Day 9 - Mediterranean Cruise - at Sea
We were sailing from Civitavecchia, Italy to Valencia, Spain and just water as far as you could see.
Oh yeah, it was Friday. I'd lost track of things, days of the week, etc. And because I wasn't able to get my laptop onto the internet package the sisters & I had bought, I went and found out how to get online for just a day. My job needed me to figure something out or they'd NEVER let me go on a cruise again. :)
Job security, I guess!
This is actually a panoramic picture so it looks stupid, yet kind of cool!
ANYWAY!
This was the first day we even walked through the casino!
For the tour, we got special lanyards to prove we could be below deck and followed our guide. While waiting for the rest of the group, he asked us if we could place his accent because he could tell we were from the U.S. from ours. Wha..??? WE have an accent?! I never noticed.
But we couldn't place his!
He was surprised that we couldn't and said, "I'm from Madagascar!!" like OF COURSE!
hmm. To be honest, he was the first person we ever met from Madagascar. Not that the accent was going to help us anyway.
So he took us behind the stage of the super show that we saw earlier in the week. A few of the performers were back there and gave little speeches about how they tried out for the part, how often they practice, etc. Pretty fascinating!
Oh and no pictures were allowed, so this is all verbal.
One teen girl and her mom were on the tour too and the girl acted like she was NOT feeling well. The stage dressing rooms are in deck 3ish in the very hull of the ship. So we heard and felt every splash and crash from outside. I wasn't feeling so hot either but thought, "I can DO this!"
The poor girl was sitting down on any available chairs or the floor during the little talks. And since it's an international cruise, the tour guide had to tell everything in 5 different languages. So if he spoke a lot in English, he also spoke a lot in French, Portuguese, Spanish and Italian. Perhaps another.
After we got out of the dressing rooms, we went to the top of the auditorium to the sound system and Ken geeked out on all the equipment and had lots of questions for the man in charge of it.
While here, a young pregnant couple left the group. I guess the wife wasn't feeling so great. I don't blame ya mama! I sat on a step while another woman told of how she was hired and the jobs she did around the ship. She was some sort of activity director, think, Julie from the Love Boat. She told about how many times they have time free and most days after work, there are parties in the staff quarters. Uh ya! We heard you!!
There was partying going on in the wee hours of the evenings and it sounded like right outside our door, but it was one floor down. Apparently the staff quarters are on deck 4 and we'd just confirmed it with her. Our room was on deck 5.
Back to the tour! Our tour guide led us down even further into the bowels of the ship to the laundry room on deck 2. in. the. hull. of. the. ship.
It was really rocking and there was a stench that did NOT smell like laundry, dirty or clean. Our guide said that when the sea is pretty rocky like today, you just smell that. The laundry staff are used to it.
The teen turned a distinct color of green and she and her mom bowed out of the tour and got escorted back to the guest floors.
I hung onto a washing machine to keep my balance and my breakfast and listening to the guide talk in the 5 extra languages, when suddenly,
NOPE. I said I had to leave too! The same guy led me back to the 5th floor and I found my way back to our cabin, laying down and just shutting my eyes.
About 10 minutes later, Teresa knocked on my door feeling a little green in the gills too. She laid down on Ruth Ann's bed.
After a bit, I was feeling a little better and found a place to write a couple postcards out for family.
Just then Ruth Ann and the rest of the group walked past me! Ken had gone off to find Teresa. They were headed to the Shanghai restaurant for some free sushi samples and drinks! Ruth Ann and I were the only ones from us four who had some.
At some point towards the end of the week, Ruth Ann broke our cabin safe! Yes, I'm blaming you Ruth Ann! Well, it wouldn't open and our passports and money were inside! YIKES! We were going to need those!
We went and got someone from customer service to come in and he fiddled with it for a good long time trying to get it open. He was from Madagascar and as luck would have it, so was the guy that did our tour that morning! They didn't know each other. This guy had a wife and kids back home and he worked for 6 months and sent his money home. No expenses for him on the ship really. Room and board was free. Then he'd be home for 1 month, then back on the ship for another 6. Reading up on how much they make, it's a good deal! But you are on duty 12 hours a day, 7 days a week.
And then another guy came later to replace the safe. They DID get it open enough for us to get our important docs out. We stuck them into Teresa and Ken's safe.
We saw a few performers in the buffet some days. Hey! Isn't that?!!...
Over the week, we visited the Shaker Lounge often. The views off the back of the ship were so calming and it was a nice quiet place, most of the time.
They were showing a movie that afternoon, Bridget Jones - Mad about the Boy, in the Shaker Lounge, so we got there early so we could stake out the front chairs close to the screen. Well, the hour before the movie, there was a presentation about a 3 month long cruise that would get to 25 countries! Ruth Ann and I sat back and initially, Teresa and Ken did too, but it piqued their interest, so they sat down close to it and got to put their name in for a prize. They won a bottle of champagne!
So Ken hung onto that and we enjoyed it that evening in the grand dining room!
The movie played and oh my goodness, I'd forgotten that her husband, Colin Firth, is dead at the very beginning. I think I cried through the whole thing. And a woman laughing at things at the same time as ugly crying is not pretty.
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