Steps – 7,843 (silent disco wasn’t until 11…I was a
pumpkin long before then!)
Humidity – 60%
I remember the Princess beds
from the last time we were on a bunch of years ago…they are super comfortable
(better than Regent) but small…as in short, a bit narrow, and I’m not tall –
but sooooo comfortable!
It was a sea day, and there was brunch in the Sanctuary restaurant. Dennis told
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| sabering |
us all about it yesterday, and although Chris isn’t a big breakfast guy, he can’t turn down a mimosa (or a ‘grimosa’ as Dennis called the one he made with grapefruit) and we went. The Sanctuary restaurant is calm, unhurried, and spacious. We both had a few things from their buffet and ordered from the menu…I had 1 eggs Benedict and Chris had 2 fried…that’s all we need – the next feeding isn’t far off.
We wandered through the main
buffet area, and I’m glad we have access to the Sanctuary restaurant. The main
buffet is staff served, which is sooo civilized (not to mention hygienic) but
makes things take much longer. You can’t just take a couple of this and one of
that, you have to convince the server that you don’t want a whole plate…just a
bit – I hate wasting food and feel I have to finish everything I have.
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| sabered cork with some bottle intact |
Then we checked out the Sanctuary lounge…a quiet, calm, unhurried, and spacious area with a great view of the wake where they have a coffee bar, and booze bar, light snacks and a few staff to help with dinner reservations, excursions, and general questions. We had a question about the show seating.
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| snack, guitar, drink, sabering |
We knew we were supposed to
have reserved seating because of our package, but that didn’t seem to exist
last night…we got it sorted…the main ship shows have reserved, the guest
entertainers (which last night’s were) don’t.
Then it was pool time. The
main pool is super busy (no surprise at all) but we have a Sanctuary pool. It
was busy, but we were able to find loungers in the almost shade…it’s an Olympic
event trying to predict how the shade is going to be and where the sun is
moving to. We try to add the direction of the boat, to the direction of the
sun, and the side of the ship we are on.
The Sanctuary pool is (like
everything Sanctuary) calm, unhurried, and spacious. Nice to relax, but for
‘action’ not so much. There was a DJ, and a guitar player, but no uncha, uncha,
uncha like at the main pool. I’m fine with calm, unhurried, and spacious, but a
bit of uncha now and again would be OK. It’s a Goldilocks situation.
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| Maid of the Sea |
The Sanctuary pool has a small buffet of very tasty snacks that we made lunch out of the perfect amount of food (there were even plenty of veg!)
A short nap preceded us
leaving the room before 5! Anything that happens before 6 (or even 7) must be
pretty special for us to leave the room for. Basically, if you want to find me
on a ship around 5/6, I’m in the room…either napping or enjoying the balcony or
getting ready.
The activity that got me out
of the room before 5 was a champagne sabering in the Sanctuary lounge. Chris
thinks we’ve seen this once before, but I can’t remember. Anyway…it was very
cool. We had a small taste of the champagne, a ‘Sea Legs’ cocktail.
Then we checked out O’Malley’s
Pub…Chris found himself a Guiness (in a can, but still a Guiness) and I had a
‘Maid of the Sea’ – very tasty.
All of a sudden, we saw a wave of humanity passing by, and thought… “interesting, did something just let out?” then we saw another wave and realized they were all going to Fiera the show we were planning to see. Even though we had reserved seats, even those were limited, so we said goodbye to Derrek our bartender and joined the flow of people.
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| another 3er |
Good thing we went when we
did…we got good seats, but 10 minutes later and they were gone. These reserved
seats are released 5 minutes before show time…ha! There was an open seat beside
Chris, but for the most part the reserved (and everywhere else for that matter)
was PACKED! The designers of this ship obviously made this theatre this size
for a reason, but wow, to me it could be 20% bigger…but…it isn’t revenue
generating, so…
The show was a Broadway style
show, with singing, dancing, and a bit of a story. It reminded us of &
Juiliet, that we recently saw in New York, in that it used familiar pop
songs. Ship shows are only about 45 minutes, so before 8:00 we were out,
looking for the next crowd to join.
The Captain was doing his welcome in The Piazza at 8…perfect…we wouldn’t ever seek this activity out, but right place…They were passing out champagne for a toast. It was hard to get one and as we have a
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| here we are |
drinks’ package, we ordered a fresh one from the bar. The package we have limits drinks to $20 or less, which is basically every drink save for the very top shelf ones. The usual champagne is $15; there are a couple extra special champagnes in specific bars/restaurants for $20. I haven’t had one of those yet, but I am all for getting my money’s worth. As far as I’m concerned…all champagne is special.
We planned to go to Alfredo’s
the ship’s pizza place for dinner. Based on the crowds, we thought we’d better
get our names on a list because we’d probably have to kill some time…nope. No
problem getting in. In fact, the guy at the front joked about how busy they
weren’t. Apparently this place is busier at lunch
Sanctuary Lounge events
We shared a pizza (New Yorker,
basically peperoni), a salad (misto), and a dessert (cannoli – not good). That
was plenty of food. According to David our waiter from Dominican Rep, the
Hawaiian is
the most popular – my fav!
After dinner we wandered
through the casino. Smoking is allowed in the casino which is so annoying to me
I may never gamble – a good anti gambling strategy. It doesn’t seem to stop
many people, because the place is plenty busy. Chris ended up staying, I went
to bed.
There was another silent
disco, but it was at 11…by 11 I was flossed, brushed and tucked into bed.
Diana - yes, the bathroom is great, especially the separate toilet room with sink
Dbitty - thanks for reading!
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