February 2, 2015

February 2, 2015

Clocks were moved back one hour overnight to Atlantic Standard Time (AST) and will stay there until we leave St. Maarten in 10 days.

The 8 a.m. AST temperature outside was 23 C, the sky was partly sunny, with a moderate wind of 14 knots. We were passing the north coast of Cuba heading 122 degrees toward Holguin, Cuba.

We had breakfast in the dining room on Deck 3 with a couple from Wales and couple from Ottawa. Then changed to walking clothes for a 45 minute (4 km ) circuit around Decks 14 and 15. It is 169 stairs up to Deck 14 from Deck 3. We stopped at the group tour table to make a reservation for a Specialty restaurant on Friday evening. Then we changed to go to a shopping presentation explaining the association of certain stores and the cruise company.  There is no sales tax or duty on the goods in the stores.  We received some coupons and discount cards for stores that we thought we might visit in Aruba and Curacao after we return from our morning tours.  For lunch we went to the dining room level on Deck 4 and sat with a couple from, London England and a couple form Maryland.  Then changed back into the walking clothes for another 45 minute (4 km ) circuit around Decks 14 and 15 and chatted with several different members of our 66 member group tour as we met them.  We met our daily goal of 11,000 steps, so headed to the bar for Mojitoes and then to the ice cream counter for a cool ice cream.  Temperature was 26 C and the wind was moderate.  Most of the lounge chairs around the Deck 11 outdoor pool were occupied and about half the lounge chairs on Deck 14 held sunbathers.  By this afternoon there were some sunburned bodies. We had 12, 318 steps and decided not to bother with the pedometer for the rest of the day.

Tonight was the first of three Formal nights, quite a contrast from the casual Super Bowl attire of the first evening on board. The photographer teams were set up at photo stations with different backgrounds and were having people pose for pictures before going to dinner.  We danced, with another couple, and then just ourselves in the Grand Foyer to a jazz trio, Blue Velvet band, before dinner.  All eight of us were seated at our dinner table tonight, Brendene, Brian, Elaine, Rod, Pat, Beth and us. We both ordered a glass of wine, then for appetizers chicken liver parfait, followed by Watermelon and Tomato salad. The entrées selected at our table were: lamb chops with mashed potatoes, carrots & broccoli; Beef Tenderloin with mashed potatoes, carrots & broccoli and Shrimp Scampi on linguini. Dessert was Phylo pastry shell filled with custard, blueberries & blackberries and chocolate layer cake with vanilla ice cream.

After dinner, the Grand Foyer on Deck 3 was filled with 15 of couples dancing to the Blue Velvet jazz band so we climbed the stairs to Deck 14 to dance at the Skyview Lounge with a larger dance floor and only one other couple was on the floor. It was Chris, who sat beside me on the plane to Miami, and his wife. After 30 minutes we left to see the 8:45 variety show in the theater.  The theatre was standing room only, so we watched the opening act with the full cast and then went to the quiet Café Al Bacio, on Deck 5, for our only “Iglu” frozen coffee beverage of the day.  Then, we wandered to the photo gallery, on Deck 5, to find photos from yesterday of us boarding the ship, on Deck 15 as the ship sailed away from Miami and the dinner photos. We returned to the stateroom to check emails and finish the blog and post it. Just after 10 p.m. the ship turned to a heading of 180 after passing the south tip of Cuba and headed into the Windward Passage between Cuba and Haiti. The current temperature is +24C. No pictures today.