Two Blissful Days at Sea

Thursday — December 3

We are about to start a series of five port calls. But those days have yet to unfold. Tonight, I have the story of our last two days at sea to write about. Our sea days tend to follow a set routine, hence the combined post. One thing that stands out — the change in weather from our first day at sea!

Proof that we’re on a Celebrity ship.

Summer in December!

Both days found us up at 6:30a. Donning our exercise clothes, we headed to our preferred venues — the fitness center for Mui; the jogging track for me. Not that I jog, mind you; but I much prefer to do my daily walk where I can breathe in the ocean air. On Mercury, 12 laps is one nautical mile (1.15 mile/1.8 km), so round and round I went for the next 45 minutes, putting in about two miles (3.6 km). Few people were out and about at that time of the day; the sun was shining bright and warm — in other words, perfect!

The Sky Deck jogging trail and glimpse of the La Playa Pool on the Resort Deck.
(photo taken from the Sunrise Deck)

Then it was time for breakfast. With the weather much warmer now, there was no question where we would be eating our morning meals — on the veranda. We could have ordered room service, but we much prefer to make our own selections from the buffet at the Palm Springs Café. Sun shining bright; gentle breezes keeping the ever increasing temperature at bay; plenty of shade in the morning; complete privacy — couldn’t have been better.

Afterwards, I settled into one of the chaise lounges and pretty much spent the entire morning on the veranda. I read; I embroidered; I made the occasional foray to the buffet for a glass of cold lemonade or fruit punch. I was quite content. Mui ventured out a couple of times to take a dip in the pool, but otherwise kept me company. He read; he snoozed; he made the occasional foray to the buffet for iced coffee.

Warm temps encourage Mui to take a dip in the Playa Pool on the Resort Deck.

We didn’t have to debate whether we should go to the Manhattan Restaurant or the Palm Springs Café for lunch. The veranda was our choice of locale for the mid-day meal. Yesterday was made-to-order stir fry for me and fish curry for Mui; today was made-to-order pasta for both of us. Being just one staircase up from the Café has made it especially convenient for us to grab our food and eat it in the privacy of the veranda.

The afternoon hours were spent in a fashion similar to the morning hours. The beauty of this veranda is that the wide overhang and the high divider separating us from the next cabin provide a patch of shade even when the sun is at its zenith. I read, embroidered, and just enjoyed being at sea. Mui snoozed, read, and just enjoyed being at sea. As you can tell from our activities, we really do take R&R seriously when we're aboard a ship. When the cocktail hour came, we had a glass of wine and watched the sun set on the distant horizon.

Sunset at Sea

It was difficult to tear ourselves away from the veranda, but we roused ourselves just long enough to dine in the Manhattan Restaurant last night.

December 2 Menu

Tonight, we ate on the veranda. Mui wanted to have the osso buco, so we ordered room service from the dining room menu. Won’t be doing that again — those dishes don’t do too well as “take out.” Next time, we’ll just get something from the Palm Springs Café.

December 3 Menu

We returned to our cabin after dinner last night and relaxed on the veranda. Since we ate in tonight, however, we went for an after-dinner stroll to give Helmi a chance to take care of the nightly turn down service. As we were wandering around, the strains of a familiar melody invited us to peek in on the show in progress in the Celebrity Theater. The featured guest was Pingxin Xu, a Chinese musician who’s been performing on the dulcimer publicly since age 7. Liking what we heard, we sat down to enjoy the musical performance, which was enhanced by big screen video close-ups of the intricate hand movements required to play the instrument. Each tune was a marvel of hands flying over the 140 strings that make up the dulcimer, but his rendition of the Czardas was really wonderful and worthy of the standing ovation Professor Xu received. The show was a nice change of pace for us.

On that note — time to put the laptop away and enjoy a bit more of the nighttime quiet on the veranda before I turn in. Tomorrow we’re in port. The temps these past few days have been in the 80F (27C) range, so we’re acclimated to the hot temperatures that we’re sure to have in the coming days. We have two options for tomorrow — still not sure which one we’ll opt for. We’ll play it by ear and surprise ourselves.

Next Up: St Thomas — USVI