Monday, January 15, 2024
We could hear a lot of distant cheering and yelling from the Pig and Anchor restaurant from two floors below. Many football fans on this cruise and they were all there watching play-off games in this sports bar area. Heard later that the good times almost got completely out of hand by a combination of overly-exuberant fans and much alcohol. Glad I just put in my earplugs and had a good night’s sleep. I did find the mattress much firmer than I am used to normally.
Was glad to see that we had left the drizzle back in Miami and we now had blue skies. The temperature was definitely getting warmer too. I went to Deck 6 to get some coffee at the JavaBlue Cafe. The line was very long. I saw a sign that said coffee was also available on the same Deck 6 at the Havana Bar and on Deck 8 at Bar 820. I went to Bar 820 and the line was very short. It would be my go-to coffee place for the rest of the cruise. By the third day, the Baristas knew what I was going to order and got it started before I made it to the front of the short line.
We signed up in the app for the Sea Day brunch in the main dining room. Even though the menu has been reduced, we enjoyed our selections. The wait at 8:30 was about 20 minutes. I noticed on the app about 10:00 it was an hour wait for a table. The tables are close together, so your conversations are definitely not private unless you talk low. I guess some people don’t realize that or just don’t care because low talkers they weren’t.
We decided to wander around the upper decks. We found the Serenity area, the Lido area, the Ultimate Playground, and Guy’s Burger joint. Every area that had a swimming pool was crowded. Typical for a sea day.
We spent some time in the packed Casino and then went to the Pig and Anchor Smokehouse for the ultimate Bloody Mary. Chuck went back to the Casino to play cards and I spent time on the lounger on our balcony enjoying my book, the breeze, and watching the wake. I may or may not have fallen asleep.
Finally pulled myself out of the lounger and got ready for the first dressy night. We decided to eat in the main dining room. The app said the wait was less than 20 minutes. It was more like 40 minutes before we were notified that our table was ready.
Chuck had the steak and short rib dinner and I had the shrimp and fishcake dinner. We split our meals so we both had surf and turf.
After dinner, we made our way to the Comedy Club. This ship is so large that they have one lounge for just family-friendly comedy and one lounge for adult comedy – nobody under 18 admitted. We went to at least one show of all the comedians. I preferred the comedians who actually had a comedy routine rather than the ones whose entire show was just interacting with the people on the front row.
Once the show was over, we called it a night. We could hear the distant cheering from the bar as the fans of Monday night football were in attendance and having another rowdy night. I felt bad for the staff who had to clean up after them.
