Day 8: Just another lazy day...

Sunday, July 19, 2009
Today was the first full day on the cruise. It was also an at-sea day, which meant tonight was going to be formal night! Not everyone in our party was excited about that. The day itself was pretty lazy. After breakfast (buffet with normal breakfast foods - mmm, bacon), Steve, Sarah, Sophie, and I explored the ship some more. We wandered around some of the outside decks for a bit but it was pretty windy and chilly. It was also overcast (and remained so for pretty much the whole cruise). Because we were sailing the Inside Passage, even though it was an at-sea day, we could still see plenty of land. The sea was also much calmer than open ocean would be.

A small island on an overcast day

Amy, Sophie, and Sarah out for a mid-morning stroll

On our inside wanders, we found the internet cafe, where we set up an account for access. Another perk of being in a suite was that we didn't have to pay for internet access. Of course this also meant that Dad and David probably spend more time online during vacation than they should have ;) Soon it was time for lunch (yay for constant eating!). I was not overly impressed with the buffet lunch they offered each day - a lot of strange choices that didn't really appeal to me... After lunch, it was of course nap time. It was turning out to be an extraordinarily lazy day, not a bad thing at all.

Sarah and Steve enjoying their lazy afternoon

As I mentioned earlier, it was also one of two formals nights on the cruise. Apparently, another perk of being in a suite is the delivery of both chocolate covered strawberries before formal nights and a corsage/boutonniere. Most of us were excited about the strawberries (especially since we had also ordered a plate, so we got twice as many), but David was more interested in the flower. It seems kind of silly they only gave us one of each since there were 6 of us but since no one else was interested in wearing a flower, it didn't really matter. Anyway, we cleaned up very nicely and headed off to dinner. I still am annoyed I forgot to put on my earrings. Oops.

Dinner was lovely. We played Sarah and Steve's favorite game of guessing what each person was going to order. I had some beef dish - I took a picture of it but can't really tell what it is. Once again, though, it was overcooked. I do recall that David had Fettuccine Alfredo. Again. Nelson was all prepared for us tonight when we arrived - there were 3 full glasses of milk in front of Sophie's seat as soon as we arrived! We were apparently sitting at the unlucky table tonight - the photographer was going around taking pictures of the parties at each table and she totally skipped our table. Hmpf.

David perfecting his gangster look - he's got the flower, the pocket square, the breadstick cigar...

Sophie demonstrating poor table manners at dinner, but looking awfully cute in the process

After dinner, we had a formal portrait taken. We waited in line for what felt like an hour, but had a fun time dancing while we waited. It seemed this photographer took 9 million poses for each group. It was painful. Fortunately, we didn't take too long for our group. It took a bit to get some kind of reaction from Sophie, but the picture came out fine in the end.

Waiting for our turn to have out portrait taken, we had to keep Sophie entertained with a song and a dance. David really has the moves...

Family Portrait - Aww, aren't we good looking!

After dinner, I spotted whales while out on the balcony of our room. There were a bunch of them. They were kind of far away and I have no idea what kind they were, but that was neat. Sophie had fun hanging out with us on the balcony even though she couldn't see anything. They hung around for quite some time. We played our first round of Uno that night. I was overall leader - yay for me. David was all in a tizzy because he made the mistake of getting up to answer the door and left his last card unprotected. When he returned, he discovered he now had several cards. The rest of us have no idea how that could have possibly happened. Very weird ;) Steve is also an Uno cheater - it's a good thing I was watching him deal - Sarah and I got 8 cards, while he and David were dealt 7. Very mysterious...

Whale to the starboard side!

Someone in this picture does not have quite the same view as the rest of us... (and I love that Steve changed into his pajamas immediately upon returning to the room...)

Our Journey, Thus Far (Part 2)