Norwegian Epic - Transatlantic - Day 4

DAY 4 - SATURDAY - 12/10 - AT SEA

It now occurs to me that my 9 day cruise can fairly easily be split into three acts.

Day 4. (Act II.)

There were rougher seas all night - I was awake more than usual. I got more time to sleep, though, as this was the first of many nights when we turned our clocks back an hour. An advantage of crossing the Atlantic this direction is that you get a bunch of 25 hour days!

When I got up, there was rain and wind, but the temperature was even warmer than usual - high 60s.

Once again, I went to Garden Cafe for breakfast for an omelette and got fruit and snacks for the room.

At 10am I headed to the casino. Before the trip, people in the Facbook group for the cruise had arranged a slot pull. I’d never heard of such a thing, but decided to participate. Thirty-five of us showed up. We each gave $15 to the organizer and all of the money was fed into one slot machine. We then each had three $5 pulls and whatever money there was at the end was split up 35 ways. The “change” - any whole dollars left over - was given to the person with the biggest win. We drew cards from a deck to decide what order we went in. I met a lot of cruisers there and it was entertaining. Most of us got little or nothing on our pulls, but one woman helped us all out. We each walked away with $34 ($19 richer) and she got an extra $22 on top of that.

On my way back to my cabin, I ran into Silvia outside Maltings. Maltings is a whiskey bar and Shaker’s is a martini bar. Both are on the 7th deck of the Epic and have live music in the evenings. The seating is comfortable and a lot of people hang out there even when the bars are closed, to read or play games or socialize.

Silvia and I chatted for a bit and arranged to meet up later at Cavern Club at 3pm for some (non-Beatles) music. She also mentioned that an illusionist would be at Headliner’s before that.

I went to my cabin and then to the gym. Four days in a row - not bad!

Went to O’Sheehan’s on my own for lunch, which included a Caesar salad (green!) and then decided to check out the illusionist Silvia had mentioned. I stayed for the whole thing, but it was rather terrible. (I went to a magic show in NYC with a friend not too long ago too. What possessed me?) I think some people enjoyed it, though? I hope?

After that, I decided to get a martini to bring into the Cavern Club for the live music. The bartender gave me the check to sign.

Guy sitting at the bar to bartender: Oh, she had to pay?

Bartender: Yeah, it’s expensive.

Me: It’s ok.

Guy to me: My wife and I both had to get drink packages, but she doesn’t drink, so we are trying to get our money’s worth. Next time, ask me and I’ll get one for you!

I never got a chance to take him up on his offer, but it was appreciated!

I went into the Cavern Club and Silvia was finding seats. We sat front and center. (Remember my advice from Day 3?) On the schedule, this particular show was advertised as rock and roll. It turned out to be super loungy. They did Summertime and other similar stuff. Plus they were having some mic issues and the singer mentioned several times that someone had forgotten to change the batteries. Silvia is a rock girl, as were a lot of other people in the audience. There were many confused faces, a bit of mumbling, and several people left, including us.

We went back to Deck 7 and hung out in the comfy area between Maltings and Shaker’s. We were joined by Marcy and Ryan. Marcy mentioned an announcement that had come on in the middle of the night. (I have no idea what time it was, but I was definitely woken up by it.) It came on through all speakers, even in the cabins, and it was more for crew than guests. Code such and such. I’d been slightly concerned when I heard it, but had fallen back asleep and forgotten about it until this. Marcy told us about one woman who was 100% convinced that pirates had boarded the ship and that the captain had paid them off. (She also, apparently, had told Marcy that she had grabbed her $50,000 to her chest. I met this woman on another day. She was something!) Other theories were that we had hit a whale or that someone had jumped or fallen overboard. I wish I remembered the code. (Here are some: https://www.dorisvisits.com/emergency-codes/) A crew member passed by as this conversation was happening and I suggested she might know. Marcy said jokingly to her “The code we heard - there were pirates on the ship, right?” The crew member raised her eyebrows, smiled slightly, and nodded. We all laughed.

Silvia mentioned to me that Terri was planning to meet me at 6pm at Bliss for the Silver and Gold Latitudes cocktail party. This had been decided on Day 1 when I met Terri - she was going to bring me as her guest - but we hadn’t seen each other since. I had planned on stopping by to see if she was there, but also thought she may want to bring someone else by now. Silvia gave me Terri’s cabin number and I called to check in on it. We made arrangements to meet up outside of Bliss before the cocktail party.

I went to my cabin and changed into the only slightly dressy thing I’d brought with me - black pants and a sparkly top.

I assumed Terri would be working the room, but we sat down and had cheese and drinks. I think we managed three proseccos each? Enough to decide we are going on a cruise from Hawaii to Alaska in 2024. (I have actually been eyeing that one - anyone else want to join?) Members of the staff introduced themselves on the stage area and then came around to say hello to people.

We left to go to the solo meetup. Silvia had told me that she and Andy (her cruise husband, if you remember) were planning on going to Le Bistro (the French specialty restaurant) that evening. When we got to the meetup, though, Andy said he’d go to dinner with us. Silvia was later vague when I asked her about it. She said that she had been honest with him about something and that he hadn’t reacted well to it. If they ever hung out together again on the cruise, I didn’t witness it.

You’ll find a lot of drama on a ship, if you look for it.

A group of us, including Andy, Adam, Terri, and two people I hadn’t previously met - an older gentleman named Joe and a woman from Amsterdam named Fiza, went to the Manhattan Room for dinner. I learned there that Fiza had made it into the finals of an on board karaoke competition, which everyone was planning on supporting her at. The date and time had not yet been announced. Joe told me I made him feel young again. Ok. (Shrug!)

A group of us met up at Shaker’s after dinner. Silvia was there, but Andy was not. Silvia got me a martini. At some point I mentioned that on my next cruise (with a couple high school friends in February) I’d be getting chocolate martinis. Next thing I knew, Adam had ordered a round of drinks, including a chocolate martini for me. It arrived with my name on it! Spelled correctly! That more than made up for missing cookie time...

Possibly one or two drinks too many for me, but I had a great time. And I had achieved my goal for the day - to be more social!

We left Shaker’s to see the 10:30 comedy show at Headliner’s. It was the same comedian I’d seen before, Chris Bliss. This was the later show, though, so he wouldn’t need to use the word “tennis” as code for “sex”. (Earlier shows are “family friendly” and later shows are less so.)

From there, I joined Terri and Adam at Bliss, where it was 80s night. I even danced a bit. (I don’t generally do that.)

Before heading to our cabins, we made a plan to meet at 9/9:15 for breakfast at Taste. Breakfast with Terri and Adam became a routine from then on.

It was a fun day.

Note: You can tell it was a more social day, as I have less photos. I also made notes in bullet points rather than full sentences.