Day 7 - Sea Day

Well, we are officially at the 1 week mark of our trip - with more than 2 weeks still to go! Today was our first sea day, and we were definitely ready for a nice relaxing day. We started our morning with an "ultimate balcony breakfast" courtesy of Ed & Michelle - thanks you two! This meal, delivered to your room, consists of more food than two people could eat in a week, let alone in one meal (see photo). What we were able to eat was delicious, but we had to save the champagne to enjoy another day!



After breakfast, we headed off to a Zumba! class they were offering. What a hoot! I'm officially sure that neither Andrew or I have any Latin roots, but we sure had a good time flailing around with all the old ladies who also showed up. The class was only 30 minutes long so we headed off to the gym for a good hour afterwards.

By the time we finished at the gym and showered, it was time for lunch! Today the ship was offering a British pub themed lunch in one of the bars on the ship. Andrew had fish & chips with mushy peas and I had Ploughman's lunch, which is pate, smoked meat, cheese and Branston pickles on a crusty roll. I fell in love with Branston pickles when I was in Australia so was very excited to be reunited with them again!

After lunch, we headed to the main theatre to hear a lecture on the history of Naples and Rome, our next two stops. It was very interesting and made us even more excited for the sites we are about to see! From there, we went back to the the room with two hours to spare until dinner. Andrew had a little nap and I washed out our gym clothes in the sink and hung them out on the balcony to dry. We are officially hillbilly cruisers, but I knew that rope we packed would come in handy for something! You can take the girl off the farm...


Tonight was our first formal night, so we took some extra time to get ready before heading to dinner at 5:30 pm. We like to eat relatively early so we don't have to go to bed stuffed! Dinner on the ship is a leisurely process and usually takes about 90 minutes. Tonight, Andrew had halibut and I had Cornish game hen. The food on this ship is fine, so far, but not any better than Carnival, and maybe even a little worse. Fortunately, the sheer volume tricks people in to thinking otherwise!

After dinner we had some photos taken by one of the onboard photographers. That is the first time we have done this on one of our cruises. They will be ready tomorrow, so we'll let you know how they turned out. Some of the poses were a little cheesy for our preference, but hopefully one or two will turn out nice. We also had one of our fellow passengers take a photo with our camera, which you can see here...





Finally, we capped the evening off with the Captain's Party. This is an event that they have on every ship on the first sea day where the Captain introduces himself and his senior officers/staff. They serve free champagne and appetizers and it's fun to wander around and see everyone all dressed up. Because Princess is a more formal cruise line AND this is a transatlantic cruise, people are very dressed up - most men in tuxes and most women in evening gowns.



Now, we're back in the room getting organized for our stop in Naples in the morning. Looks like it might be rainy but we packed umbrellas and will see Pompeii no matter what!