We are now just over half way across the North Atlantic on our crossing to Puerto Rico.  The sun and hot weather are now reliably with us and the wind and waves have dropped to a gentle ripple. The temperature this morning is 27C. A very welcome change from the cold November day we left behind in Southampton.

This means our cruise has entered a very lazy phase. Or at least for us it has.   There are lots of things to do but none tempting enough to detach us from the pool decks. 

Our day starts at 0730 when the steward brings a pot of tea and a pot of coffee to our cabin.  His knock wakes us up and it falls to me to scramble up in my pjs to let him in.  What a sight!  Poor guy. 

We work through our emails, puzzles, the papers and head up for breakfast just before 9.  We generally go to the buffet which is huge and where you can get absolutely anything you can imagine.  We could have had breakfast in the cabin, a continental in the piazza cafe or a served formal breakfast in one of the dining rooms.  I like to have the smoked salmon eggs benedict minus the buns with a few rashers of extremely crisp American bacon. Bob goes for the full English. He’s actively trying to put on some weight after his harrowing summer. It’s working. He looks a lot better.

Then up to the pool decks.  We generally go one terrace up from the central pools.  It’s quieter but near enough if you want a swim.  We turn our loungers so we are directly up against the glass screen looking out to sea.  Gorgeous.  There are about 5 hot tubs around the 2 pools. One pool is heated the other not.   There are 2 large cocktail bars, an ice cream venue, a pizza venue and another selling hot dogs, burgers, fries..   The buffet is also adjacent.  So nice and convenient lol . We read, swim, wallow, chat to people, watch a movie on the big screen.

Bob has 2 or 3 exercise sets a day and multiple hot tub jetting sessions.

Lunch is about 1 for us, generally in the buffet.  Then more sunbathing/swimming/reading till about 4.  Oh, there’s a massive movie screen over the pool showing  new films, concerts and sports events sometimes and also in the afternoon there’s live music.  There are also 2 other pool areas for a more secluded experience, one at the bow, the other aft.

Generally we are back in the cabin by 5 just in time for a g&t (or 2) and for Bob to ice his leg.  Shower, rest, watch TV.  Up to dinner about 8pm.  Dinners have been exceptional.  Lots of top quality steaks like filet mignon, beef wellington. Generally these are formal night options, not ordinary nights.

We always go straight from dinner to the later performance theatre show at 930 which let’s out at 1030.   Bedtime for us. 

Tonight is a formal night, so nice togs on. Or as the cruise director likes to say “shower night tonight!”. We have a Brit cruise director (Entertainment manager) on this trip and he’s really good. Funny. He does a morning show on the cabin tv to highlight activities happening during the day and give general info about the ship. There is a musical/dance show from the resident company tonight as well. They’ve been excellent so far.

In fact the show, Five Skies, was absolutely spectacular. Amazing scenery and many special effects. The dancers were especially good tonight as were their costumes. After the show Bob and I went to one of the bars and had a gin martini with olives each. Always makes us think of our dear friend, John Stubbs, who mixed a mean one and with whom we shared many a fabulous evening. Raised a toast skywards!