Third Cruise Segment, First Sea Day

We woke up skirting East along the North Coast of Cuba again. Previously this area has been rich with birds and flying fish. Today, not so much. Today more cruise ships and cargo ships seen. The wind is really strong today so the upper fitness decks were closed. Clay was put out. I went to the new social hostess, Towanna's, first needlepoint. She did okay with what was a different crowd. About 50% men. Some of the ladies who'd been on previously stepped up and did crowd control for her. I just got the only change purse kit she had out and left. It was lurching around up there so roughly that I'd lost my balance once already.

There was evidently a fairly large crew turnover yesterday as lots of new faces today. Lots of things not working today and not clear if there is a correlation. An original barista told me yesterday the Illy Crema machine was broken but promised it would work today. He was no where to be found after lunch when I ordered from what appeared to be a working machine. It was not. It was pure liquid handed to me with the warning that it wasn't frozen. And there were no caneles. The streaming TV was broken. The Internet satellite was broken. We pulled the drapes and reset. Got back in bed and took a long nap. The TV and Internet appear to be back. I don't want to jinx the reset by going back up to Baristas. This is looking like it really will be our longest segment!

There is an enrichment lecturer aboard now vs the previous onboard guest lecturer. We haven't seen him but his claim to fame is a career spent traveling as a tour director, cruise director, port lecturer. He held an atrium information desk in the morning and wildlife spotting (weather permitting) in the afternoon. So that seems like value-added. We think the wildlife spotting must have been the people sunning around the pool, theoretical wildlife spotting, or he had some wildlife to release since there has been a shortage today in our view. We were napping at that point and don't know if he actually did it or not. The CD had announced the location change due to the top decks being closed for wind, so there is a possibility it was scrubbed.

Clay's Ricard and my giant Bellini. Clay is easily amused.

Tonight at 5:45 pm is the Captain's Cocktail reception. Clay has some alcohol to put away on a deadline anyway. He took 1 of our 2 bottles of wine to dinner last night. O Club gives either white sauvignon blanc which was bad or red cabernet sauvignon which Clay likes alright with a meal. If you take a complimentary O Club bottle of wine to dinner aboard, the sommelier opens and stores and serves it throughout the dining system for NO corkage fee. Clay still likes the Ricard aboard, so we'll go to the Grand Bar for cocktails before dinner. The string quartet performs there. Dinner at Terrace tonight. It is really rough up there. Clay had seen the Mobi-Chef being set up during his morning walk and insisted on eating upstairs for lunch. It was a repeat menu of Taste of Mexico that he'd loved in GDR. But he thought they'd have the chips & salsa up there. They didn't. They had bell pepper-laden ground beef. We ate in Terrace where they moved the pizzas for the chips station.

We move the clocks ahead one hour tonight and tomorrow is a 2nd sea day before St. Barts again. (Maybe.) I'll plan to have Swedish pancakes at GDR for Sunday like we did today. True weekend breakfasts!