Norwegian Epic - Transatlantic - Day 3

DAY 3 - FRIDAY - 12/9 - AT SEA (originally Azores - cancelled)

Woke up at 7:30am. Went to Garden Cafe and had a spinach & mushroom omelet. I brought some fruit and yogurt back to my cabin to have handy as snacks whenever I wanted them.

I really enjoyed my room on this day. The air temperature continued to be mild - in the 60s and it was sunny for a long time. I had the door to my balcony wide open and I hung out on the bed and read for a while. Eventually, of course, I ended up taking a nap.

When I woke up, I enjoyed some more sun and ocean air. I painted some of the fruit, poorly.

Eventually, I left the cabin and I wandered by a couple of the main bars, hoping I might run into some familiar faces, but no luck.

I felt like going to Starbucks, so I did. There’s a Starbucks on board. I never went to it on my other cruise until the last day, my birthday. I was hoping for my free birthday drink, but they didn’t honor that. This time, they did allow me to use my pre-paid Starbucks card. I don’t think you can use rewards there, but you can use the card. I saved the cup because it had a cover and I could use it for water or iced tea later.

When going on a cruise, I’d recommend bringing a water bottle. I was short on space this time, though, with a cheap airline ticket and only carry on luggage. On the last cruise I had too many things and on this one I could have used a few more. (More on that later, if I remember.)

I wandered around and enjoyed the weather.

I went to Taste for lunch. I ordered shrimp fritters, a spinach caesar (green!) with dressing on the side, and a game time decision - a BLT. Unless you like your salads swimming in dressing, I recommend ordering dressing on the side on a cruise. The first spinach caesar I ordered was inedible because of the dressing. This one was great. The BLT, however, was probably the worst thing I ordered on this cruise. Nothing was crispy. Not the bacon, not the lettuce, not the bread. It was a bland, soggy mess. And I think they put thousand island dressing on it instead of mayo? It was weird. I only had one bite and moved on to a dessert of banana cream pie.

There was an older gentleman sitting on his own at the table next to me who looked like a Italian muppet. I don’t know if he was actually Italian. He had an already open bottle of wine that he had left with the restaurant the night before. They do that for you so that you can drink the bottle over multiple meals, if you want. And you can start the bottle in one restaurant and continue it in another, if you want. The downside is that it can take a while to retrieve. He hadn’t received it before he received his Caprese and he was bothered by it, in a quiet way. And the server wasn’t that nice to him (unusual).

I wasn’t sure what to do with myself, so I decided to get the gym out of the way. Since the ocean was calmer, I did the treadmill. The other days I’d done the bike, so that I could remain seated and uninjured.

Went back to the room and showered and fell asleep again.

That night I had a 7pm reservation for Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, in the Epic Theater. I skipped the solo meetup again so that I could get a seat and relax before the show.

Although I enjoy (and sometimes need) time on my own, I realized I was going to have to make more of an effort if I wanted to spend time with other people. I hadn’t gotten anyone’s room numbers, so the best hope (other than chance) of seeing people was to go to that meetup. I promised myself to go the next day.

Priscilla was not my favorite. It’s supposed to be campy and it was, but it also felt very dated, in an awkward way. Also maybe I shouldn’t have sat so close to the stage on this one.

Cruise tip: If shows are scheduled for multiple days, try to go on the first day. They sometimes get canceled due to weather or illness or whatever. If you go to the first one and others get canceled, you’ve seen it! If yours gets canceled, they’ll automatically reschedule you for the next show.

Additional cruise tip: If you’re not sure of something you’re about to see, don’t sit front row center. Maybe pick an aisle seat in the back. Have an escape route!

This ended up being the only night for Priscilla - the others were canceled because of weather conditions. Think of all the challenges of a regular show in a regular theater. Then add a whole lot of crazy footwear and a bunch of waves.

I didn’t necessarily want to escape Priscilla, but I also didn’t have a desire to see it again. (On my last cruise I happily saw Six twice and Burn the Floor twice.) It made me happy to hear that some people were 100% into it. I was not.

After the show, I wasn’t too hungry, but wanted something. I didn’t want to go to the buffet. I didn’t want to sit down at a restaurant for a full meal. I looked at the menu for the night at Manhattan Room and saw that they had an appetizer (Asian spare ribs) that I’d really liked on my other cruise.

I went to the host and asked if I could get something to go. She asked the manager and he said it was no problem. A few minutes later, they had two covered plates for me and utensils in a napkin. One plate had ribs and the other had bananas foster. I’m sure I’m not the first person to do this, but it felt like I was getting away with something, which was delightful. I’m sure it helped that I went when it was slow.

Back in my cabin, I ate my food and read with the door to my balcony open. Relaxing and enjoyable.

Then, why not, I went to enjoy another empty hot tub! Lovely!

Then it was bedtime.

The following day would be more social, I vowed.