Cruise 2010 - First Sea Day

Our first full day at sea began around 6:30am.  It's the mommy in me - I am now wired to wake up at dawn thanks to my pesky children.  But no worries, because while Lance slept I read for a while out on our balcony.  

This was my early morning view:

Isn't that just lovely?  The water was an even prettier shade of blue; the camera doesn't do it justice.  Even at the end of the cruise I was still always taken aback by just how vast the ocean is.  And you could see so far, I swear you could see the curvature of the earth.

I was reading this:

I would highly recommend it to anyone.  I read all three books of the trilogy during the cruise, and they were all great.  (But the first was the best.)  Easy to read, fast, but still made you think a little, if you wanted to - perfect cruise reading.

Here's the view down the ship from our balcony.  

We were pretty much dead center.  We were also on the highest level for balconies, which meant we could see down into other people's balconies, but no one could see into ours.  This was fun for people watching, but also a little dangerous; I don't think Lance and I will ever forget seeing "Fat-Harry-Smoking-Shirtless Guy", no matter how much we try.

We had a little table, perfect for propping up feet.  These feet are saying, "We realllly need a balcony like this at home."  Also, "It's 9am - time for some breakfast!"

Most of our day at sea could be summed up in the following conversation:

Me: What do you wanna do?

Lance: I dunno.  What do you wanna do?

Me: I was thinking of hitting the buffet, reading a bit, and then have a long nap.

Lance: Perfect.  That was exactly what I was thinking.  This is why I married you.

Me: I know, right?

Or something like that.

In case you think we are completely boring, we also threw in some swimming, getting lost around the ship, and buying some more outrageously priced soda.  Since we were so lazy I forgot to take any pictures around the ship.  But here are a few that I stole borrowed from online:

You could watch movies while you were swimming in that pool.  Cool, right?

And this pool was more for adults, which was nice.

(Side note: before going on the cruise I was a bit concerned about how crowded the boat would be.  I mean, with 3,000 passengers and 1,100 staff, who wouldn't wonder about it?  But I never once felt crowded.  Sometimes it was hard to find a deck chair in the shade, but I never felt like I couldn't do something I wanted because there were too many people.)

Later in the afternoon we split up.  There was a ceramics painting area I really wanted to check out.  Lance would sooner jump overboard than do that, so he went to play some virtual golf.  (Which turned out to be fully booked, so he had to play basketball instead.  Sad.)

I decided to paint a birthday plate - as in, when it's you're birthday in the Madsen home you get to use the special birthday plate.  Let me first say that it truly was a choppy day at sea, which made things a bit difficult.  Plus, we were stuck in a stuffy, hot little corner of the deck.  And I hadn't eaten in almost two hours.  (Yikes!)  

I mean, it's not terrible, but it's certainly not as grand as the image I had in my head.  Oh well.  I'm sure if I hype it up enough it will still become coveted around birthdays.

That night was the first formal night for dinner.  (Usually you just wear something nice enough to wear to a regular restaurant; i.e., not your bathing suit or jeans.)  Anywho, I was pretty excited for formal evening mainly because we hardly ever have reason to get dressed up.  

Nice dresses!  Big hair!  Make-up!  Adults only!  Excitement!

This was also extra-special because Lance was going to wear the brand new suit I forced helped him to buy a few weeks earlier.  I don't know why, but that man hates buying new suits, which is silly because he looks so good in them.  Oh well.

I primped.  I preened.  I took my time getting ready.  

Lance napped and read some more.  Thirty minutes before we were supposed to go up to dinner he decided to get dressed.  

And that's when he realized he had forgotten to pack his dress shoes. 

Gosh dang it.

(Side note: Lance has a sordid history of forgetting stuff like that when he packs for himself.  Which is always, because I refuse to pack for a grown man.)

But no worries!  Princess Cruises are all about customer service!  So he went out in search of renting some shoes.  While he was gone I got bored and took some pictures of myself, mainly because I was having a pretty good hair day.

Big hair takes effort and time.  But it's worth it, right?

I was feeling pretty glamorous.  (G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S... foxy foxy...)

Sure, I wasn't wearing a true evening gown, but it was good enough.  (I just couldn't justify spending a bunch of money on a fancy dress I'd rarely have occasion to wear.)

These feet are saying, "It's time for a night out!"  Also, "Ouch!  This is why we don't wear heels very often!"

Lance got back and announced that his shoes would arrive in 10 minutes.  We waited.  And waited.

And I got more and more anxious.  And so did Lance.  And he tried to call the rental place again but couldn't get through.

And we waited and waited and finally it was 30 minutes past when we were supposed to be at dinner.

And I was mad.

I know, I shouldn't have been.  But any ladies out there who have gotten all dolled up know how much work that is and what a let down it would be to have done it for nothing.

Poor Lance.  I sent him down there to cancel the shoes, because what was the point now?  While he was gone I changed back into casual clothes and pulled my big hair back.  Sad.

Apparently there was some mix-up with the shoe rental guys.  They offered to let me yell at them, but Lance wisely turned them down.

We ended the evening with a decidedly casual dinner at the buffet and an early bedtime. 

I was not happy.  But now?  Now I just think it was dumb.  I shouldn't have been so grouchy about it.  Oh well.  (Sorry, Lance!)

The next day totally made up for it.