Day 12 – At Sea

14 November, 2024

Overcast Morning

Today dawned gloomy, overcast, and in the parlance of those who grew up around the ocean, "A bit nautical." When we emerged from the cabin on our way to brunch our steward, Wayan, was standing with his service cart – an unusual state. Usually he would be in and out of rooms, cleaning and replacing towels.

Not this morning, he was figuratively twiddling his thumbs, waiting for something to do. It seems that the majority of his cabins were filled with people who weren't handling the sea conditions very well. 

Brunch was lightly attended, but far from deserted. My Eggs Benedict were spot-on, which was made even more impressive by the rocking of the boat. We were seated near a window, so we had a nice show. The waves were regularly rising above the level of the windows in the dining room. I tried several times to capture photos and video, but the best I was able to manage was a wet window. Another passenger did obtain a rather impressive video that I included below.

Angriness of the Seas

We were passing through a frontal zone consisting of the remains of a tropical system. It was primarily wind and waves, with a little rain mixed in on occasion. Walking around the ship wasn't a casual endeavor as the seas reached nearly 30 feet. The photo to the right was taken from the back window in Two70, deck 5. The crest of the wave on the right side of the frame is over my head.

The seas persisted into the evening, resulting in a light crowd in the dining room, and, to be honest, light crowds throughout the ship. The emesis bags were spread around generously; stairwells, elevators, counters along the open spaces – you could stand at one stack and see two others, one in each direction. They reminded me of the emergency call boxes on a college campus.

Fortunately we didn't witness anyone using an emesis bag, as that would have likely triggered an entire chain of sympathy pukers, which would not have been pleasant.

Movie Night!

Movie night by the pool was on the schedule later in the evening, but the weather precluded the possibility of that happening, so the movies were moved to Two70. I will say that watching a movie with cocktail service was pretty amazing, and the seats were much more comfortable than they would have been poolside. We came in on the tail end of the first movie and settled in to watch what may be my favorite Indiana Jones installment. We watched nearly all of the movie and enjoyed a couple of cocktails. Some freshly popped popcorn would have been the perfect addition, heck, just the aroma of fresh popcorn would have probably been enough since we had just finished dinner.

It wasn't quite as comfortable as being reclined at home on the couch, but the sound system left nothing to be desired and the video resolution was quite good. It was as close to a living room on steroids as I think anyone could imagine.