Day Thirteen: At Sea

Good fortunes continue on this 13th day of the journey. Other than the journey is rapidly drawing to a close, everything remains spectacular. I am trying to savor every single moment especially the moments when I am doing nothing but sitting on a lounge chair on the veranda or on an armchair next to a porthole watching the ocean.

We start with some luxury after stretch. Bennett has a massage and I get a facial. The facialist does some fancy stuff (I'm not sure what exactly, at one point a computer is involved) so that it does produce the softest rejuvenated skin I have ever had after a facial. Of course, the facial itself was pretty nice too; I told her to turn off the low music so I could just hear the ocean. And I did fall for the facial so hard, that I even succumbed to the product pitch at the end.

Bennett went off to bridge class without me. Not because I don't love Sar but because I realized that I was missing the history lectures that are held at the same time. Over the cruise, I had seen the history professor's lectures shown on television after they were recorded and they have been pretty good. He was a community college professor of history for 40 years and he knows his Central/South/Caribbean American history. And is entertaining. His topic today is Pirates of the Caribbean. He advised Johnny Depp and took Depp-boy touring when they were getting the movies together.

Lovely lunch in the main dining room which we attend because we will not be going to dinner there tonight (it's formal night!). Then reggaeton aerobics on the dance floor and a lecture on acupuncture from the ship's specialist. Just remember when I describe all these activities to insert long pauses on the various chairs, staring at the ocean or my eyelids. Late afternoon Pilates and the Persian Garden baths.

We ready for the evening and go down to Michael's Club, a small reading-room type bar (they must have five bars on board all with different personalities). It is Frank Sinatra cocktail hour. The bar is nearly empty because many are attending the formal dinner. We turn our chairs to the glass doors and watch the brilliant sunset over the horizon. Even our waiter pauses with us to savor the moment. I ask Ahmad from whence he came. Indonesia. A long way, I respond. Yes, he says and then tells the tale of how he got to Miami to board his first ship. It was 9/11/01 and he had left Indonesia on a plane (all firsts for him) and didn't speak English. They landed in Taipei and then they couldn't fly anywhere. No one could explain to him what was the problem. Finally, they took him and his fellows to a hotel and they saw the televisions. Everyone was crying. He had to stay in Taipei for four days before he could fly to Miami. And he has been on ships ever since. And his English is great. As he leaves, he says to me, "Are you still enjoying your half-cokes, half diet-cokes?" Caught!! I have only one a day and each from a different bar but I guess they know your every fingerprint on board here.

Up to our room for room service dinner. Open our door and our table is set with white table cloth and silverware galore. There are eleven pieces of cutlery for each setting. Beef carpaccio for appetizer. Paper thin and I mean paper thin. Then salad for me and soup for Bennett. Then cod, delicious cod. On the menu, I had seen that the Beef Wellington came with sauteed spinach and the cod came with other accompaniments. So I wrote spinach down as a side for me. Instead, we get a third full plate with our two cod plates. This "side dish" is Beef Wellington, potatoes, and spinach. I eat the spinach and we do have to split the Beef Wellington (I leave the potatoes!) Surf and turf of our own making.

The GPS map shows us winding north to the islands. We will pass between Cuba and Haiti at midnight. Before that, we steam by Jamaica. We are closing in on the Florida Straits. One more day, and we will soon be on USA terra firma.