Saturday, May 21
We rocked and rolled all night and continued
to rock and roll all day. Opening the curtains in our cabin we could see some
wetness on the balcony and glass door. Recalling our breakfast was delivered
early when we had ordered room service before, we got up 15 minutes early to
make sure we were dressed enough to answer the door. Again, breakfast arrived
15 minutes early. After having some food, Laura went back to sleep, napping for
another two hours while I wrote, read, and played games on my iPad and laptop.
As we got ready for lunch I randomly looked
out the window at the large whitecapped waves and am surprised to see 30 or
more porpoises “surfing” and jumping out of our wake. “Laura! Come here!” She
rushed to the window in time to watch this happen at least two more times
before the pod faded behind us. Amazing.
During the cruise we pass through five time
zones, going from EDT to GMT. I’m not sure exactly where and when we cross into
those time zones, but going east from New York they choose to set clocks ahead
at noon, starting lunch service then at 1 pm. This happens, obviously, five
times over the course of the eight-day cruise. On the return, we’ve read, they
add an hour during the night, rather than doing it at noontime.
Each day at noon the Captain makes a general
announcement, informing passengers of the ship’s location, how many nautical
miles we’ve traveled and have left to go, what the weather is, etc. Today, in
the midst of our storm, he came on to tell everyone that the Queen Mary 2 can
handle these conditions “quite comfortably.” He mentioned, as we could see, we
were all “quite comfortable.” He said this phrase a few times, as though if he
said it enough he might convince everyone it was so. This ended up becoming a
running joke for Laura and I. Every time something was a bit off, or as the
storm progressed over the following days and we’d lose our balance walking down
the hallway or stepping out of our bathroom, we would comment on how we were
“quite comfortable.” We’d snigger each time.
Finally, Laura got up and we staggered down
to the dining room for lunch. Laura has this aspiration to have a “day in bed.”
We’ve talked about this as a goal for a few years and I had told her before we
went on this trip that the best possible time to do such a thing was while we
were at sea crossing the Atlantic. We had planned a day mid-crossing to have
all three meals delivered to our stateroom. Today would have been the day. But
we learned that the room service menu after breakfast was really quite limited
to only a few items, plus Laura didn’t feel confident that the menu was “safe.”
So our “day in bed” plans were out the window by lunchtime. Lunch was good.
Each day the Head Waiter brings lunch and
dinner menu for the next day, along with a pen. Laura is told to “do her
homework” and she ponders the menu, circling what she wants. The kitchen staff
then ensure her meals are without cilantro or HFCS. She feels much more at ease
with this scenario. I’m glad she can relax and not worry.
After lunch, we end up in the pub, sitting by
a large window, watching the storm and the huge waves rolling off the hull of
the ship. A wave breaks over the window of our Deck 2 view and Laura makes a
small squeak in surprise. We laugh at this. Laura draws and works on fashion
designs. I play games on my iPad. Eventually two other couples come and sit at
chairs near us and it’s trivia time, an organized game run by the entertainment
department. We are told the Brits are quite fond of trivia and very good at it.
Since we sucked a few days previously when we got roped into a game we decide
to ignore this one, but quickly get roped in again to help. I screw up at least
one answer for sure. The ocean waves completely obscure the window at least
twice more. We stay in the pub for a few hours, relaxing and just hanging out.
Finally we return to our room and Laura
began to get ready for dinner. This is what we do: nothing, dress, eat,
repeat. We headed down to dinner where I preordered “A Taste of India” and
have a nice lamb curry. Our friends from Newport with the dog join us and we
have a nice conversation, eventually leading us to the champagne bar on Deck 3
where we all have a nightcap before Laura and I excuse ourselves to turn in.
Back in our stateroom the ship is really
rocking and rolling. Laura pointed out how there’s no rhythm to the motion and
she’s absolutely right. It’s a random series of vibrations, bumps, rolls,
pivots, and swirls. It’s like the bottom center of the ship is on a pivot point
and we roll and rock in any direction. Sometimes the motion is rather extreme.
As we climbed into bed we joke about needing a large Velcro strap to hold us in.
Our cabin creaked more than it did the night before and the sounds and thumps
and moans of the ship are more frequent, louder, and closer than they were
before.
Both of us had a hard time getting to sleep
and between the motion and the creaking we both slept very fitfully.
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