Next time I will listen to Mary!
We woke up at 7:45 am and remembered that we were having breakfast on the veranda at 8:00 am this morning. I quickly jumped out of bed and searched for my clothes from the night before, managing to find most of them before I answered the door. The steward took one look at me and called me “Shorty”; then, I remembered I had forgotten my pants. I guess it is no big thing.
Then I remembered asking Mary, “Can you make me breakfast in bed?” Well, she said, “No, I’ll have to go to the kitchen.”
The steward, a young and polite fellow, efficiently set everything up.
Knock Knock, guess who is here?
We look pretty good for being old and this early in the morning. Mary wakes up pretty; I do my best to keep from frightening people. This morning I looked into the mirror, and my reflections ran away!
Breakfast is served.
When the champagne corked popped, Mary screamed like a little schoolgirl. I rushed over to make sure she was OK. She was clapping her hands and pointing!
Bring on the champagne.
Then I figured it out; she saw the bucket behind the steward.
Champagne should be cold, dry, and, hopefully, free.
This will keep us busy drinking all morning long!
The food was piled high as an elephant’s eye; OK, it was a small elephant. Everything was warm and presented beautifully.
This amount of food reminded me of my great-great-grandfather, who loved porridge.
He was a sheep farmer from Scotland and gave some good advice to his granddaughter. He told her that the secret to a long life was to sprinkle a pinch of gunpowder onto her porridge every morning. The granddaughter (my grandmother) followed this dictum religiously until her death at the venerable age of 103.
She left behind 14 children, 30 grandchildren, 45 great-grandchildren, 25 great-great-grandchildren, and a forty-foot hole where the crematorium used to be.
While a veranda breakfast sounded good, then reality checked in!
We moved inside!
Frisbee Deck 7 at noon!
We attacked the meal with vigor, but it was too much. We considered selling food to passersby by opening our stateroom door. Note to self: Order only ONE breakfast for the two of us.
Stick a fork in me; I am done!
The fruit platter was beautiful, and we decided to save it for later today.
Delightful fruits
By 8:45 am, we had showered and fixed ourselves up to be presentable. We were getting ready for the big climb to the highest point on the ship, The Sanctuary, which is five decks above the bridge. If the funnel is taller, we’ll attempt it this evening.
There is no sign of heavy weather in the front of the ship even though the hurricane is now at Level-5 with sustainable winds of 120 mph.
Did You Know? Hurricane Hilary grew rapidly to Category 4 strength off Mexico’s Pacific coast on Friday and could reach Southern California as the first tropical storm there in 84 years, causing “significant and rare impacts,” including extensive flooding.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Hilary had sustained winds near 145 mph (230 kph) at 4 a.m. and was expected to continue its rapid intensification through Friday before starting to weaken. It will nevertheless still be a hurricane when it approaches Mexico’s Baja California peninsula on Saturday night and will approach Southern California on Sunday as a tropical storm.
No tropical storm has made landfall in Southern California since Sept. 25, 1939, according to the National Weather Service.
We went to the “adults only” area and while there, a PA announcement informed us that Ensenada was canceled due to expected bad weather. Although we will still stop there due to the Jones Act of 1920, no one will be allowed off the ship.
We will depart from Ensenada and arrive in LA on Sunday morning, a day earlier than planned. We can choose to disembark or remain on the ship until Monday, which is our normal departure time. Better safe than sorry!!
We toured the adults-only suite-guests-only area and made reservations for tomorrow morning to lay back and enjoy the sun! Mary was told that Paul could not be left alone and that she would have to stay with him the whole time.
Upstairs was quiet, had “grass”, and its own bar!
We will have afternoon tea in the Sanctuary. The view is spectacular, but there is a chance we may be rained out.
Serene!
Life is like a box of chocolates! OK, time for lunch! We went to DaVinci Restaurant and had a small lunch! They were worried about us as we did not have the main course, only the appetizers.
I ate some alphabet soup and some laxatives for lunch. I’m about to have a vowel movement.
Lunch is served.
Oops! Dessert is served! When one sees something especially wonderful, it’s always nice to have someone to share it with.
I whispered into her ear, “Grow old with me! The best is yet to be.” She replied, “You’re already old!”
Smooooooooooch!
Just little ol’ us. When she sits in my lap, the champagne boils over.
Now what should we do?
We went shopping after lunch. Unfortunately, Mary didn’t find anything she liked. We stopped at the photo shop to pick up the two coffee mugs we’d ordered with our pictures on them. Then we went back to our room for a much-needed rest. We slept until 5:00 pm when the room steward showed up with “Dinner On The Veranda.”
Don’t think I could cope with a job as a coffee taster. How do they sleep?
Sleeping Beauty and her friend were sawing logs when the knock came.
Z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z
The table in our room was too small, so they set up a larger one adorned with champagne and roses.
Knock Knock! Come on in!
First came the canapes, delightful little morsels that we had fun trying to determine what they consisted of.
Dinner is served!
Stanley insisted on joining us.
Stanley had to eat with us.
They brought in a serving of quiches. Next came an amazing salad (which I hoped was the main course). Then came Surf & Turf. We were so stuffed!
Did you know that a crustacean playing tennis was a true lob-star.
Filet Mignon & Lobster with tiny potatoes and asparagus.
I ate most of Mary’s lobster, but she tried it and liked it. She does not do “bottom feeders”. The steaks were done to perfection, medium rare.
Garlic powder $5.99. Steak seasoning $14.99. Pepper shaker $9.99. Forgetting to grab your shopping bag at the grocery store counter…….spiceless
Eat every bite!
We have received updated news that we will be mooring at a freighter dock, which will provide some protection and help the ship face the prevailing wind.
We are ready for a ride tomorrow.
After dinner, we went dancing until the comedy show started at 8:30 pm. He was funny and had both Mary and me laughing for an entire hour. We danced and danced and danced.
We danced by ourselves!
On the way to our room, we stopped to listen to some live music and had a nightcap. After that, we watched a funny movie on TV and then crashed. We still had plates of desserts, fruits, and other goodies in the cabin from today.
Tomorrow we rock and roll!
