Winter Break. Day 5. Beyond Dinner Lies Dessert, then Dinner, then Dessert, then Pizza.
We got up quite early. I think Madeleine woke everyone up at 6:55. Thanks.
Eventually we got out and headed to the buffet for breakfast. Inbar took the kids to camp and Tzvi and I went to the gym. My parents went as well. Both my parents were on the phone at one point and that is just not proper gym etiquette. I also saw the same Instagram women from last night, except they really weren’t working out. No judgement on the way different people exercise, but they looked like they clearly dressed up for the gym but didn’t want to actually be in the gym. Another photoshoot I guess.
While we were at the gym we heard our first announcement from Captain Kate. She started by giving all of the stats – our speed, position, etc. – and then said, ‘but all that means to you is that we’re in the middle of the ocean.’ She also gave her first riddle of the cruise (she’s known for puns and riddles):
Two people are born at exactly the same moment but have different birthdays. How is that possible? (answer tomorrow)
After the gym we picked up Hallie from camp and headed to the buffet. Hallie was very distraught because initially Inbar was playing with Madeleine on one side of camp and Hallie was on the other side with her age group. At one-point Inbar left with Madeleine and Hallie didn’t realize she wasn’t there. Not Inbar’s fault, but like her mother, Hallie has abandonment issues. Hallie was not happy and pretty much never returned to camp the rest of the trip. Oh well.
Once again at the buffet Hallie ate the equivalent of two personal pizzas without cheese. It’s cute how she loves to go get the pizza by herself, and it’s nice to let her exercise that independence.
After lunch I walked Madeleine to sleep again. I got a cocktail while doing so, which made the experience more pleasurable. I got a French Caribbean, which is one of their standard frozen drinks. It was delicious. Tzvi took Hallie in the infinity pool at the side of the ship, and then at some point Tzvi and I went in the hot tub. Sherry went to a talk about space, which she really enjoyed. See, something for everyone.
Tonight was evening chic, so my mom, Sherry and I got our hair done at the salon. When we got there, I realized I recognized one of the stylists from Edge. She said she remembered me as well, but who knows. There was also a stylist who could have been the live action version of Merida from Brave, only she had never actually seen the movie. Anyway, during my blowout, the outlets stopped working at my station so I had to move to the barbershop to finish. I would have stayed for a shave, but there just wasn’t enough time before dinner. I have to say though, I really liked what she did with my hair.
Tonight’s dinner was supposed to be in the Normandie dining room, but the dining room meals are all messed up. Basically, we had signed up for 6pm dining, which multiple people on the phone told us meant we should be able to quickly get a table at 6pm in any dining room. Well, that wasn’t the case. We got to Normandie and they said they couldn’t seat us for 1.5 hrs, so we went upstairs to the Cosmopolitan dining room and were able to get a table quickly. I should say, it really doesn’t matter that much which dining room you eat in – there are four, each with different themes (Tusan (Italian), Normandie (French), Cosmopolitan (American) and Cyprus (Greek)). There’s a different menu every night that you can get in all of the dining rooms, and then each dining room additionally has a set menu specific to that room. So at the end of the day it’s really all about décor.
During dinner I had to walk Madeleine around because the meal was taking a long time and she was going nuts. That’s when I happened to come across Ismail, the Food and Beverage Director. He is from Turkey, but his wife and kids are currently in the Czech Republic. We had a nice conversation, and he asked how things were going on the ship, so I told him about our reservation issue. He immediately got us the reservation we needed for tomorrow night and Friday night and said if there was anything else we needed to let him know. It’s amazing how these senior officers can just snap their fingers and make anything happen.
For dinner we had actually ordered kosher food, which meant that we started by having a full dairy dinner and dairy dessert, then took a break, and then ate a full meat dinner. Celebrity has fresh (frozen) meats and poultry that they cook on a separate designated grill using separate designated pots and pans. We all had steaks and Tzvi and my mom had lamb chops. It was pretty tasty.
We walked past the Jewelry store where they were giving out these 1920 style headbands. I have no idea why, but the girls wanted one. There was some raffle that we didn’t win, and then we made our way to the show.
Tonight the show was being opened by Captain Kate, which was exciting. She came out in her signature Louboutins and fishnets and gave everyone a welcome. The show was Elements, and it was the first time this cast had performed it on a ship. It was really well done, and even my parents enjoyed it. At one point they did an instrumental of Bye Bye Bye and I don’t know where that fit in, but it was enjoyable.
We went back to the room and everyone was wiped and ready for bed.
But hey, we’re on vacation, so… after getting the kids to sleep, Tzvi and I to went back out and checked out the silent disco in the Grand Plaza. It was fun to watch people dancing and singing without music. Then we got the headphones and sat in the café listening to the music. My parents joined us for our nightly Kahlua and cream and dessert. After that we were really wiped, and full, and ready for bed.
But hey, we’re on a cruise, so… we went up to the buffet, which is open until 1am to see what they had. The food is pretty limited, but the pizza station stays open so Tzvi enjoyed some fresh, hot pizza at about 1230am. We also had a bite of a tuna sandwich.
Good day.