Panama Cruise - Day 2: Sailing

December 9 , 2008

Michael woke up around 1 in the morning because our cabin was bright that he thought dawn was breaking and couldn't believe it when he looked at the clock and realized that the moon really was that bright. Living in a City with all the light pollution you never really realize how bright a full moon could be when it is reflecting off the ocean. He managed to get back to sleep and woke for the day at 7.

I woke up at around 8, had a shower and then we headed off for breakfast and to explore the ship some more. We needed to ensure we gave our cabin steward enough time to clean our cabin so we had a tour of the spa and then booked ourselves a pampering session before having breakfast at the Windjammer Cafe. After eating we wandered around the ship some more and when we figured we had left enough time to clean the room we went back and got ready for swimming.

One advantage to being on a ship with an older crowd is that we had no problem getting deck chairs in the sun so, despite the fact this was our third cruise, we swam in the main pool for the first time. I spent a few hours in the sun (as my skin will prove), but Michael went in to have lunch and visit the casino where he did okay. When I finally decided to come in, I went up for lunch myself – and Michael had just come back from his adventures so he joined me for his second lunch of the day.

After lunch we lounged around our room (well, Michael napped and I read my book) until early afternoon when we went for our pampering appointments. I just got a haircut, but Michael had a foot pampering session and impressed someone who commented that it was nice seeing a man in there pampering himself.

In the early evening we went for a drink at the Schooner bar and stopped at the casino on the way back because Michael wanted to show me the machine he won on. He couldn't find it, but we found the machine I won on last time, but it was a $1 machine instead of $0.25, and I had to play it...we came out with $400!! The machine even ran out of coins and had to be restocked before finishing paying us out!

It was the first formal night so we had to get ourselves all fancied up and then we went to the captain's reception. That was boring, but any time I get free alcohol I am happy! Dinner was yummy. Michael had shrimp cocktail and beef while I had the beef as well, but I had some escargot. Dessert was souffle for Michael and cherries jubilee for me - yummy enough, but I was stupid enough to try Michael's and wished I had ordered that instead.

After dinner we went to see the first of the Broadway style shows and it was pretty good, but not great - it was really just a compilation of Broadway songs, most of which were before my time. After the show we went to the disco, but it was virtually empty so we just went back to our room and ordered room service then nodded off for the night.