December 13 - AT SEA

here we are

Weather – 26º, humid, and windy

Steps – like yesterday…3714, not many…sea days don’t provide for very much movement

Today we are sailing the Bahamian Channel between Cuba and the Bahamas.

We lost an hour of sleep last night, we expected this somewhere along the way, but not necessarily TODAY. We will be in St Bart’s on Friday, and we are getting on their time zone now. Hopefully few other people will be in St. Bart’s on Friday…I’m

and here we are

talking to you Leo DeCaprio! Last year we tried to go ashore in St. Bart’s just after New Year’s and couldn’t get close enough to drop anchor and tender due to the yachts of the rich and famous in the bay. Fingers crossed for this year, although the weather forecast is for rain, so…who knows what we’ll do.

Kasia and Boogie

Every sea day Captain Ivo makes a noon announcement – I think it’s all captains we’ve sailed with, but last night this captain mentioned that he always does it,
suggesting that some don’t…who knows…I kinda live for these noon-announcements. This is where you get all the details for the next day’s weather and sea conditions. Today we heard that getting to St. Bart’s will be a ‘challenge’…we knew about the forecasted rain but didn’t know about the sea conditions. According to the captain, today we are experiencing ‘gale-

what should we do?

force’ winds, up to 3 metre swells, and lots of motion to the ocean. So, maybe St. Bart’s won’t be in the cards for us once again.

A sea day, as with all sea days brings a whole lot of nothing for us. There is plenty to do for those who want to be busy...bridge, puzzles, needlepoint, trivia, crafting, bingo, casino – however, no water slides, ice skating or go-carts…this isn’t a mega ship! I considered the gym until we had to turn the clocks and we were back late last night after the show and disco…maybe tomorrow.

It was nice to have a lie-in this morning. A cruise starting with sea days is perfect, especially for people who just arrived yesterday or who had far to come. We never arrive on the day of a cruise…just too many

more choices

things to worry about going sideways. Our personal policy is to get in at least one day ahead. This way, although a pain, if luggage got lost or planes got delayed, we wouldn’t miss the boat. Plus, we get to experience the departure city. Usually, the departure cities on cruises are just that the city we leave from, not one we explore as part of the cruise.

noooooooo!

This is the perfect cruise morning…sleep in then sit on the balcony for some blogging. I should have ordered room service, but I’m happy to drink sparkling water (Suraj has loaded me up) and eat out of our fruit bowl until lunch.

Lunch was a Tex-Mex buffet. I am always up for some spice, but we know how much spice we’ll get there with this crowd…as Ol’ Bobby (a guy we met years ago on a cruise, same cruise we met Alan Thicke BTW, but that’s another story) said often “on a scale of 1-10, I like a zero

a few more Miami shots

for spice”…I think that about sums it up on here. There’s always a way to doctor our food with hot sauce and jalapeños. Sometimes there will be an Asian or Indian dish that’s spicy…it’s rare.

We were planning on a pre-lunch drink at the pool for ‘cool by the pool’ (this is one of our few appointments on a cruise) but it was so windy the band didn’t set up. We had to enjoy our margaritas listening to piped in Dr Hook…for some reason this boat loves Dr Hook…I’m OK with that.

Miami yachts

The rest of the afternoon was spent napping, reading, and listening to the enrichment talks on the TV. Regent cruises always has a few people on board who are experts in topics of the areas we are sailing in. These lectures take place in the ship’s theatre but are recorded and then shown on the TV. This is the perfect

adios Miami

way to listen…whenever we like in the comfort of our room.

Tonight, our predinner cocktail was at the ‘captain’s reception’… everyone heads to the theatre to see the captain and other senior staff introduced and then a bit of entertainment. That was followed by dinner at the ship’s steak restaurant and then a show. The show tonight was a juggler/comedian…he was probably the worst cruise ship entertainer we have ever seen. This ship has its own entertainment team that put on production shows, but also brings on guest entertainers for a couple of shows.