12 May 2007:
Distance sailed from Fort Lauderdale: 3281
nautical miles. Distance to our next port in Lisbon 337 miles. The sea is Moderate (4 – 8 ft waves), the temperature
is 65 degrees and the wind is Force 6.
On a previous cruise we had dinner companions who always talked (at length and with great frequency) about
how they never used the elevators on the ship....they always took the stairs. If you mentioned the long lines at embarkation
at the gangway elevators, they would say that they “hadn’t noticed, because we always take the stairs”.
If they were telling you about their day they would always mention how they took the stairs from here to there and back again.
I began calling them the Stair People. On this voyage, as part of my doomed effort to minimize weight gain, I have started
taking the stairs....and it’s not a bad way to go. After the first three days filled with aching quadriceps and hyperventilation
I acclimated to the effort. Now I bound heedlessly up 5 or 6 flights of stairs to the Sports Deck or to Skywalker’s
and race down to the Atrium Lobby for drinks or Internet access many times a day. The elevators, in fact, are still packed
with our sedentary fellow cruisers, but the stairs are relatively free. And you always see the same people trudging the stairs....it
is our own little community of hard bodied men and women of strong character....who greet each other with a knowing nod as
they relentlessly pound the treads from one deck to another....I have become one of the Stair People.
........did I mention that I always take
the stairs?
Today is another sea day and
only barely distinguishable from previous sea days. I won’t bore you (or use the Internet connection time) with the
details. It was a late breakfast....I’ve really got to work on getting up earlier....I’m normally a morning person,
but the time changes have turned me into a slug in the mornings. But, as I was saying: it was a late breakfast...and this
time the people were just normal people....or at least the most normal people that I’ve shared a table with recently.....except
for one man. I don’t want to get into stereotypes here (I don’t want a bunch of hate mail from folks who read
the web posting)....but he was from New York. He seemed to think that repetition was the key to success.
Man: “Bring me 2 glasses of V-8 juice....that’s
2 glasses; 2 of them”
Waiter: “Yes, sir, 2 glasses”
Man: “That was 2 glasses of V-8....you got that?”
Waiter: “Yes, sir, 2 glasses”
Man: “Just make sure
there’s 2 glasses”
A
similar routine was followed when he ordered a roll to come with his eggs.....the phrase “bring me a roll with my eggs”
was repeated at least 5 times.
....but
in comparison to some of the other folks we’ve experienced, this fellow was nearly normal. I suspect that the wait staff
on a ship like this receives special ‘sensitivity training’ to prepare them for the cruising public......and perhaps
therapy sessions following longer voyages.
We went to the Maitre’d’s Wine Tasting this afternoon. It was very nice, but as the luck of the draw would
have it, they tasted many of the same wines that we had on our last cruise. All were very fine wines, but I would have liked
to have tried more wines that I hadn’t seen before.....in any event I am still basking in the warm glow that comes from
tasting 2 champagnes and 5 wines.
Tonight is another formal night....and a “smoke-free” evening in the casino, so I won’t have time
to do anything but transmit this email after dinner before I head off to test my luck.
...and I see it’s time to get ready for dinner, so I’ll put this narrative
to bed and pick it up again in another day or two.
