At Sea

February 14^th, 2025

It is Valentine’s Day and love is in the air. All was well with Team Trivia, we were on our best behavior, and things went well. No near riots today. It would just have been better if our score had improved significantly, but you can’t have everything.

Just in case we forgot that it was Valentine’s Day, there was a beautiful cake outside the Colonnade at lunch time. We got to sample it later after dinner.

The ship is finally moving at a reasonable speed. For the last week it felt like it has been going so slowly, and the sea has been so calm, it hardly feels like we are on a ship at all. Now at least we are going at a decent speed, here’s hoping for some wave motion soon.

When I go on a cruise I like to feel that I am at sea, and not in a fancy land based hotel.

However, the weather may not be getting rougher, but it is getting colder. I got all dressed to go for a swim but I walked half way around the promenade on my way to the deck 5 pool and then retreated indoors again. This is not swimming weather.

Mind you, remember the $500 each dinner under the stars for Valentine’s day? Well clearly some folks had signed up for it as they were setting the tables by the pool. I hope they are not going to freeze or be blown away. I am happy that we are eating indoors tonight.

We have our own special Valentine’s Day dinner. We have good friends who have a talent for organizing things, and they had arranged a table for the 10 of us in the Restaurant. Much better than eating outdoors in the cold.

It was a formal night, and most guests were all dressed up, which I love to see. A great way to celebrate.

The tables looked very pretty with red roses in the vase and rose petals strewn around.

They had cleared away some tables in the Restaurant so there was room for the Trio to play, and space for dancing.

Dessert was a real treat.

It really was a lovely evening, good food, good wine, good music, good friends. And I got to wear my long red dress.

Leanne Mitchell performed again tonight. She has an incredibly powerful voice, and her rendition of Ave Maria was absolutely beautiful.

She is another performer whose luggage got lost on the way to the ship. She will only be reunited with it when she returns home to the UK. It has to be very frustrating! I am so glad that all of our luggage arrived on time.

When we returned to our suite, the towel creature fairies had been busy again.

The swans were very sweet, but there was absolutely nowhere to put them. We decided that enough was enough. We dismantled them, and one of the other creatures. We simply cannot share our suite with a towel menagerie and they had to go. We have no idea about the most diplomatic way to deal with these works of art, but enough is enough. We wrote a note for our suite attendants thanking them for all of their hard work keeping our suite in such great condition, placed it on the heap of towels, and went to bed.