Norwegian Epic - Transatlantic - Day 8

DAY 8 - WEDNESDAY - 12/14 - AT SEA (originally Bermuda - cancelled)

This was one of my favorite days at sea.

The wind and waves were what I imagined a December ocean crossing would be like. I’m quite sure it made for the worst day at sea for some folks aboard.

Woke up around 6:30.

Met Terri and Adam for breakfast at our new spot Garden Cafe. I made a fruit salad that was entirely too big for a single human. I ate a huge amount and brought the rest to my cabin for snacks.

Later, we spent more time in the Garden Cafe just watching the ocean.

In fact, I spent a large part of my day just staring at the ocean from various locations. Adam showed me the lowest spot we could go to (Deck 5 near the library and card room) to watch the sea through the windows. Even on the 5th deck, the waves were sometimes getting higher than we were. (I’ll post video from this separately at some point!)

Another place I went to for the first time was the bridge viewing area. My friends Autumn and Dawn had told me it was very important to keep an eye on the captain and crew and make sure they were doing their jobs. It seemed particularly important on this day.

There was supposed to be a Mr. Sexy Legs contest outside on Deck 15, which amused me. Terri and I convinced Adam to compete, knee brace and all. To be honest (and to his credit), he agreed pretty quickly. When it came time, though, it was way too windy, wet and slippery and dangerous outside. Everything outside was closed and the competition was canceled. Terri and I declared Adam the official winner and made sure to spread the word.

For lunch I had fish and chips and tried the Irish stew for the first time at O’Sheehan’s. As Adam pointed out, it was less stew and more soup. But it would suffice until dinner at Le Bistro.

I went to my cabin and took something for seasickness, just in case. I felt fine, but I’d spent so much time looking at the waves and it really was rough out there. I didn’t want to feel queasy at dinner!

Terri, Fiza, Adam and I met up at Maltings and had a drink. Terri gave us magnets and notes as gifts, which was sweet. Fiza was feeling exhausted and she and Terri postponed their La Cucina dinner until the next day. Adam and I kept our plan to go to Le Bistro.

We ordered a bottle of wine, which was an excellent use of some of the onboard credit we’d received for missing Bermuda. Adam had scallops and I had escargot. We both had endive salad and lamb. For dessert, I had the cheese plate with a double espresso. Adam had a poached pear and an Irish coffee. It was my favorite meal of the trip - excellent food and excellent company.

We had the server take a few photos of us. We skipped the photos from the official photographer. (Sorry, photographers.)

As the ship was first leaving from Lisbon, my aunt had sent me some photos of my great aunt Barbara from her Atlantic crossing on the QE2 in the 1980s. The photos didn’t come through until we reached New York. At dinner, I found myself wondering again what those photos showed. It would have been fun to try to recreate them in some way on my trip.

After our meal, we took a little break and went back to our cabins with a plan to meet up at Headliners to hear Alex Yost sing some Christmas songs.

When we arrived, we found some seats in the back (escape route!) and settled in for a festive (if cheesy) set. It was the perfect use of Alex Yost on a cruise ship!

From there, we met up with Terri and Fiza again at the Epic Theater to finally see a Beatles show. Adam disappeared to the bar and returned with three drinks in three different types of glasses. How he managed to carry them across the room in the current conditions, I have no idea. I would have spilled them on people the whole way! The show was fun. And as much as I would have liked seeing one of them at the Cavern Club, this was enough. There will be more Beatles on more cruises in the future, I’m sure!

We all went to Shaker’s and saw more of our crowd there. We sang along to the piano. A few people got up and sang.

Eventually, we landed at Maltings again. It was a night off for Lucas, though, so no music. We got some whiskey. It was a whiskey bar, after all.

Then we said good night.

That the wobbliest return to my cabin of the trip, between the waves and the booze.

Luckily, the fish on the carpet let you know which way is which (they swim towards the front of the ship).

I was asleep in record time.