December 27 - Day 70 on the Quest

Another sea day, another day of bouncing around.  We’re on our third  sea day between Tonga and Waitangi, New Zealand.  The natives are getting restless!  I’m sitting in the Square as I write this and I’ve overheard plenty of conversations of people declaring that they’re tired of sea days.  I think the motion of the ocean has something to do with it too.  After lots of cruising and lots of people watching I’ve come to understand that there are two types of cruisers – those who cruise because they love to be on a ship and those who cruise because they see it as a convenient and enjoyable way to get from point A to point B.  For them the itinerary and destination are more important.  I think I may have begun as the latter but I’ve evolved into the former.  I still care about where I’m going but I find now that the socialization I get while on a ship is even more important.  From my conversations with my friends onboard I know that it’s not unusual for us seniors who’ve lost our spouses to sometimes feel isolated and missing a lot of social interaction.  That’s not true for all of us, but I know I’m not alone in feeling that way. Being taken care of on a cruise is wonderful, but the friendships made are priceless.

Enough introspection.  Yesterday the sea trials for the boat-building competition were held in the pool.  The five-year-old twin boys won with their entry which successfully carried the large tin of caviar across the pool.  Our Entertainment Manager James, who besides being a really nice person is also a Scouser (figure that one out), agreed to be a passenger in one of the entries.  I think there was a little favoritism shown to the youngsters, but that’s okay.  It is Christmas.  As you’ll see James had a tougher time getting out of his vessel than sailing it.

Today we had our last day of cumulative trivia.  We weren’t the overall winners, but in the betting round we bet all our points and we answered the final question correctly so we won! As someone who was very near and dear to me used to say,  “No guts, no glory.”  After trivia we had one of my favorite events on a ship, the Galley Market Lunch.  I’ve written about them before.  I always walk through the galley before I get anything to eat and take photos of the hard-working crew at their various stations.  The amount of work that goes into preparing all the food and displaying it beautifully is incredible.  When the galley staff and servers come parading out it's our chance to thank them for all, especially those behind the scene.