At Sea: Report from late last (Sunday) night: we all had dinner together in the Manhattan dining room. Menu was varied. Lots of seafoods tonight. Service, as usual, was excellent. I actually had dessert - a little chocolate cake in a strawberry sauce. It came with a teeny scoop of chocolate chip ice cream. Sweet way to end the first day:
Back to today (Monday): Though we are celebrating all week, Kris turned 60 today. We woke around seven and enjoyed coffees on the deck. It was barely 65 degrees, but little wind and calm seas. We had asked our cabin steward to unlock the divider between our two balconies, but he said NCL didn’t do that any longer due to safety concerns. Steve opened it with his Leatherman tool.
We all met for lunch in the Taste dining room. I remembered the wonderful soups from our NCL Panama Canal cruise, so savored their Italian wedding soup. The afternoon was spent on Deck 8 (starboard), out of any wind and in the sun. So warm and pleasant. I stitched. DT did a crossword, and the four of us chatted the afternoon away. At 3p, we went up to the Observation Lounge for coffees and pastries, but were kicked out at 4 o’clock due to a private event.
Dave and I have sailed many times now along Baja California this time of year and have always seen dolphins, whales, turtles and countless flying fish. Today zip. Nothing. Nada. So odd.
While Kris was about the ship enjoying her special day, the crew were in her stateroom decorating the wall behind their bed, and left a (towel) elephant on their bed.
And don’t forget her birthday cake!
And the little magnets we ordered for their cabin door from Etsy:
Back in America, Steve had designed a temporary tattoo to celebrate the Birthday Girl. He sent them to all their friends and family. The deal was to rub-on the tattoo, then dress up "vintage style" to match the "Vintage 1964" vibe on the tattoo that mimics a Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey logo, and text the photo to Kris. Funny photos were coming in all day, delighting Kris. Such a great idea, Steve. Their friend, Caroline and Nate, rubbed-on the tats, donned costumes, and struck a po$e:
We had cocktails in a little bar outside the Italian restaurant, La Cucina, then enjoyed very nice meals together. The staff spoiled Kris!
After dinner we watched a couple's game show in the atrium titled something like THE NOT-NEWLYWED GAME. Our cruise director, Dan Dan, asked the husbands questions about their wives, and the men wrote-down their answers. To start the fun, Dan Dan compared the husband v wife answers. 1st question: If you asked your husband to buy you a bra, which color and size would he buy? Oh, was this a hoot. Every husband answered wrong, even the one whose wife said, “You should know, darling, you bought them!” And, she had perfect comedic timing, even puffing out her chest while explaining she had birthed four children.
It was a great day, with this odd tale. Dave was walked/jogged outside on the 8th deck for an hour. His Apple watch GPS clocked him running 22 miles in 50 minutes! World record marathon time! Steve had similar results. Kris set a world record for the 200m in 6 seconds. (I am still limping along, knee still bandaged, yet am still getting 10,000 steps a day on this massive ship, while not exercising at all. And, I seem to be the only human without an Apple watch.)
Until my next update (from Cabo San Lucas), I remain, your celebrating correspondent.