Friday, March 29, 2019

Amazon & Carnival Explorer Cruise - Day 3, 4 and 5: At Sea


Wednesday, February 6 - Day 3

We got up earlier this morning and had our breakfast in the Neptune Lounge.  We read for a while on the balcony while they cleaned our room and then headed up to the Crow’s Nest for the Cruise Critic Roll Call Meet and Greet.  I believe there were over 160 participants so it was very crowded, but very well organized by Roger who put the whole thing together and kept track of everyone on an amazing spreadsheet he made.  We talked to a few people and touched base with a couple we had talked to about doing a tour with and then headed back to the room.

Val had her trivia at 1:30 so we went up to the Lido Buffet to get lunch.  After lunch Val was off to her trivia and I returned to the room to work on the blog.  I didn’t make much progress as I had to set up a space for my computer and there were several interruptions from our room steward and a supervisor checking out a possible maintenance problem (which I didn’t know anything about).  Finally, everything settled down, but by this time Val was back and it was time to head for the showroom for a talk on our next three ports, the ABC islands.

The ABC islands are Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao and they are our next three ports, but not in that order.  It was an interesting talk and we are looking forward to our visits to these ports.  After the talk it was back to our room for our usual afternoon relaxation.  After a while I decided to go for a walk and did four laps around the Lower Promenade Deck (1 mile).  I hadn’t had much exercise lately so it felt good to get out and walk.  Right now, the temperature and humidity is pretty mild, but as we sail further south the heat and humidity may preclude much outdoor exercise.

Tonight is a Gala Night (formal night) in the dining room, so when I returned to the room it was time to start getting ready for dinner.  We were soon off to trivia and dinner.  Tomorrow is the second of our three sea days so it will be another relaxing day.

Thursday, February 7- Day 4

We didn’t have anything planned for this morning. Not sure why, but there don’t seem go be the usual lectures that we enjoy going to on a cruise.  After our breakfast in the Neptune Lounge we spent the morning relaxing and reading.  We went to lunch a little early as there was a slot tournament today and Val and I wanted to try our luck before her trivia started at 1:30.

After lunch we both bought tickets for the slot tournament and were in the first round of payers.  Val did very well and was highest in her round and atop the leader board.  The leader board consists of the top six point getter's so I did end up at number six since we were part of the first six to participate, but I won’t be there at the end of the day.

After the opening round of the slot tournament, Val was off to trivia and I went back to the room where I downloaded the pictures we had taken so far (not very many).  When Val came back from trivia we made our way to the showroom to hear a talk on more of the ports we will be visiting.  Today’s presentation was on Trinidad, Tobago, Saint Vincent and Barbados.

After the port talk we went to the excursion desk to inquire about a snorkeling tour we were scheduled to take on the island of Curacao.  We had heard that there wasn’t enough people signed up and it might be cancelled and sure enough it was.  That’s a disappointment for us as we were looking forward to our first snorkeling experience in the Caribbean, oh well there will be others coming up.  We didn’t see anything else of interest so decided we would just walk around the town for our visit.

Before returning to the room, we decided to check out the slot tournament leader board.  Val had dropped from number one to three and sure enough, I was off the board entirely.  There are two more rounds before the finals so I still have a chance.  We returned to our room and finished off the afternoon reading and relaxing.  I did take another four laps around the Promenade Deck before getting ready for dinner.

We finished our day with trivia in the Ocean Bar, dinner and the casino.  I got back to my normal self and had a terrible night in casino, but Val did very well and is now even for the trip.  When we returned to our room, we were disappointed to see that the clocks would be moved ahead and we would be losing an hour of sleep tonight.  We are now four hours ahead of California time.  We called it an early night because of the loss of an hour and went to bed.  Tomorrow will be our last sea day before we get to our first Caribbean port of Curacao.

Friday, February 8 - Day 5

Despite trying to get to bed early last night because of the time change, we still slept late and by the time we had gotten up and around, the breakfast items had all be removed from the Neptune Lounge.  Oh well, we weren’t really hungry anyway.  We spent the rest of the morning reading on the balcony and then were off to lunch.

After lunch, Val went to her trivia and I returned to our room to pay some bills online and then catch up on the blog.  When Val got back from trivia we decided to see if the future cruise consultant was busy as we had some questions about another cruise. Unfortunately their desks are near the casino and since it was open on a sea day, we couldn’t resist dropping a few dollars.  I was hesitant because I figured I’d lose my daily allowance and wouldn’t be able to visit the casino after dinner tonight.  It turned out to be a fortuitous visit as both Val and I came out ahead and now have more money to spend tonight.

After the casino it was back to our room to relax until dinner.  After trivia and dinner, it was back to the casino where amazingly we both did well again.  I did very well in fact, and am now ahead for the trip, a very different situation for me.  Because we were having a successful evening we stayed in the casino later than usual so when we returned we went straight to bed.  Tomorrow we visit our first port of the cruise outside of the U.S, Curacao.

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