Friday, thankfully, was a day at sea on the way to the Bahamas. We got up at 10am, and miraculously, none of us were hung over.
Stephanie and I went to the embarkation talk with Deborah, to learn about how to get off the ship back in Florida (it’s more complicated than one might think), while Wendy went to talk to the nice people at the excursion desk. I emailed Matt, and then we had lunch. Stephanie and Wendy were patiently waiting for the hamburger stand to open near the pool at noon, while I went to the buffet. When I came back with a Mexican fiesta on my plate, Wendy got up and ran to the buffet instead. Mexican food day was awesome.
We were glad it was overcast outside, because we were all badly sunburnt, Wendy in particular. We decided to go hang out and read in the Oriental bar, but this is what happened instead:
How could you not love cruising, when you can do things like take a nap in a bar??
After our naps, we went to SuperQuiz and took 4th place. We played canasta and talked to Rodrigo for a long time. Then we went to the theatre to watch the cruise staff talent show; we figured it’d be goofy, but it was pretty great. One of the bartenders sung Achy Breaky, and the Indian security guards did a traditional dance (these were the same guys who commended on my Sanskrit tattoo all the time).
After the show, we went to the casino to play blackjack. I started with $50, and walked away with $90. The dealer was awesome, and the Australian pit boss was even better. We then moved to video poker; I played $10 and ended up with $4 on top of that. HIGH ROLLER!! I cashed out most of it and kept a chip and some Costa coins as a souvenir.
We went back to Bar Casanova, and Rodgrido asked us to do him a favor. Staff wasn’t allowed to change cash on the ship, but he had a bunch of tips in euros that he couldn’t use. We took it to the casino and changed it into dollars for him. I think it was Wendy’s best day ever, helping one of her favorite bartenders.
We went to the card room and discovered a new drink menu. That was dismaying, because it tripped up our goal of drinking at least one of everything. We set to work! We also ran into the couple from the taxi the previous day, and told them all about our adventure.
After playing canasta for a while, it was time to change clothes for ‘fancypants night’, as Wendy put it. There are two formal nights on the ship (both the at-sea days), and we’d decided to participate in one of them, since it was to be the farewell dinner. We got to the restaurant at 8:30, and found our tablemates already there. The little girls were dressed up and everything.
I had crudites, vegetable ragout, a caesar salad, and vegetarian pad thai that was far more Italian than Asian (it was made by a bunch of Italian chefs, after all). The presentation at dinner was amazing; there was a staff parade, ice cream cakes, and a champagne toast. Everyone cheered for the chefs and staff, and they told us to come back at midnight for the dessert buffet. Holy crap.
We went back to our usual hangout after dinner, and Casanova was there, joking: “MAKE FIRE! MAKE FIRE!” We sat and watched the staff show in the lounge, called ‘Sexy Games’. It was hysterical. We went to our cabin to change into normal clothes again, and went down to witness the buffet. None of us were hungry, but we had to see it. It was insane.
Half the people in the restaurant seemed to be there for the same reason we were: to take photos and witness the thing. There was so much food, we felt guilty about the waste. We all had a little bit to eat (they had cheese and fruit too), then went to our cabin to sleep around 1am.