January 22, 2019

  Today was a Sea Day.  The ship was travelling across the Gulf of Mexico to Cozumel, Mexico where we dock tomorrow.

  According to the ship’s instruments, the 8 a.m. temperature was 23°C and humidity 53%. The sky had some clouds that were a bit grayish, but by afternoon the clouds were wispy.  The ship backtracked two thirds of the way back to Miami before it turned southeast to graze the northeastern tip of Cuba when we checked the route after dinner

    We had breakfast at Johnny Rocket’s diner and must have just missed the kids.  Our waiter was Mohammad, our dinner assistant waiter.  Next, we walked on the Royal Promenade on Deck 5 that wraps around the ship. One lap is 669.7 meters.  The sea had swells of about 1.5 meters.  Our step count was 6,128 when we finished to climb the six flights of stairs to Deck 11 to get a coffee from the Diamond Club Lounge, before going back down to Deck 6, to the Top Tier event.  It was a loyalty club perk for the 2,300+ at the Platinum level and above. Only about half of the people eligible attended. The sun was out for most of the time, but the wind was about 25 kph. Waiters had trays of drinks including wine, champagne, mimosas, Caesars, rum punch and non-alcoholic beverages. The guests were introduced to the Managers of the ship’s departments.  Ten members of the Ocean Aria cast (divers, acrobats and trampoline performers) gave a ten-minute demonstration of their skills including a dive from the 17-meter diving platform.  The person with the most points cruising on the ship was a woman in her 80s who had accumulated the equivalent of 10 years cruising.

    We met the kids for lunch at on Deck 5 in the Royal Promenade at Sorrentos for pizza, just before the daily “Dreamworks Move It!” parade nearby.  We were able to stop into the Next Cruise sales office and browse the variety of itineraries and chose to cruise on the Anthem of the Seas in the fall of 2020.  It is a smaller ship of about 4,100 passengers. We will be cruising the Atlantic from England to New Jersey.

    We checked our loyalty perks list and discovered that we could each order 24 hours of complimentary basic Wi-Fi or pay $7 extra to get the high-speed version. The internet costs at sea are less on the Allure of the Seas than on our last cruise in October. Having internet connection on the ship is more convenient than searching for free Wi-Fi in the cruise terminal, a port café or bar.  We will use the other day of complimentary basic Wi-Fi on the next Sea Day in four days and pay the extra for the high-speed since it takes about five minutes for one photo to upload using the basic version.

    Next, we climbed up to Deck 15 to find some lounge chairs to read and enjoy the fresh air in the shade, and away from the loud music by the pools.

    Tonight’s dinner was in the specialty Italian restaurant, Giovanni’s Table, on Deck 8 in Central Park on their patio. You could see the sky grow dark eight storeys above us. We started by ordering a bottle of Ruffino Prosecco to celebrate Catherine’s spring graduation with her Masters in Biology. We enjoyed a marvelous five course Italian dinner finishing with Tiramisu and cappuccino.  It was much quieter than the main dining room.

   We ventured down to Deck 5 with the kids to the Port Merchant liquor store for a Gin Tasting then dispersed for the evening.

    Given the size of this ship, it is not difficult to meet our daily walking goal even on a Sea Day.

    Today’s daily step count was 14,568 steps.