Dear Cruise Diary — Day 11, May 1, 2013

Dear Cruise Diary

Day 11 – At Sea in the Atlantic Ocean

May 1, 2013

What more was there to say about another day at sea? I slept in till about 8 am, as I had the last few days. Dressed and up to the Windjammer for breakfast, then back to the promenade to finish up and post the journals for the last three days. I finished just in time to head for the Boleros bar and meet other solos sailors for lunch, per the daily schedule.

Solo sailors are a combination of single people and those who aren’t single, but aren’t traveling with their spouses. But they may not be sailing solo, either – many are friends sailing together. Actually, probably anyone could join. They don’t ask for verification! I saw Beverly and Ann, whom I had met before, and joined them and others for lunch. One of our tablemates was a man named Joe from New York. Turned out we both worked for AT&T (he in legal, me in public relations), but not at the same time. We did have several friends in common, though.

After lunch I headed to the cabin. Now that the journal entries were up to date, I started on a requested blog – how to pick a cabin. My thoughts on the subject ended up being too long, I thought, for one blog, so I broke it into three entries and posted each over the next 24 hours.

I had made plans to join Robin, Helen, Ron and Hoyt for dinner at 8 pm, and headed to the Schooner Bar for a drink before dinner. Robin and Helen were there to play musical trivia (80s songs), but I passed, remembering I had spent the 80s working and missed much of the “cultural scene.” As I listened to the first couple of hints, I knew I had been smart not to join in. I didn’t recognize any songs from the first three or four bars they played. We all joined again for dinner.

After sampling the music in a couple of the lounges after dinner, I headed to bed, bringing my stair flight total for the day to just 14 flights (I was getting too efficient). I didn’t want to sleep in and miss Madeira the next day.

Tomorrow: Day 12 – Funchal, Madeira (Portugal)