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| Today’s sunrise as seen off the coast of Yemen. |
My to-do list for today was a short one:
1. Watch Mamma Mia at Movies Under the Stars.
2. Listen to the live band at the pool.
3. Find out the cut off for the Most Traveled Guest Luncheon.
4. Check the map of Deck 10 to see what could have made the last cabin so noisy.
1. The first time I ever watched Mamma Mia was on a cruise ship. Up until that point I had never had any interest in it, and I’m not sure I even knew when it arrived in the movie theaters. But now when it’s on a Princess ship I watch it. I’ve seen it in Alaska, in a thick fog, with the ship’s foghorn blowing every few minutes. I’ve watched in the sticky, steamy heat of a Panama Canal cruise. I’ve seen it in the Gulf of Mexico on a Caribbean cruise, in the Pacific Ocean on a Mexican Riviera cruise, and in the Atlantic Ocean on a transatlantic cruise. I don’t necessarily like the movie that much, but it’s the reaction of others watching it that makes it so entertaining. What typically happens is a couple walks through the area. The wife looks at the screen, wonders what the movie is, and joyfully exclaims, “It’s Mamma Mia!” while the husband looks not at all interested. Usually the wife winds up staying for the movie and the husband wanders off. Said wife then spends her time singing her way through the movie. Watching Mamma Mia and watching the others watching Mamma Mia is just a downright joyful experience. (At least for me, as E is one who wants no part of it.)
2. I’ve been at the pool every day this week, working on my tan (and my swimming) and hoping for a live band to finally show up. To me, there’s nothing like a live band playing by the pool to make you feel like you are really on a vacation. And when they get around to playing the Cupid Shuffle it makes you want to jump up and dance. Except I don’t dance – and never have – but if I did I would be dancing. Guess I’m dancing inside because I always look forward to the live music.
3. E generously offered to head to the Captain’s Circle Desk to find out the cutoff for the Most Traveled Guest Luncheon. 595 days. So the 40 passengers onboard with the most days at sea with Princess have 595 days or more. We were short just a few days. Oh, well.
4. The Sapphire Princess has portals near the elevators with the map of the decks. I went down to Deck 10 where our old cabin was to see if I could figure out if there was anything around the cabin that could have been causing the terrible noise. I did find there was an entire section of no cabins.
It leads me to believe there was some type of machinery in there causing the terrible racket. And by the speed at which they moved us to a new cabin, I would guess they’ve had complaints before. So if you will be sailing on the Sapphire Princess, study the map and don’t choose Caribe 534.
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| Looks like a normal cabin, but nope. |
I would surmise the other cabins in the area may also suffer from the noise, but I don’t know. We are plenty happy with our new cabin. Even though it is an obstructed view, it is mostly quiet, near the elevators, and close to the buffet.
It’s a connecting cabin but we haven’t heard a peep through the door. Glad to see the lock is only accessible by a steward’s key.
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| The lamps in both cabins have a USB plug. Love it! |
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| Also love that we still have mailboxes outside the door. |
That was pretty much the day, with the biggest chunk of my time being spent at the pool. While the weather has been warm, the pool hasn’t been very busy at all. You can show up any time of the day and have no problem finding plenty of seats to choose from. There are no chair hogs at all. If this was a Caribbean cruise with weather like this the place would be jam-packed. I’m really enjoying having the space to spread out. Another place where we’re finding plenty of space? In the elevators. I think only once so far have I gotten into an elevator that was almost full. And the passengers on this ship are nice and friendly. It has been a welcome change from our other sailings this year.
I think I could get used to this kind of cruising. Kind of reminds of what cruising used to be like when we first started.
One last thing – we are now sailing through the High Risk Area. We’ve been told we’ll see military units patrolling the waters these next three days. Then starting tonight the Promenade Deck will be closed after 10 PM and lights will be off out there. We have additional crew members on watch so it needs to be dark so they can maximize their night vision. Upper decks will continue to be open.
Off to another sea day tomorrow.