Day at Sea the First

I think that this is the first time that our cruise has both started and ended with a day at sea, which is pretty great from a rest and relaxation standpoint.  The weather was cool and kind of blustery, but pleasant to be outside in for a bit.

We started the day with morning trivia, which we, despite excellent collaboration and our award-winning strategy of relying mostly on Troy’s gut rather than mine, did not emerge from victorious.  

My big plan for post-trivia was to go hunker down in the Sanctuary, which is a super sweet, adult-only quiet place on the top deck with big comfy lounge couches etc.  Unfortunately, my plans were cruelly thwarted.  Princess now charges you to access this space ($20/half day), which isn’t that much, but I’m opposed to on principle (it was free, and my favorite spot, on our Japan cruise).  Harumph.  So we read outside for a while anyway.

I participated in “Speed Watercolors,” in which everyone was given exactly five minutes to paint whatever they cared to.  I tried to use too many colors, and was unable to finish my painting as a result.  It’s currently living in our cabin closet, and will probably not be making the journey back stateside with us.

Afternoon trivia was better for us – we were adopted by the older couple who had carried their team to victory in the morning (they always seem to find Troy).  Apparently, they cruise several times per month, and may actually be the people on this ship who have spent the most time at sea (I don’t fully understand cruise ship status yet).  We were ultimately victorious at trivia, and scored some sweet Princess water bottles.

It was our first of two formal nights, so we got ready and headed off to that.  We were seated next to two other Americans (we’re a really solid minority on this cruise – seems like it’s almost exclusively British folks), and the gentleman actually went to Wake… small world.  After dinner we saw Princess’ show “Bravo,” which was described to us as operatic pop.  It was kind of pop, and also kind of opera, but never at the same time.  Definitely worth doing, but there were some solidly weird dances happening behind the singers.

We ended the evening with live music and then watched Valerian: City of a Thousand Planets.  It was an entertaining movie, but wow was there a lot going on, and a lot that didn’t really make sense.  Oh well!

Tomorrow we dock in Stavanger, Norway!