Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Today was a “day at sea” which meant that the ship didn’t have an official port of call. Tomorrow will be our next stop in Puerto Madryn, Argentina 1,668 km (or roughly 1,000 miles) south of Punta del Este, Uruguay. Since we didn’t have anything to do today but hang out on the ship, Andi and I allowed ourselves to sleep in later. Room service woke us up at 7:30am with a pot of coffee and some muffins.

After a cup of coffee, Andi and I went to the fitness center on Deck 10 to workout while Tory and Aden continued sleeping in the stateroom next to ours. The gym was crazy busy this morning; I’m sure everyone else had the same idea we did about sleeping in this morning.

Around 8:30am, Andi and I returned to our rooms and woke Tory and Aden up for the day. Then, the four of us made our way to the Oceanview Cafe for breakfast. Of course, the breakfast buffet was packed with people, too. I sensed a theme of busyness transpiring on a ship with 2,000+ passengers aboard. All of the tables in the dining room were occupied, so our family ate breakfast on the outer deck. The air temperature had already dropped considerably since we left the southeastern coast of Uruguay.

I made a deal with the kids that we’d only crack open the school books on “sea days” during the cruise, so we set to work on our studies after breakfast. Andi suggested we take our books to the 11th floor Constellation Lounge to sit at the tables there, but a salsa dancing lesson started shortly after we arrived. The kids and I carried our school books to the 8th floor library, but all the chairs there were full of people reading. There is truly nowhere to go on this ship to escape other people, so we ended up back in our stateroom to study. It’s a bit gloomy in there without any windows, but at least it was quiet.

Andi worked on his computer most of the day from the iLounge. He joined us for lunch at the Oceanview Cafe. We keep eating there over and again — not because it’s the best food, but because it’s the easiest.

After lunch, Tory and Aden wanted to go to the afternoon session of Camp at Sea, so they both went there while I sat by the pool with my computer and blogged. Some people were getting rowdy on the ship —drinking, swimming, dancing, and partying; others quietly laid on the lounge chairs and read books or played games together. The cruise offers a wide range of activities for passengers to do on sea days, so there’s no shortage of options to stay occupied.

Around 4:00pm, Tory and Aden joined me by the pool. Tory saw someone walk by with a bowl of ice cream, so she decided to walk to the ice cream station at Oceanview Cafe to get some as well. I love that there’s some type of food available at all times on the cruise ship — food that I don’t have to prepare or clean up!

Aden finished swimming about an hour later, and decided he wanted a hot dog & French fries for his late-afternoon snack. He walked to the pool grill and ordered himself some food free of charge. Tory and I decided to play cards, but we thought it might be too windy on the pool deck, so we brought Aden’s food with us to our stateroom. He ate while Tory and I played Kings in the Corner.

Fortunately, cruise ships have loosened their dress code restrictions over the years. Tonight’s dinner attire is “Evening Chic,” which is described by the cruise director as “dressier than smart casual, but less dressy than formal.” We saw passengers on the ship dressed in everything from t-shirts and jeans to sport coats and fancy cocktail dresses. Really, anything goes. Our family doesn’t have any dressy clothing in our backpacks, but we do our best to be presentable. Andi and Aden each wear a collared shirt every night to dinner, and Tory and I wear dresses. It might be the same collared shirts and dresses every single night, but at least we’re following the dress code.

The sunset was beautiful tonight over the water. Tory and Aden decided to Camp at Sea at 7:00pm so Andi and I splurged with cocktails at the martini bar. We picked up the kids around 8:30pm and went to dinner at Oceanview Cafe. It wasn’t exactly where Andi and I wanted to eat for the third time today, but the line was too long for the main dining room. Aden has no complains — stir-fry and ice cream on repeat.