back to the cabin. 




After seeing Becky E. safely to the cabin, Lois, James, Becky C. and myself came up to the pool area and sat for awhile.  They've left me now, so I am by myself, and as soon as I post this, I probably shall follow them to the cabins. 




As I said, it's been a quiet day, not much excitement at all.  We'll arrive in Bermuda tomorrow, so hopefully there will be some adventures there to report on tomorrow night!