Day six is coming to an end and we are steaming across the Atlantic with fair weather and smooth seas. (knocking on wood right now.)
The unfortunate sunburn I received at Castaway Cay is still aglow, but not nearly as painful as it was two days ago. I’m not sure why my sunblock failed me so, but it’s a good thing we’re heading to Spain, since my sunburn is so uneven, it looks like something Pablo Picasso would have painted. We’ll call it his “Pink” period.
Yesterday was pretty casual and a bit of an anomaly; we didn’t wake up until 1:30 in the afternoon. I think the concept of losing an hour everyday is starting to mess with our heads. When we went to dinner at 8:15 this evening, the sun was telling me it was 3:00 in the afternoon. As of today, we were now six hours ahead of Phoenix time, which means we’re now eating dinner at 2:15 in the afternoon!
After dinner last night, we went to the Buena Vista theater to watch Iron Man 3 in 3D. Now, is it just me, or is the idea of 3D much, much, much better than the actual execution? I’m just not a fan. I find the glasses to be cumbersome and distracting and frankly, the movie didn’t have any effects that necessitated the 3D treatment. Odds are, it probably took away from my enjoyment of the film, and as a result, I left the theater thinking the film was just ok. I have bigger hopes for the new Star Trek installment, which may or may not be on the ship during our second week at sea.
Speaking of days at sea, today concluded our second of six straight days at sea, as we make our way to the Portuguese island of Madera. While the day started off with an unfortunate migraine for me, a double espresso, a cappuchino and three advil later, I was right as rain as I retired to deck four for the afternoon.
Deck four aboard the Disney Magic (and Wonder) is an open air deck where you can lay claim to a lounge chair and read or nap as the ocean goes by. Today’s high temperature got to about 77 and blankets were actually needed as the cool ocean breeze sailed by. My honey even scoped out a DCL pullover for me as I watched the world sail by.
I’m often also asked about the longer itinerary cruises; people want to know if we get bored. Today was a perfect example of why I like to sail these longer cruises with multiple sea days. Don’t get me wrong: ports of call enable you to see some pretty fantastic places and on a cruise, your hotel room comes with you. But on a cruise like this, where 10 of the 14 days are spent at sea, it allows you to decompress.
As I sat down in my deck chair this afternoon, I spent the first half an hour just staring out at the sea and listening to the water as the ship cut through the waves. When you look up the word tranquility in the dictionary, this is it. It provides a real opportunity to reflect on everyday life and gives you insight into just how noisy your brain can be. Without really trying, I slipped into a quasi-meditative state. I enjoyed the opportunity to clear my head and not think about anything. Truly no thoughts whatsoever, except the occasional wonderment about the great blue beyond in front of me. No thoughts about politics, work, news, Facebook. Nothing.
Speaking of Facebook, in order to access the Internets at sea, you do so via a satellite connection, which reminds of the days of listening to the AOL dial-up tone. In other words, if there were a carrier pigeon version of Internet access, this would be it. However, it does provide an avenue in which to communicate with the homestead and check on the dogs, as well as post the occasional travel blog. And while Facebook is somewhat accessible, when an Internet package costs $150 for 500 minutes, it becomes much less of a priority. Which is nice, because it allows you to actually realize how much time you spend on Zuckerberg’s gigantic time suck and how it takes time away from doing the things you truly value doing. Like napping. And reading. I finished Stephen King’s latest opus, 11/22/63 and am already 1/4 the way through the new Dan Brown book, Inferno. Hell, I’m even starting to think about what I’ll read next.
Granted, I don’t know if parents who have children also have this zen-like experience, but we do and we’re glad for it. The rest, relaxation and recharge is worth every penny. Now, I need to find a way to bottle the sounds of the ocean, the sweet smell of the clean air and the cool ocean breeze and bring it back with me to Arizona.
As we just finished dinner, I’ll leave you tonight with some commentary on the food. Clearly, I’m not an authority on breakfast, with how late we’ve been rolling out of bed. Dinners have been quite nice. Tonight, I enjoyed a mushroom risotto and Les had a phyllo wrapped salmon, which was unexpectedly tasty. Lunches on the other hand have been pretty disappointing. If you make it to one of the restaurants for lunch, it’s clear that the same amount of focus and effort isn’t put forth as it is with dinner. So as a result, you often end up on deck nine where you’re relegated to pizza, chicken fingers and french fries. While we don’t tend to eat junk food like this much anymore, it’s a bit of a treat at first, but quickly wears on the palate. When we sailed on the Disney Fantasy last year, they had made tremendous efforts and strides in the food department, especially when it came to the buffet, Cabanas. I would think that the VP or SVP in charge of DCL food would have say over the food service on all the ships. If so, there are some serious gaps on this ship that should be addressed. Now, you’ll have to excuse me as I waddle off for another serving of dessert! Talk to you in a few days.
Dude, I have so much say about this, but cyperspace is permaplace.
*to say
Ed you are wonderful and user u have it mom’s humor.