When I agree to not setting an alarm, it solidifies the day as unscheduled. I’m a firm believer in alarm clocks because I can’t help but feel like I’m wasting my day if I sleep past 8. I don’t try to make everyone else to conform to that guideline (I try not to anyway). I guess I can truly be called a morning person because I love getting up and getting the day started (my recent 1:15 am rising time excluded). I woke up at 5:30 and managed to stay in bed till 6:30,when I couldn’t stand it any longer I snuck around the cabin in the dark so I wouldn’t wake anyone and dressed and headed up to lido looking forward to hot tea and sitting on the deck watching the Caribbean go by. A surprise greeted me on deck with an army of every type of towel animal imaginable that had been left in the deck chairs around the pool, there’s no way not to be amused at that one. I returned around 8:30 to find everyone up and ready to go to breakfast. We decided on the formal dining room for breakfast and Christian ordered his obligatory 4 eggs benedict. Mallory had froot loops encrusted French toast, which she was thrilled with. Olivia and I had chocolate chip and blueberry pancakes respectively, with whipped cream naturally. Next was the ping pong tournament,which Christian always looks forward to. The girls and I claimed lounge chairs on the deck near the ping pong table to watch. Only serious ping pong players show up for the tournament, so it’s not for the faint of heart. Christian was put out after an exciting game in which wind gusts off the Caribbean often carried the ball in strange directions. But who can really complain about having the Caribbean as your backdrop, that makes almost anything that happens rather inconsequential. Actually, I think he may blame Michael Hebert for not having given him any good competition lately.

The next item on our agenda was a cooking demonstration in the steakhouse. I suspect it’s a thinly veiled infomercial for the steakhouse, but since we actually enjoy cooking shows we couldn’t pass up a live one. We showed up early, as we do most places if Christian has anything to do with it, so we snagged seats on the front row. Our recipe pamphlet we received upon entering the restaurant outlined the dishes we would see. First up was a mushroom cappuccino, which turned out to be a mushroom soup served in a cappuccino cup. We were shocked when they began to hand out samples of the dish! The same went for the spinach salad, chicken supreme with potatoes and macaroni, and finally tiramisu. To say these dishes were good would be an enormous understatement. With each dish I would taste it and think, wow- I’ve got to make this at home. But by the time the chef reached the 12th step and the 14th ingredient, I decided some things were better enjoyed out. I’m pretty sure I’d be so frustrated by the end of the cooking process that I wouldn’t fully enjoy the food this much anyway. But the light lunch we ended up having here was perfect after a large breakfast.

Next on our busy schedule came a nap. We set an alarm to get up for afternoon tea and just after we awoke there came a knock on the door. “Room service” came the heavily accented voice. What? I don’t think we ordered any room service. When I opened the door, a domed tray was suddenly in my hands and our mystery room service deliverer was off. No one admitted to ordering it, but we’d take a peek at it anyway. Strawberries covered in smooth chocolate and rolled in red velvet cake crumbs, strawberry macaroons, and chocolate truffles greeted us. We forgot about our concern that someone did not receive their room service and dug in. Unexpected treats can be the best, who cares whose it might have been, and we still had time to make it to tea. (We did later find out it was actually meant for us) Relaxing on the lido deck was next, listening to a talented guitarist/singer we first heard on day one couldn’t have made the afternoon any more perfect. Vinnie, the musician, was incredible and would turn out to be a favorite all week. A conversation with him on a break revealed that he was self-taught thanks to YouTube and couldn’t even read music, but he was always surprisingly creative and put his own soulful twist on every classic rock (and pop) song he sang. The sport of people watching doesn’t get much better than on the pool deck of a cruise, simply watching a vast array of people all gathered in one place provides endless fascination.

I finally had to leave the pool deck to get ready for dinner. Four people in a cabin can be a little tricky, but if you plan well it’s not too bad. We’ve done it both ways, with one cabin and two. And while there are pros and cons to each, we decided we didn’t have many more vacations with just the 4 of us and we would take advantage of every moment of togetherness we could squeeze out of this trip (a decision I usually questioned when 4 people were trying to get ready in 25 square feet). When we were all showered and dressed we went to the promenade to take family pictures since it was “cruise elegant” night. The dress code is not strict and we saw dresses that could pass for wedding or prom dresses, and many (like us) who just looked like they were going to church on Easter. After a few pictures we hurried to the comedy show by our favorite comedian on the cruise, then it was finally time for dinner. Cruise elegant night promises strawberry bisque as an appetizer (Mallory’s undisputed favorite), lobster tail, steak, and creme brûlée, and we were not disappointed. (Especially when we got in a siting of elliptical lady). We waddled back to the room after dinner and decided we could still make the 10:15 show! (For us that is a time we rarely see). We make a game of picking out our favorite dancers, since we are now qualified dance judges thanks to “dancing with the stars”. Tomorrow is Barbados and we can’t wait to snorkel with sea turtles, so better late than never to get some sleep….