En Route To Antarctica Day 1

Last night we received a nice book and a map on Antarctica along with a music CD. This was in preparation for our journey to this unique continent.

Beginning today, we will have five consecutive days at sea before we arrive at the Falkland Islands. Five consecutive days is a cruisers dream as there are so many activities to take advantage of on the ship. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this coming week we will cruise near Antarctica.

Last night we had fairly rough seas and the captain maneuvered around the rough seas by going around 50 nautical miles out of our way. We are glad that he took this course of action. Even with that the seas were fairly choppy for most of the day.

We woke up early and had breakfast in the Lido Café. At breakfast we spoke with a fellow passenger and then we went to the Fitness Center. We stayed there a fairly long time since today is a sea day. Anne Marie worked out for about an hour on the Treadmill while Keith worked out for an hour on the Elliptical Machine. Afterwards, Anne Marie did stretching exercises while Keith worked out on the weight machines.

Later in the morning, we went to a lecture given by Diplomat Tex Harris on the “Clash of Visions in the Middle East: Pre-Surge and Post-Surge.” This lecture was very well attended as just about every seat was taken. Following the lecture we went to team trivia. Our team had a good deal of success today and finished in a tie for second place.

After trivia we went to the Sunday Jazz Buffet. The buffet includes so many different types of items from roll and bread, to seafood, to various meats, to a variety of salads to tables of deserts and fruits. We each had a plate of salad with seafood and then had fruit. We sat with two other couples; one originally from the United Kingdom and another couple from Reno, Nevada. We talked about a variety of items including tonight’s Super Bowl. The English couple is pulling for the Colts and the couple of Nevada is pulling for the Bears.

We prefer the coffee in the Bistro, which serves a variety of coffee and tea so we sat in the Bistro and each had a cup of coffee before walking around the ship. Later in the afternoon we went back to the Fitness Center and each of us took a short walk on the treadmill while we caught up on the news on the individual television screens.

W then went to see the movie: March of the Penguins, at the Hollywood Theatre. For those of you who have not seen this movie it is a documentary that follows the annual journey of emperor penguins to their breeding ground in Antarctica. Morgan Freeman narrates it and we enjoyed the movie.

By the time the movie was finished it was time to get read for dinner. This evening was originally supposed to be a formal night, including a cocktail party for past Crystal Cruisers, but given that tonight is the super bowl they change the evening attire to casual. The super bowl will be shown on the stateroom television sets but will also be shown in the Galaxy Lounge at 8:00 PM our time and will include hot dogs, popcorn and soft drinks. This evening’s restaurant theme remained the same and is French Night. Last evening, we asked our heat waiter, Bruno, if he would make Caesar Salad at the table for the entire table, although we do recognize that it did not originate in France.

This evening we will watch the Super Bowl although there are other alternatives on the ship from the movie Flyboys, which we hope to see another day, to a variety show including a juggling unicyclist and a cabaret act. Other activities include dancing to a live band or going to a lounge for piano music. We suspect that the majority of passenger’s will watch the super bowl.

Keith will be rooting for one of the teams but we will keep it a secret for at least now.

Keith & Anne Marie