We’ve settled into our sea day routine. This morning was the Mariners Brunch. Those who have achieved number of days sailed milestones are awarded “medals” by the Captain and other staff members. And, the three, four, and five star Mariners are treated to champagne, mimosas, bloody Mary’s, orange juice, and appetizers during the ceremony. We then proceed to the main dining room for a special brunch with more champagne. At this one, we enjoyed chatting with more Canadians. Ramona and Roland, who were seated opposite us, were from Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Island. It’s an area we’ve visited a few times, so we enjoyed chatting with something else in common.

The cruise director announced over the PA that a critically ill patient was in need of blood Type O Negative, or A Positive if other passengers could help. Neither of us have that type, but we were very happy to hear that many passengers responded. We’d never had that type of request on board before!
I had a little time to write and Hubby had some reading time, nap time, and workout time before Happy Hour. Today we ended up chatting with Tim and Lynn, from La Mesa, California. Since we’d lived in that area for many years we had fun getting to know each other and reminiscing about areas we’d all seen develop over the years. We’ll have to chat more and see if we know someone in common! While having dinner in the Lido, a solo traveler, Donna from Chicago, sat with us. She seemed to need to chat, so we listened politely and diverted the conversation when it became apparent we had different political views.
The scheduled performed was not feeling well, so we enjoyed another show by comedian Tim Kaminski. This one didn’t involve onstage audience participation, but was equally as good as his previous show. We were happy to have time to watch a movie before it was bed time. It’s much easier than it used to be! On previous cruises we checked out DVD’s from the Front Office. As the ships have been upgraded, movies are available right from the TV. There are also three news channels, MSNBC, Fox, and BBC World News. As well as HGTV, Travel Channel (which seems to be a supernatural-type shows), ESPN, ESPN2, and a channel called Prime One that alternates between news and shows such as “Blue Bloods,” “Fresh Off the Boat,””Modern Family,” and similar shows. The TV Shows channel has “America’s Test Kitchen”, “Cook’s Country”, and “Ocean Videos”, which are teasers to entice travel.
We’re enjoying the calmer seas and ready for a gentle sleep.