Alaska Cruise 2025 - Sea Day #2 (08/13/25)

Breakfast for two....

There were more plates and trays of food to start our day.  But the day had come late due to Room Service personnel oversleeping.  (Or, that's the excuse the man gave.)

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We were awakened by someone calling from New York, trying to get RQS to accept a dental appointment for cleaning only, as her dentist would not be there.  As usual, the person was acting with a pre-set agenda and wasn't listening to RQS. RQS wanted to see the dentist as part of her regularly scheduled appointment. But RQS made herself clear and got the appointment she wanted.  As for me, I could have used an hour or two more sleep.

When were finally moving, we had to wait more time than should have been necessary for breakfast, as Room Service was running late.  By the time we finished breakfast, it was lunch time - a meal we decided to skip in favor of afternoon tea later in the afternoon.

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Afternoon Tea....

Around 3 pm, we went down to the dining room for afternoon tea.  There was not enough room in the area outside the restaurant to hold all of the people waiting to get in for tea.  At 3 pm sharp, the restaurant opened to let everyone in.  RQS and I were seated at a table for 2, a table off the beaten track of wait staff flow. This wasn't the problem that made tea unpleasant.  Instead, it was the loudness of our area.  We had to shout to hear each other speak.  Unlike tea on our Norwegian Fjord cruise, the small finger sandwiches had almost no flavor.  Was it us?  Or was it the ship's environment that caused us to give a "thumbs down" on tea?  Who knows?  But I won't be in any hurry to go back there again for afternoon tea.

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Dinner....

We got dressed in our nicest clothes for formal night, and left early for dinner.  This would give us some time to get formal pictures taken of us before we went to dinner.  After walking around for a few minutes, we found a place where we wanted our pictures taken - and did so.  Then, it was off to dinner.

Arriving at the restaurant a few minutes early, we asked if we could be seated at a table where our favorite waiter was working.  They hemmed and hawed a little, and seated us at another shared table.  Then Marco showed up, and greeted us warmly.  We love his touch in serving us at our table.  (Now, I understand why my uncle was once upset at not having his favorite waiter serve my dad when he visited him in the Hamptons one year.)  Across from us was a couple from Turkey who could barely speak English.  Shortly after we ordered, two ladies were seated next to us, and we had a great, non serious chat with them.  I suggested the Orange Duck, and she was glad I suggested it. Our dishes came.  First was the crab cake, then the ravioli, followed by the duck.  Yum!  The orange sauce was not as pronounced as I'd make it, but it was good. Finally, dessert was served, and I had the creme brulee.

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When we finished dinner, we decided to do almost a week's worth of laundry.  One of the nice things about a Princess cruise ship is that most (if not all) have self-service laundry.  Two problems: the token dispenser didn't work, and the soap dispensing machine was empty (or, we thought it was).  So each of us had to make our way to Guest Services for help... multiple times.

All in all, this was a good sea day.... 

 

A short post about a "Butt Dialed" phone call.

 

Today's post will be a short one.  Although I'm getting over my cold, I am tired and don't want to be distracted later on....

The other day, I got a phone call from my former cruise partner (FCP).  Given how exhausted I was feeling that day, I didn't message her until several days later on.  Those of you who have read my blogs know that our relationship didn't end on a happy note.  So I wondered why she called.

Given that I didn't know what she wanted, or whether the call was accidental, I decided to send her a text message.  I belatedly wished her a Happy Holiday season, and acknowledged the call, noting that I was sick and had the ringer on my phone turned off.  There was no way I could focus on a phone call that day, as it tool all the energy I had to go about my daily business.

Will she call again?  Will she respond to my message?  Who Knows?  But I will try to answer the phone next time, as long as I am able to do so.

I still wasn't feeling up to par today.

 

I decided not to go to a meetup today, as I was still feeling a little bit under the weather.  The soreness at the back of my throat has eased off, and I don't ache as much as I did yesterday.  Part of me wants to break open a bottle of Amaretto, mix it in some Hot Chocolate and relax.  Yet, this is not the time to have a drink, unless it's hot tea.

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When I got up this morning, I saw a dusting of snow on the ground. Given that places further South of me would likely have more snow on the ground, I decided NOT to go to Ikea today for the nightstand I wanted to put together.  Instead, I stayed in bed, in my jammies, covered by a warm blanket, trying to stay comfortable.  And for the most part, I was successful.

Occasionally, I would check my email to see what was going on, and noticed that I had a delivery both from my online pharmacy and from Woot.com.  So I went downstairs to pick up my packages, and found what could be the precursor of a big bill in my mailbox.  AARGH!

Coming back upstairs, I opened the box from Amazon and found the dish drying rack I had ordered.  Hopefully, this rack will prove more convenient to use than the old rack. After putting the new rack in place, I made some pasta for dinner, and then got back in my jammies to rest as comfortably as possible.  

What I didn't mention is that I received a call from an acquaintance - which I didn't pick up.  I was not in the mood to talk with anyone today, as I would be focusing more on my aches and pains than the conversation at hand.  Hopefully, I'll be in the mood to call her later on in the week.

A quick post about being bored with a board

 

I knew when the day began that it was going to be a very long one.  And it was....

For no reason at all, I woke up a couple of times during the night and fell back to sleep. So, when the alarm woke me at 6 am, I worried that I would need more sleep to get through the day.  But I was amazed that I didn't pass out.

By the time 4:30 pm came, I was ready to fall to sleep.  I was a little depressed because the headhunter that contacted me wanted someone with more recent experience.  He has a problem - no one with mainframe experience is being developed in American schools.  Today's young programming types are studying the client-server technologies, as this will be their best shots of doing interesting work.  So, only old people like me, many of which are already retired, have the skills required by this headhunter's client - the bank I once worked for.  This means, that if I want a job, I'll have to contact people I know who still work at the bank.

Once in my car and on the way home, I called up the local taco joint to order tonight's dinner and tomorrow's lunch.  And when I got home, I stripped out of Marian's outfit and put on Mario's outfit, as I had a board meeting to attend.  Although I won't go into any details about what we discussed, the work of our former and current managing agents came up in our discussion.  And I can say that we had important comments about areas of improvement which could be made by our current managing agent.

Eventually, that meeting ended, and I called RQS.  I found it hard to believe that we were on the phone for over 3 hours.  Could you imagine how late we'd be talking if we were in the same place AND if I didn't have to go to work?