At sea

This cruising thing is new to me. Pretty cool, to be sure, but a bit out of my league. The food has been very good, as have been the amenities. Staff has been very friendly with smiles all around. A thought I had earlier this week was that Norwegian Cruise Lines really knows how to throw a week-long party. 24/7 fun, that’s for sure.

Perhaps a bit too much for us introverts, though. Still, all are encouraged to do what they need to do. Stay in where it’s quiet? Room service no charge. Gambling? All day and all night when out in the Gulf. Reading library? Check. Internet time? Check. Television in your stateroom? Check. Entertaining evening show? Check. (For us, a Cirque de Soleil act one night and a Second City troupe for two. Other shows, too, but we passed in favor of quiet time.)

I’ve spent time nightly standing at the prow of the Norwegian Spirit in the dark looking out over the sea passing all around us. Wind up there has been strong, and meditative. A line from Cooleridge’s Ancient Mariner would be appropriate, I suppose. Of course, with him, it was the calm that made life so tough. ‘Tough’ is not an adjective I would use for a Western Caribbean cruise.

I’ve spent more time on the balcony of our stateroom, up here on the highest lodging deck of the ship, deck 11. Our first morning out from New Orleans was just beautiful with bright sun streaming in our port side room. For Ohioans trying to escape winter, it was absolutely perfect. Cindy even interrupted her early morning sleep to come join me on our balcony for a few minutes. She closed her eyes and let the sun penetrate her skin. Her red glow is an image first etched in my memory years ago on our first spring break trip to Florida. The girl seems to blossom under the warm sub-tropical sun.

This is our last day on the cruise. I thought I would blog more often, but the truth of the matter is I rather enjoyed being on vacation. NCL touts ‘Freestyle Cruising’ -- doing/eating what you want when you want -- and that’s pretty much how we’ve handled things. It’s been a nice break from schedules back home.

This morning, as we head north back toward New Orleans, we are experiencing our first ‘rainy day.’ The ambient temperature is comfortable (70s) but humid (90%). We’ve passed trough a few rain squalls so far by 9 am. I walked 30 minutes of rounds of the Promenade Deck this morning for a bit of exercise. I worked up a bit of a sweat, but the air conditioning here in the stateroom now is quite comfortable. Vacation, indeed. And a hot breakfast here in a few minutes, too. Life could be tougher, you know? ;-)

[Written: Saturday, 30 January. Posted: Sunday, 31 January]

Today’s elder idea: Water, water everywhere / But not a drop to drink / Water, water everywhere / And all the boards did shrink...

Samuel Taylor Cooleridge, from The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner

It’s the only line I can remember from Mr. Hemmert’s English class -- and not at all true on the Spirit.