April 13, 2012
I’m happy to report that we’ve had two days of unremarkable sailing toward our destination. The weather is decent – partly sunny, sometimes fog, but only a bit cool during the day. I’ve found it possible to go outside without even a sweater, as long as I stay out of the wind.
There’s a routine on board, and we’ve settled in. We have breakfast, then take a walk on the deck outside. Four laps is a mile. That’s not a lot of exercise, but we do get more running up and down stairs and back and forth around the ship. There is a gym, but we’ve only made it there once. We attend two lectures each day, chat with people we’ve met or try to meet others, and check out the nightly entertainment, which is typical cruise ship fare.
Yesterday we had a great meet-up with several of the Facebook group. I think there were about sixty of us crowding the Observatory Lounge. This was the group from Connor’s Facebook page, and he was fittingly given his due for creating the lively, irreverent interaction among its followers. A great job by such a young fellow!
I was thrilled to meet several Shipbuilder fans, especially Rikke and Tracie. I also discovered that six people boarded Balmoral during our stop at Cobh. I had no idea anyone had joined the ship there, but I met John and Florence Pittaway while in the lounge and John told us all about it. I promised to post their picture in hopes their son will see it. Unfortunately, I have not had any luck with uploading pictures. I’ll try again, perhaps late at night when I’m not fighting with so many people for a signal.
So it looks like we’re in the “no news is good news” stage. The cruise is on course, and as far as I know, on time, to be at the Titanic site on the evening of April 14th. We’re having 25-hour days, due to setting our clocks back an hour every day, which is easier to do than the jetlag-producing five hours at-a-time. We are eating well, of course. It’s a cruise, after all. I’ll write up a separate post about the food. And that, folks, is all the news that’s fit to report.
Marlene Dotterer 