Mon, 3/24/25    At Sea

Day 78 - Monday, March 24th, 2025 – At Sea

Because we wanted to play cards early, we were up and out by 930. We have to be downstairs by 9:30 so we can sign up for the 11:00 tournament at 10:00. We were third and fourth in line by then already. After we signed up, we went up to breakfast. It is getting difficult to go to breakfast up there because it's always so cold. I can barely eat my breakfast because my teeth are chattering. The other thing that becomes even more annoying is the Italian opera singers they have playing in the overhead speakers. Sometimes, especially on really cold days it seems, these singers are screaming at the top so their lungs. I know I'm exaggerating, maybe a little bit, but I don't need the aggravation. I am already not a fan of the morning.

We finish breakfast and go back to the casino. Unfortunately, neither Mary nor me do very good in the tournament. We are back in the room by 12:30 or so. We hang out in the room until about 2:15. Did someone say wine tasting? Yes, this is the Anatori Family wine tasting. This family started producing wine in 1835 or so. From one winery in 1830ish they've grown to probably 20 different labels throughout Italy. For this wine tasting we test four different wines. They have a white. They have a rose. They have two Reds. I don't think either of them was a Cabernet Sauvignon. Like all wine tastings, the sommelier gives a description of the wine. We look at the color and clarity. We smell and try to imagine smelling raspberries or fresh cut grass. Nine times out of 10 I smell things like old bike tires, diesel fuel and the inside of sweaty gloves on a summer day. I of course don't say this out loud. I would not want to be kicked out of the wine tasting.

It's a nice get together. There was one guy at our table who is one of these know-it-alls. He seemed to want to teach the sommelier and everyone at the table his interpretation of every wine. That made the event less fun, but I still had a good time. The one thing I am learning though is I am not an afternoon drinker anymore, if I ever was. I drink these glasses of wine and I have to go back to the cabin and sleep for an hour. Another thing to add to the list of things I don't like is I get older. This is getting to be a damn long list by the way.

We go back to the cabin. It is formal night. We have to get dressed up. Admittedly, we do less dress up now than we did in the initial formal nights. Nonetheless, it still requires some time. On our way to dinner of course there are picture stops. The pace of pictures has slowed quite a bit. We're still on pace for 500. That makes me feel good.

For dinner, let me try to remember, I had pork wontons which were pretty good. Mary had some cold soup. She is on a cold soup kick. They are usually fruit based so that's probably why she likes them. We both have the salad. Mary doubles the size of hers. I don't need that much roughage. Mary had Cornish hen. I had lobster tail. I had ice cream. Mary had souffle. Overall, it's a very nice dinner.

We decided to go back to the room. We had some thoughts about going to the 9:30 show but I did not completely wake up from my post wine nap. We do stay up until 11:00. That was a mistake because we forgot that we move the clocks forward an hour. Now we will move clocks forward a couple of hours before going backwards again all the way to catch up to Florida time. That's still six weeks away.

Another successful and quiet day at sea.