I was awake for the first time just before 7:00. Graham was still asleep and after the circus the previous evening, I was still in no rush to face the world. I turned over and went back to sleep. We were both awake just before 09:00. We got up and ready. Then we headed down to Cafe Promenade for a light breakfast. We both had some coffee, a cinnamon roll, and a carrot muffin.
Once we had our breakfast, we headed to Sound Cellar for morning trivia. We scored 8 out of 15 and the winning score was 10. We made a quick exit and headed up to the Schooner Bar. One of my favourite trivia events was coming up at 10:30, which was airport codes trivia. Some of them were really obscure. There were 40 different airport codes, and we had to guess the country and the city. We scored 64 out 80, which I felt was pretty respectable. However, the winning score was 80.
After trivia, we went outside to get some fresh air. It was a horrible day with thick cloud and fog. It was also very windy and cold. We did not stay outside for very long. The irony was not lost on me that with this fog, we would not have been able to go to the glacier anyway. This early in the season, there is still a lot of floating ice near the glacier making this a dangerous proposition if there is reduced visibility.
We had decided that we would use some of our onboard credit for lunch at one of the specialty restaurants. My first choice was Izumi. However, when I went to check if they had availability for lunch, they advised me that they were fully booked. We then headed over to Giovanni’s Italian Kitchen and there we had our pick of reservations. We made a reservation for 13:00. I also checked if it was possible to make a reservation for lunch the following day as this was a different cruise. However, this was no issue. With this out of the way, we went to spend the rest of our onboard credit. As lunch at Giovanni’s Italian Kitchen is quite cheap, I had almost enough onboard credit left for two Spirit Jerseys. We headed to the shop with the Alaska stuff first. I wanted Graham’s input on which one to go for. I found another style that I somehow had missed the evening before. I ended up going with this. Then we headed to the logo shop where I got a generic Royal Caribbean Spirit Jersey.
We still had a little time until our lunch reservation. We used this time to sort out our photo package. I had marked a number of favourites on the app, but it did not show me how many photos I had picked. I could not be bothered to count them when I knew that the photo kiosks would provide this information. I picked my remaining photos. Then we headed over to Giovanni’s Italian Kitchen. We checked in and were shown to our table. This is when we met Clarice. She is from the Philippines and was our server that day. We did not know it at the time, but she would become an important part of our second cruise.
Once we were seated, Clarice brought water, the menus and a plate with garlic cheese knots, marinara sauce, and mixed olives. She took our drinks order at the same time. We both had a glass of Moscato. Graham had Giovanni’s house salad followed by spaghetti carbonara. I had the meatball gigante, with mozzarella, marinara sauce, Parmesan, and grilled bread followed by classic lasagna. We both had the pistachio panna cotta for dessert. Everything, including the service, was amazing.
Where Graham was sitting, there must have been a bit of a draft as he was feeling a little cold. He mentioned that he wished that he had brought a layer. I still had the bag with the Spirit Jerseys with me and offered to lend him one of those. Graham has always been bemused by my love of Spirit Jerseys. Since I got my first one in 2019, they have been my favourite casual tops. Let’s just say, he is now a believer. They are just so comfortable and soft.
After lunch, we headed up to the Seaplex. One of my favourite features of the Quantum class ships are the bumper cars. The last time prior to this that I was on Quantum class ship for my birthday cruise in 2024. At that time, I was still going through rehab for my arthritic knee and was still in some discomfort. Riding bumper cars did not seem like a smart move. Things have moved on and improved since then. I decided to chance it. The line did not look too crazy. In the end, I waited about 15 minutes for my turn.
While I was watching, I started to get worried. Across all sessions, most people seemed to struggle to get the bumper cars to move. There is always the odd person who struggles, but I have never seen it on this scale. I wondered if the bumper cars have seen better days. When it was my turn, I had no issues with getting my bumper car moving. While everyone else tried to get themselves sorted out, I did a U-turn and headed to the far end of the Seaplex. I pretty much had this area to myself and was gleefully zooming around. Only once did someone catch up with me and gave me a slight bump. Graham commented that he had wondered if I would struggle getting in and out of the bumper cars. This had not even crossed my mind and was not an issue. I was merely worried about getting hurt.
Once I had my turn, I took my Spirit Jerseys back to the cabin and picked up my iPad. Then we headed to the solarium. When we got there, all the round loungers were taken. We sat down on some chairs outside the Solarium Bistro, but shortly afterwards somebody vacated their round lounger, and we were able to move. It did not actually matter as visibility was still poor, but I was quite happy to just relax and read my book.
With about 30 minutes to go, we headed down to Sound Cellar for afternoon trivia. We scored 8 out of 20, but the winning score was only 9. Then we headed back to the cabin for a nap.
Neither of us was in the mood to get changed that evening. I just splashed some water on my face and brushed my hair. Then we headed to the dining room one final time. It was pretty empty that evening. We both had a glass of the Chateau Ste Michelle Riesling. Graham started with the vegan pan-seared asparagus, white bean hummus and a hazelnut-basil pesto drizzle. He then had the autumn turkey dinner and finished dinner with warm apple cobbler with ice cream for dessert. As this was my last chance this cruise, I started with the French onion soup. I then had the spaghetti bolognaise. I had Crema Catalana for my dessert. We chatted with our serving team for a bit. Then we gave them their tip envelopes and headed out.
We went to the Pesky Parrot for a post dinner drink. Graham had a Monkey Business again. I had a Tiki’Mosa, which consisted of pineapple rum, lime and orange juices, passion fruit and orgeat syrup, and sparkling wine. This was delicious. While I enjoyed my drink, I downloaded my photos. I also quickly picked up the free print that I had ordered. Then we headed upstairs to the solarium for a while.
Things had brightened up a bit, but there was still no chance of a sunset. Still, I was quite happy to just chill on a round lounger for a bit. Once the light started to fade, we headed downstairs to our cabin. We got a ready for bed. I read for a while and then I went to sleep.
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