Winter Break. January 2022. Day 10. 20 Foot Waves, 60 MPH Winds.
Last night we had to turn the clock back one hour, so the girls got up at 7 something. That was fun.
We went to the buffet and then went to look outside. Today was cold and windy! It was NOT a pool day by any means. It was also a bit rocky. At some point the captain came on and said that we were going through a cold front (along with the entire United States) and that the waves were twenty feet high and the winds were reaching 60mph, but he said that he’s “done this before, I got this, and were going to just speed through it, before we slow down later.” So, that was fun.
Hallie went to camp and we spent a little time in the Solarium before lunch at the buffet. After lunch Tzvi took Hallie while Madeleine napped and I was in the room packing. Always a sad activity. [Tzvi: Hallie and I first went to Café Al Baccio where we ordered hot chocolate and coffee. Then we sat near a window going through Hallie’s reading and then played war. We were sitting on deck 4, so we were pretty low and you could really see the waves crashing against the ship. After that we walked to Eden to look out the back of the ship. At Eden we found one of the entertainment staff sitting folding origami. It was just him and one other girl, but apparently it was an origami activity, so we sat and folded some origami. Hallie enjoyed.]
Tzvi and I went back to the solarium for some final hot tub time and a last mudslide (even when it’s cold out we still mudslide). In the hot tub we made sure to sit as far away from the button as possible so we didn’t have the awkwardness of someone asking us to press the button to turn the jets back on and needing to say no. While we were in there the Jewish woman came in and sat down right next to the button. I don’t know why. Then the jets turned off and she just closed her eyes and sat there until finally someone got up and went around her and turned on the jets.
We showered and changed for our final dinner. Before dinner Tzvi took Madeleine to the Martini Bar to sit and listen to music, which she loved. Then we met for dinner in the Cyprus dining room, which we haven’t eaten in before. One of our waiters was Adityi, the guy who made the Caesar salads at the buffet. The girls were nuts, but we had a nice table near a window. I’m not sure what we ate, but Madeleine ate a lot of bread. Didn’t we all. [Tzvi: I think I had a cheese sagnaki, which was just a pot of hard melted cheese with bread. I also had a seabass seviche and a cream of mushroom soup. For mains we both had salmon.]
Shabbat ended and we all went to see tonight’s show, Black Magic (yes, it was a Black magician). He was a British guy who used to do magic on the street, so it was a lot of sleight of hand type tricks which were actually pretty impressive. For the finale he showed a video about Henry Box Brown, a slave in the U.S. South who escaped by mailing himself in a box to the free North, then moved to the U.K. and became a famous magician. In tribute to Henry Box Brown his final trick was to have his assistant seal him inside a cardboard box handcuffed. Then she stuck a dozen sticks straight through the box, then removed the sticks, opened the box, and he popped out uncuffed. No idea how he could’ve done that. Hallie sat through the show and was pretty impressed.
After the show we walked Hallie to her final night at Camp at Sea. I think they were supposed to color special shirts, but they ended up watching a movie instead. So, she came back with a Celebrity shirt with a dot of orange on it. At least she had fun.
While Hallie was at camp we walked around with Madeleine for one last time and made a stop at the Tiffany boutique where we bought Hallie a necklace for her birthday (which she will receive on her birthday and then probably complain that we didn’t get her an extra-large plush snake, but more about that tomorrow).
We put the girls to bed and then went out for our final evening.
Before bed, Hallie told me I had to give her hot air balloon to the lady photographer with the straight hair. We couldn’t bring the balloon home so I couldn’t say no. So, we found her, and I’m sure she will treasure it forever. [Tzvi: she actually did a very good job of acting like she was actually touched to be receiving the balloon. She was probably thinking ‘What in my camera bag can I use to pop this?’] I took a picture just so I could tell Hallie I did it.
Then we walked around trying to find certain servers we wanted to tip. Then we went to the buffet to get a free scoop of gelato that I was entitled to with my status. We got coffee. It wasn’t great.
We went to the Martini Bar, which is really just the big atrium, and ordered Martinis. Up a flight I could see some of the singers and dancers, including one who was the main character in the show last night. I went up to him and told him that my 5 year old was very concerned about him and wanted to know why he was so sad during the whole show. I think he really enjoyed that. He ended up saying that he was so sad because his world was just in black and white, and by the end of the show it was in color. But he also said he agrees and doesn’t know why he has to be so sad throughout the entire show.
Tonight the house band was playing the atrium and it was 80’s night! So we sat through that show which was fun. We obviously ended the night at Café Al Baccio for a final Kahlua, coffee, and pastries.
Then we went to sleep, and of course, I was up all night rocking away. At one point Tzvi was actually nervous, but for some reason I wasn’t, I was just bothered. Also, nothing in the room was moving. Maybe the hangers were? I don’t know. Next cruise I’m bringing my own sound machine because the phone isn’t cutting it. Anyway, good day.