British Isles-day 6- Day at sea

Monday, July 18, 2011- aboard the Crown Princess in Britain’s North Sea.

We got up late this morning. The skies were cloudy and gray and the seas were rough. It was a day at sea for us and there was no urgency to do anything. Sometimes, a day at sea can be among the most relaxing and enjoyable of the voyage. At 8:45 A.M. we made our way to the Horizons Lounge on deck fifteen. We met John and Susan, from New Jersey, there and sat down to a breakfast of eggs and fruit. We chatted for a while with them, enjoying the unhurried luxury of the morning.

After breakfast, we made our way topside. The seas were rolling and the far horizons gray and rain filled. Usually, the scene topside on a liner is a portrait of hundreds of sunbathers crowding every available deck chair and filling the swimming pool. Today, the top decks were empty. It looked decidedly strange, viewing the barren decks, like a scene from a movie where everyone has already been evacuated from the ship, only they forgot to tell you.

In the decks 5-7 promenade areas, the aisles were aswarm with passengers browsing the shops and looking for things to do. It was too crowded for us, so we made our way back to the cabin and picked up a book to read for the afternoon. Reading at sea on a cloudy afternoon is decidedly a pleasant experience. Mary did a load of whites in one of the laundry rooms and we then drifted off to an afternoon nap, one of my favorite past times.

Later that afternoon, we enjoyed a drink on the balcony, watching the rolling sea, something I could do forever. Then we made preparations for getting ready for the “Formal Dinner” night aboard ship. It was an occasion when most of the ship’s male passengers wore tuxedos or dark
suits and ties and the women formal gowns to dinner. It is a nice tradition
that appears to be fast fading in the new age of informal dining.

Everything on the tuxedo seemed to fit pretty well until I tried on the shoes. I had checked the right shoe when we first boarded and assumed everything was okay. That was when I discovered that the ship had given me two right shoes. It would have been funny were we not twenty minutes away from dinner. But then, if this was the worst part of the day, it was still a pretty good day at sea.

Mary called Passenger services and asked for help. I rounded up Raul, our cabin steward, and asked for help. Between them, a pair of left foot shoes arrived in the next thirty minutes, one of which matched the shoe that I had been given. Not bad, considering the complexity of activities and things to do that the crew already had been assigned. Clad in two shoes, we made our way to the Michaelangelo dining room on deck five.

The gangways and restaurant were crowded with elegantly dressed men and women. It was a visage of a cruise era past, when formality had been the norm. We were seated with another couple from New Jersey. We chatted amiably while munching on crab quiche, asparagus soup, filet of halibut with green beans and new potatoes and a chocolate confection for dessert, accompanied with a Mondavi cabernet. Life is good.

After dinner, we walked the gangways along deck seven enjoying the spectacle of so many well dressed people taking their ease on a great ship. We stopped by the Explorer’s Lounge and enjoyed the antics of a comedian/magician who performed an hour long show. He was good at his trade.

We didn’t feel like late night entertainment, so we made our way back to our cabin to read for a time and then retire. We gain an hour tonight as we recross the time zones on our way to Edinburg, Scotland.