DAY 14 & 15: TWO DAYS AT SEA -- Well, today certainly did nothing to upset the possibility of alternative #3. Although its been beautiful outside, the wind and seas have been higher than any other time during the cruise, and during the night we were doing a lot of rocking & rolling. We're none the worse for wear, however.

Since it’s Sunday we had the best of intentions of going to one of the worship services this morning. There are two clergy aboard, a Southern Baptist and a Roman Catholic, so we thought we’d go to the Catholic mass. It was held in the theater to accommodate a large crowd, but the PA system either wasn’t working or wasn’t being used, so we eased our way out rather quickly

I had introduced myself to the Catholic priest, who encouraged me to apply to Holland American for a cruise, and I did a rather good job of not laughing out loud! No, I don’t think so. For lots of reasons, the primary one being that I’m retired, as in, not being ‘up front” any more. But it was nice of him to suggest it.

The rest of the day was total relaxation: eating, reading, eating, napping, eating...you get the idea! There just aren’t many situations in life any more that allow for that kind of luxury. There are no chores I ought to do around the house, no phone calls I ought to make, nothing but nothing all day long. It’s a new experience
for us both, one we’re coming to enjoy more and more.

Actually, there is one chore which has to be done, here or at home: laundry They have a half dozen or so washing and drying machines here on the ship, and they always seem to be ministered to by Laundry Matrons who appear to be perfectly content to spend hours monitoring the place with loud voiced authority and instantly supplying advice and/or directions.

I had to do our final load and thought that if I got there fairly early in the morning I could be in and out before they knew I had been there. No such luck. I got there about 6:30 and they were well underway. That’s like 6:30 in the tropical morning! I wanted to suggest they get a life, but maybe this IS their life, so I maintained discrete silence and got my chore done with a minimum of hassle.

We’re pretty much “out of the loop” as far as news is concerned, but we do receive
CNN International on our room TV, which is filled with news of Saddam Hussein’s
conviction and sentence. Hardly a surprise, and also hardly a surprise that our Decider-in-Chief took credit for it, which somehow makes the world freer from terrorists. The upcoming elections are also a hot topic; we cast our ballots before we left home.

I should mention, on the subject of television, that we also get ESPN Deportes here, which means we see a ton of soccer games, an occasional NBA game, and Monday Night Football. So we aren’t completely isolated.