Tuesday – Shockingly, we are busy doing….wait for it…trivia today! We figure, what the heck?  We sit up in the living Room every morning listening to it, why not participate and get stamps for prizes?  So we do!  After our gym – strategically avoiding the sick guy who takes the middle treadmill and coughs his lungs out – and breakfast, we head for the Living Room for the first of 3 trivias!  Of course we are playing by ourselves, and while we do fairly well, we don’t win.  But we get our stamps!!

Then we hit the Master of Task game.  Well, we tried at least. There were only 3 of us, so we just told Jonya and Kaitlin to give us the stamps and go get coffee!  Perfect, they were happy!

Officer’s BBQ was next – and there was suckling pig!  Yum.  And the usual ribs and chicken and sausage and accoutrements.  Later we actually went to “Rock the Room” with Elle, the activities director.  Again – there was hardly anyone there. We ended up with 4 people on our team and 3 on the opposing team. It was cute and fun – we had to name the song and artist when we heard it and tell our team captain, one of the dancers, who then would run to the mic stand and shout out the answer.  Oh, and anytime we heard the song “Shout” the team that got up and danced first got extra points.  We were creamed. Even when we cheated and Izzy (our team captain) knew the answers for us!  The other team was the bomb with music!  Although we did get extra points for our rousing rendition of YMCA when Ed danced around the stage!  Fun, silly and exercise.  And stamps!

Plus a lovely time talking to Elle afterward about her job and the challenges and changes.  Quite nice.

Then the norm – gym, drinks, beautiful sunset, dinner – table #1, the honeymoon couple stole table #2 from us.  Sigh.  This is getting ugly.  Then drinks upstairs at the bar with Mark, and Gayle came up to chat.  On the way out to the show, we saw some of the officers eating, but they had just started and we really didn’t want to bother them, so we just walked on, running into Louis outside eating. He asked about the signatures, and then got his restaurant manager to take the sheets and get them signed.  So sweet!  So now we are down to just the hard ones – 1^st officer (who nobody seems to know!), Staff Captain, HR manager and the Hotel maintenance guy!  We’re getting there!

Show was great, Mark Donoghue, singer, instrumentalist. We’ve seen him before, and he is entertaining.  Then balcony and bed – we’re one hour forward tonight and want to hit the sack early to prepare for our busy sea day #2!

Wednesday – Same, same, no different.  Well sort of different.  Today we ditch the gym, coz the coughing guy is getting worse, not better. So we hit the walking track.  It is actually nicer being outside in the fresh air, so we decide we’ll just start walking in the morning. We can start earlier and don’t have to “break in” to the gym – and don’t have to deal with the typhoid man! 

At breakfast, I stalk an officer getting coffee, but he is 2^nd Officer Sam, and we don’t need his signature.  He looks at the signatures and is impressed with everyone we have so far. He gives me some tips and hints about finding Stoyan, the Hotel Maintenance Manager, and then he’s off to his bridge duty.  This is sorta fun, we get to meet so many different people!

Then it is onto trivia.  I stay through all 3, while Ed takes a break and goes to Dr. Kenna’s talk on touch in creating health.  And today we are going to the Q&A with Louis and Chef Jason instead of the Murder mystery game with Elle.  Maybe we’ll be brave enough to ask about the cost cutting and food quality…..not!

The afternoon is ours – blogging and walking.  Then the repeaters party, which we were not originally going to attend, but since we still need signatures……and success!  We actually stalk Staff Captain Roman and get his signature.  Sweet.  We’re down to the really, really hard ones now!  Then it is on to the officers’ dinner, and who hosts our table?  Staff Captain Roman!  We joke about the fact that I didn’t even need to stalk him for the signature.  He is delightful as are most of our dinner companions, but the table is a 10 top and so large, and it is so loud in there, I can’t hear anyone else’s conversation. 3^rd officer Shannon is there as well, and she is an absolute delight.  We actually end up staying there until almost 10pm talking! 

In between all the talking and eating, Louis is showing me where Stoyan is sitting and urging me to go get his signature. I walk over, but I really do feel like I’m stalking, and he is deep in conversation, so I just give it up. But then Sachin, our sommelier and I get to talking and he offers to take the paper over to Stoyan for a signature.  Score!  This game is hysterically crazy, funny and a little annoying to the officers I am certain!

Anyhow, it was obviously far too late to do anything after dinner, so we retire to the balcony in the heat and humidity (ick – that didn’t last too long) and then to bed.

Thursday – Another busy day at sea – for real!  We eschewed the gym again and just walked the upper deck. Much nicer than the gym actually, there is a great breeze and it isn’t quite as hot as it has been.  Then breakfast, where success!!!  I stalk Sam while he is getting coffee again and ask him for hints about where to find Antonio.  He says he is mostly downstairs or on the bridge. We end up in a big discussion about where Antonio will and won’t be, and it turns out that Sam and Antonio have the same Bridge watch.  So I slyly say that maybe I can give Sam the papers to take to Antonio and I can meet him after his shift.  And he agrees – but says he’ll be right back.  The sweet guy literally runs to the Bridge, gets the signature and runs back.  If I didn’t absolutely adore him before, I do now! 

Then of course, Trivias.  There was a conflict with the Doctor, and the subject didn’t look interesting, so we just stayed in the living room – albeit with a brief trip down to the medical center…..no….not for anything serious!  For the Doctor’s Signature!!!  LOL.  He looked at the sheets and said – oh, they are going to win the prize!  He was literally the last one we needed (except for Johnya who missed signing one sheet, but she’s easy to get).  Now we’re going to impress Elle with our persistence! 

After trivia, it is on to Tony Markey’s presentation about his experience aboard Silver Seas when pirates attacked the ship.  We are so sorry we never sailed with him when he was CD, the guy is a hoot!  And the presentation was really amazing – that must have been so frightening.  Just nuts!  Next up lunch, of course. And great bird wildlife up on deck – with Marcelo and his big time professional cameras getting far better shots than us – but it is still fun to try.

At 2 we have the equator crossing ceremony, which is fun as always, but not quite so extensive as on Pursuit.  The parade of King Neptune’s court is sweet, and then the prisoners – cadet Miguel and our own 3^rd officer Shannon – are absolutely adorable in their trial.  Marcelo and Louis are the butchers and seem to enjoy throwing the various goo at the Miguel, and then Shannon particularly gets it – and does a great dive into the pool!  Still totally fun to watch after all this time.

Next is Elle’s chat about life at sea.  She is the new activity director (read:  Guinea Pig) and is so much fun.  We could hang out with her forever.  Her chat is great and she talks about her time on Princess, and the COVID cruise where they were stuck on the ship for 3 months – with passengers!  Crazy times.  She also explains a lot about her duties here with Azamara.  This purchase and transition is getting more and more interesting….in good and not so good ways.  Elle being one of the good ways!

Back to the gym, drinks, then lots of time on the balcony enjoying the antics of the Frigate birds that have been trailing us all day long.  They are fascinating to watch.  And then – a rainbow!!!  It doesn’t even look like it is raining on the horizon, but it must be because a big old rainbow materializes and then disappears right before our eyes.  Some of the best parts of being at sea!

Dinner – yay – table #2!! – then drinks with Mark and then with Adie as we listen to the fabulous band.  Then it is balcony time – the weather is changing and it is quite pleasant now!  Onto the Northern hemisphere and spring.  Yes.  Life is good.  Sea day #3 is in the history books!