On Vacation Episode Three - All At Sea

Our first full day on board was the perfect opportunity to observe our fellow passengers and acclimatise. Mr T and I are relatively inexperienced cruisers and we soon realised that we were  complimentary beverage package lightweights – you want a beer with your breakfast, you can have it.  We didn’t, but plenty of other people obviously did. It’s surprising how many people also drank a can of coke with their cornflakes, or rather not their cornflakes but corn fritters, waffles, smokey bacon, hash browns, stir fry, whipped cream and half a grapefruit. You name it, and you can have it. Food is unlimited and available all day. Breakfast transcends into lunch, lunch stretches until afternoon tea, and afternoon tea lasts until evening dinner. It’s a super place to over-indulge.

But we were determined to resist the temptation. Up early on our first morning we were jogging around the deck at 7.00 am. Our cabin was on the 8^th floor, mid-way up the ship, and we decided the only way we were ever going to stay fit would be to forget the elevators existed and take the stairs.

Of course being up so early in the morning we needed an afternoon nap – which is when I realised that the three women in the cabin next door to us obviously had a relative on the other side of ship they wished to include in their conversation. I have some really good American friends, so I will try not to be rude, but do they teach Voice Projection  in High School? When we later returned to the swimming pool and snuggled down in a cosy cabana, I could hear every word the man in the hot tub was bellowing to the guy sat next to him.  Why did he think everyone on the ship wanted to know he’d spent his entire life working in an inner-tube factory in Atlanta? We don’t care.

It was time for dinner, and Celebrity have dispensed with ‘formal’ attire and have instead created ‘evening chic’ – which basically means you can wear what you want. This suited Mr T, who having to wear a ‘formal’ outfit to work rather enjoys the casual holiday look.  

We decided to give the evening’s entertainment a miss. I’m sure the US comedian Ralph Harris is  a great guy but he’s going to have to change his name if he ever wants to crack the UK market. Anyway, we’d made it to nine-thirty. Cocktail of the day and then to bed – whilst our American neighbours were hopefully still out partying.