Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Today was a sea day as the Norwegian Sun traveled from Cooktown, Queensland to Darwin, Northern Territory. Andi was up early this morning for conference calls, so he and I were awake to catch the sunrise. Condensation covered our stateroom window as the humidity held high overnight.

Andi took his calls in the 12th floor Windjammer Lounge. We’ve had so many different time zone changes in the past few weeks that it’s difficult to tell what time it is. New Zealand is a different time zone than Brisbane, and Brisbane is a different time zone than Cooktown. We’ll change time again when we reach Darwin tomorrow. Poor Andi had to make a spreadsheet to keep track of his call times. Tuesday at 5:00am for us is 2:00pm Monday for his co-workers.

Around 8:30am, Andi joined Aden, Tory, and I for breakfast in the Garden Cafe. “Day 11; the day we grew tired of eating at the buffet,” Andi proclaimed.

Really though, we have nothing to complain about. There are tons of food options — everything from yogurt, cottage cheese, cereal, eggs made-to-order, sausage links, bacon, fresh fruit (including the best-tasting watermelon!), oatmeal, cinnamon rolls, pancakes, french toast, and truly, the list goes on. There’s even a variety of ethnic foods. The food is always hot, and there’s never a wait for anything. Best of all, I didn’t have to make it or clean it up.

As we walked into the buffet, I couldn’t help but smile as I listened to all the “good mornings!” floating through the air. The NCL staff is so friendly, including everyone’s favorite “washy washy” guy standing at the entrance passing out hand sanitizer. He sings songs about washing hands in an happy, engaging voice and always makes a special point to say hello to Aden when he sees him.

After breakfast, Aden went to Splash Academy for the morning. Andi went back to work, and Tory and I did her school work in our stateroom. She still isn’t feeling 100%; just tired, she says, and has a bit of a dry cough. Luckily, there’s plenty of time for her to rest on days like today.

Around 11:00am, Andi and I walked together on the 6th floor walking/jogging track. This is my favorite part of the ship; it’s so nice having a dedicated place to walk. The track was full of passengers today all trying to get their steps in.

There’s also a lady who brought her own lawn chair onto the cruise. She sits on the walking track most hours of the day and reads her book in the shade. For the most part, the walking track is quiet and out of the way of most passengers, so she must prefer this over sitting on the pool deck.

Andi, Tory, Aden, and I had lunch in the main dining room today. Then, Andi treated Aden to a few rounds of arcade games. One day, early into the cruise, Aden and CJ happened to be in there when an NCL employee was testing the machines. She let them each have one free play on all the games, so now the boys try to time it just right by going into the arcade when the worker is in there. No success since then, but today Andi purchased games for he and Aden to play.

Next, it was Aden’s turn for school work. He returned to the room and worked on Math and Language Arts with me for a few hours. This trip, I brought along physical pages of Tory and Aden’s lessons and I made photocopies of the sections of their reading books they’d need. (I didn’t want to carry around the entire book if I didn’t have to, adding extra weight and bulk.) One of the books I missed photocopying, so luckily I was able to download it onto my computer for Aden to read.

We’re saw several uninhabited islands as we traveled between Cooktown and Darwin today. Andi and I wondered if some of them were Papua New Guinea as we traveled around the northern tip of Cape York, but then decided they were more likely Australian islands off the coast.

Aden doesn’t even eat meals with us anymore, ha ha. He asked if he could join CJ’s family for dinner at the buffet and then go to kids club until 10:00pm. He’s enjoyed the cruise the most of any of us, I think.

Tory talked Andi and I into going to the show after we ate in the main dining restaurant. Tonight’s performance was a rendition of Broadway hits. The singers were very talented, though the only numbers Tory and I recognized were songs from Wicked.