mind games

MIND GAMES

We slept in late and I went to mental quiz. This game was new to me. People volunteer to participate. We were 7. The first person starts by completing the sentence “I like….” The next person in line starts I like cruising and (adds their word). So this continues all the way around and then begins with the first person again. If you can’t accurately recall all of the words in order, you are out and this continues until only one person is left. I was a finalist but was defeated nby the word “chocolate”.  Didn’t make a good associative link for that word. So the other terrific lady won a water bottle.

From there I went to trivia. We partnered up with two other couples. This was not an easy trivia session. It was fun working with these other people. Lots of analysis and sharing and no egos tried to prevail. In the end our group, the Dynamites, came in second. Good enough for us.

In the dining room we shared a table with 3 other couples. Two sisters-in-law, and two couples, one from BC. The food is always terrific. I had a white bean and vegetable soup that I wish I could have more often. We do different things for breakfast,but usually do the dining room for lunch (open seating) and for supper where our assigned table is 26. It is a table of 6 and we have only met one of the couples. They are from the San Francisco area. He worked with unions his entire career and she was in adoption and placements for foster children. She also went to South Africa to work to elect Nelson Mandela.  Fun conversation over dinner.

WEATHER TODAY

Temp is around 60-65, wind is brisk enough, sea is a navy blue, sky is very blue, sea is moderate so still enough swaying and dipping which means you have to hold onto the rails. You forget how very bright the sun is until you try to look outside. And speaking of which, we are  now allowed outside on the decks.

LIBRARY

I walked through the library upstairs. Lots of dozing men, a few folks putting a jig saw puzzle together, others reading the small newspaper that is put there every day; Legal size paper, 1 page, both sides. They have maps and travel booksup there. I have a wall world map in our cabin and a world atlas book and neither Ed nor I could find Bora Bora though it is in the French Polynesia and we found Papeete. So I need to look it up there.

The workers came in today and took care of the door that doesn’t stay shut with the weaving of the ship. The lights that went out and they pointed out that our electric toothbrush base doesn’t charge because the cord (mine) isn’t competent. Sigh.

SPA

We took a tour. Ed signed up for yoga classes but had to stop half way through because of neck pain. I attended a few raffle opportunities but didn’t win. It was fun to see the people who did. So glad for them.

MOVIES

We saw Florence Forrest Jenkins with Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant. Very well done. But I’d love to know the real story. This afternoon had Blood Father and I left after 30 min. too much blood and violence and depressing scenes.

ENTERTAINMENT

The comedic pianist last night was an old rocker but lots of fun and boy could he play that piano!

REPAIRS

Yesterday one of my bracelets had a broken link, so I prevailed on the jewelry store to make the repair. They were very nice about it. Today my earpiece came off my cheater glasses (yes I brought back ups) so I checked with the boutique first and “Dulce” (she’s from Mexico) sold me an eyeglass repair kit. Ed made the repairs but I’m not carrying anything that would seal it like nail polish so I have to think about this dilemma.

POOLS

There are several on this cruise. The spa and pool in the middle of the ship have been empty for the days when we weren’t stable. Today they have water again but the splashing is considerable. Kind’ve funny actually.

BOUTIQUES

There are the predictable ones but their prices overall are unbelievable. They had inexpensive Tshirts on sale today with world cruise on them: 2 for $20 and we get some discount so Ed and I each got home. But I met a lady at the rack and she mentioned the dress (I could find it at Ross for $20 if lucky) for over $300. We were both a little stunned by this.

Connectivity

The advances in technology are interesting to see. We have an internet café: 8 booths and computers. A tech on site a few hours every day.

We are able to put Princess@sea on our iphones and we can do a number of things on the ship with that such as check the daily schedule, make a

calendar of our events we want to remember, IM each other, check your shipboard ac

count, and much more. When we want to connect to the internet, we do it through that portal.

It is really important to remember to disconnect or you’ll lose all your minutes!

So when the ship left LA, we had to put our connective appliances into airplane mode. Then you set up an account on our ship and connect to that internet. If you remember to log off the external internet connection, you are OK.

When we get into port, if we have access to cellular data or WiFi nearby, we have to undo airplane mode and then identify on-shore wifi to connect to. More and more there are cellular (we have T-mobile) and WiFi available in foreign ports. We try to save our up and downloads for these free local sources.