Sea Day…was supposed to be Cabo Frio, Brazil – December 21

pool beer

Weather…24, a few fluffy clouds, windy

We learned long ago not to expect things will go according to plan when travelling and especially when on a cruise. Last night at dinner, when we were able to set sail, we got the dreaded bing, bang, bong of the boat’s PA system. This is very unusual other than the captain’s noon time announcement and never brings good news. The captain reported that there was a foreign object tangled in one of the ship’s propellers. This is delaying our departure…could be 30 min, 45 min or until the next day if divers were needed because Rio doesn’t allow divers in the dark. As it turned out it was a quick fix, and we were only delayed by about an hour.

The captain went on to tell us to expect rough seas over night and we may be missing today’s port. Cabo Frio is a tender port – tendering in rough seas is pretty much a no-go, so we weren’t hopeful. When we woke up Cabo Frio turned into our first sea day. I wasn’t too broken up about it…what can you do about it anyway?? I’m always up for a sea day, especially when I didn’t have my heart set on what the plans were.

So…off to the gym, a quick breakfast, reading and a reading-induced chair nap…not a terrible

what we return to each evening

recovery! I’ll tell you what else I did that was actually, in fact TERRIBLE…I called the plumber. Why you may ask, did I call the plumber…well, let me tell you…the toilet SOUNDED like it was flushing, but in fact it WAS NOT flushing…grrrrrrr! Cruise ship toilets work on a vacuum system, you push a button, hear a woosh, and the ‘material’ is gone. Well…this morning there was plenty of woosh, but the ‘material’ remined! I called someone, they called someone, and the plumber came. As least Chris told me a plumber came…I figured it was more important that I go to the gym and let Chris deal with the plumber. For the rest of the day all worked…we experienced this twice on this same boat last time we were here, so I wasn’t surprised, but COME ON!!!!!

The rest of the day was less eventful…noon-time cool by the pool with the cocktail of the day, lunch, balcony time, nap, dinner, bed. 

One thing we did the ship’s ‘block party’. This is where at 6 PM everyone (who wants to) hangs out in the hall outside their rooms and meets their neighbors while staff pours wine and passes out snacks. We’ve done this plenty of times and it is charming…it’s nice to know who your neighbors are.