We are still sailing across the Atlantic Ocean heading towards our first port of call tomorrow, St. Maarten. Due to our delay leaving Florida the first day, our captain said he’s trying to make up time by traveling at a higher speed. Combine that with sailing into a strong head wind and choppy seas, our ship has had quite a bit of noticeable movement. Normally this size ship buffers the movement of the sea pretty well but I guess there are limits. It’s a lot more up and down vs rocking.
This excessive ship movement has been interesting. First off, I slept fine last night but I had some weird dreams. One included the ship tilting drastic angles. I know some have mentioned not being able to sleep at all with the movement. Our room is toward the center of the ship. When you are at the front of the ship you really feel the up and down. Adventure Ocean is near the top in front and they told us when dropping kids off it might be a good idea to check back in a while to make sure our child isn’t having motion issues. Luckily Ethan was fine and spent a lot of the day there. One last thing about walking around the ship with all that bobbing, you really feel the effects on the stairs. One second you feel like you are breezing up them with only half your weight then next your knees feel like buckling from 2x gravity.
Now I got that out of the way, on with our day. We had several first throughout the day for our family. We had to get up and eat in time to make it to another event we had booked, the slot pull (we never gambled on the ship before). So it was back up to the Windjammer Buffet for breakfast. Then we dropped Ethan and this time also Hannah off at Adventure Ocean so Amy and I could go to the slot pull in the casino. Hannah really didn’t want to go but we told her to give it 30 minutes then she could check herself out if she didn’t like it.
The slot pull was organized through the same Cruise Critic group we had the Meet & Greet yesterday. If you want to participate you just let them know and chip in $15 for 10 pulls on a group machine. Any winnings at the end will be split amongst the participants. Since Amy and I were rookies at this (we usually avoid passing through the smoky casino at all cost), we had to catch on to the way the fancy slot machines work. You just push a button but interpreting the readout it not intuitive right away. Anyway, there was about 40 people taking part in this slot pull. Some had better luck than others during their turn. I pretty much earned my $15 back during my turn. Amy was less successful getting only a few small payouts. One guy had +$60 during his pulls helping restock our pot. In the end we all walked away with $10.75 so not ahead but not too bad.
As we expected, Hannah ended up checking herself out of AO just after 30 minutes. She then was hanging out in her room until we were done at the casino. We picked Ethan up from AO and he told us all about the ball games they played. He had mentioned that he wanted to try the Flow Rider so he changed into swim attire and we headed up to the sports deck. Since it’s a sea day, there was a long line to try the Flow Rider but surprisingly Ethan was determined to do it. Again our tentative child is surprising us this trip. After watching others take their turn for over an hour (it is entertaining to watch people wipe out) it was Ethan’s turn. I was preparing myself for the worst and dealing with the aftermath. However, he jumped right in and had success. He lasted quite a bit and was all grins when he came off. Of course he wants to go again sometime and now his success has made Hannah consider giving it a try.
Straight from his trip on the Flow Rider we headed toward the Aqua Theater on the Boardwalk at the back of the ship for the kids to watch the Belly Flop Competition for the first time. On the way there we stopped by the ice cream on the pool deck for a little treat to eat as we walked. By the time we reached the Aqua Theater Ethan was already dry. You’ve got to love these sunny, warm 80 degree days! The kids really enjoyed watching and voting on the contestants attempts at a perfect bellyflop.
After watching men with large bellies splash in the pool, we hadn’t lost our appetite and decided to go grab lunch at the buffet. Since it’s Mardi Gras today, they had a “traditional” treat.
Ethan wanted to get back to AO for games so we dropped him back off there. The rest of us went to On Air to check out karaoke. Hannah decided she was going to perform. Her first song was You Belong With Me by Taylor Swift. She did real good. You could tell she was nervous but she warmed up during the chorus. When she was done she decided to sign up for an encore. Her second performance ended up being the last of the night and she did Party In The USA by Miley Cyrus. This time there was more confidence and she did more belting of the song. She brought loud applause.
Leaving On Air we watched a Jenga competition in the Promenade. Let’s just say the ship movement made that a little more interesting. Amy and Hannah snagged a snack to take back to the balcony.
It was almost dinner time so we got dressed then tried to squeeze in one more activity until it was time to eat. There was a Family Quest game being held in AO that we thought the kids would like. Amy and I have been to the adult version of The Quest but never a family one. The Quest has teams that have to provide requested items to the judge as fast as possible (you can use your imagination to what could be asked for the adults). The family version we tried tonight had items like: someone wearing 2 belts, or someone doing the worm, or a sock with a hole in it. I thought we did really well and the kids had a blast but we didn’t win.
Coming straight from the Quest, we were ready to eat (and a little late). Ethan decided to try escargot and actually didn’t hate it. Amy was adventurous with the Eggplant & Kalamata Olive Tartare. The Grilled Chicken was a popular choice for the entree plus Amy ordering the Ravioli and the Beef Strip Loin. I decided to throw in the Roasted Pork Loin to have with my chicken. For dessert everyone except Amy tried the Soufflé. Ethan also tried the creme brûlée and I added the Strawberry Trifle.
After dinner Ethan wanted to go back to AO so he did that and we were supposed to get him in time for the Ice Show. To pass time before the show, Hannah, Amy, and I went to the Aqua Theater to watch an outdoor movie (Despicable Me 3) which was showing due to the diving show being cancelled again. The girls snuck away during the movie to get their picture taken with “Justin Timberlake” on the Promenade. The characters from Trolls were there so it must be Justin in that costume, right?
When it was ice show time, Amy went to pick up the boy from AO while Hannah and I worked our way to Studio B to get seats for the show. When we got there we were informed that the ice show had been postponed and rescheduled for later in the week (I’m starting to see a bad pattern). What stinks is that the earlier ice show went on as planned. So at this point we all just ended back in our rooms to crash for the night and I could start working on this posting.
There was still one more thing on the schedule that I wanted to see. It started at 10:30pm, the Love and Marriage Game Show. After everyone went to bed, I made my way to the bobbing front of the ship where the theater and the show is located. This is always an entertaining show which features 3 couples, a newlywed, a long time married, and an average length married couple. They try and match their partner’s answers and it can get a little PG-13. I couldn’t stay for the whole thing because of it getting late and the fact the front was bobbing so bad that I probably shouldn’t take any more motion pills for the day.
We have a real early morning tomorrow with our excursion meeting at 7:45am so it’s off to bed for me.