Cruising the Florida Straits
Today we start our 1,200 nautical journey to Cartagena by cruising off the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula. We passed Key West, where we were supposed to stop on the original schedule. Don’t know why it was excluded from the cruise but it was. General the straits of Florida are accepted as being between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, and between the Florida Keys and Cuba. The morning began with breakfast in the cabin. Actually it began with my walking to the coffee station and getting my morning facsimile of a cappuccino.
It has been a month since the last manicure and pedicure, and yesterday an appointment was made at the Serene Spa & wellness Center for the same. On with the AirPod Maxs and off to the 9 am appointment. Mary was attending the 10 am Speaker Series: The Panama Transit Part One with Terry Bishop. Looking out the window Cuba passed by. By dinner time we were somewhere off the coast of Haiti heading to the Caribbean Sea. Surfing the night we will cross the Caribbean to reach Cartagena in the morning.
It had just gone a quarter to 11 when the spa treatment was finished. This coincided with the speaker finishing, so Mary and met in our suite. We decided to do her laundry before heading to lunch. The laundry isn’t Italian slow but it did seem to take a long time. La Veranda, the informal buffet style restaurant at the aft (rear end) of the ship, was the destination for lunch. There are a lot of choices, pizza, vegetarian rice dish, little sandwiches, roast turkey, and much more.
We both opted for the roast turkey and cranberry sauce, it is one of our favorite meals. Something was just off however. The cranberry sauce didn’t “look” right. Meaning it wasn’t Nonna’s homemade cranberry sauce. But when in Rome….
The server asked what we wanted. Mary asked for dark meat. It really didn’t seem like the young woman carving the turkey knew where the dark meat was located. So, Mary switched her request to white meat. Honestly if anyone in the family carved the turkey the way this woman did, they would be disowned. We took our chunks of turkey and cranberry sauce to a seat in the dining area. Normally all the food is so good, but this turkey was dry and improperly slices with the grain. This made it tough. Additionally, it was very dry. The cranberry sauce had some physical resemblance to cranberry sauce, but it ended there. Vinegar is the best description that comes to mind.
The vegetable fried rice wasn’t bad. Not a whole lot of favor, but properly cooked and served. A dinner roll appeared with some butter to help round out the meal. Still slightly hungry a chocolate Sunday seemed appropriate. The vanilla gelato was excellent, and it paired well with the chocolate sauce. The meal wasn’t a total loss.
After lunch we headed back to the suite and promptly took a three-hour nap. The gentle rocking of ship and getting into the relaxed mind frame was really working. It was time for high tea upon arising from the nap. We headed to the Horizon Lounge for high tea. Today the high tea featured cheesecake. We enjoyed the regular and almond scone with Devonshire cream and strawberry jam.
After tea we headed back to the suite where Mary did her thing while I went to the Connoisseur Club for a cigar. The evening canapés were delivered while I was out. Tonight we had spring rolls and fresh fruit. We sat and played canasta, Mary won. I did my wash.
While the cruise does all your laundry for you, it just seems wrong. Why? Who knows. The did do my dress shirts for me. But the other things I can do myself. There were several different cocktail parties we were invited to, and we could have gone and seem the The Rave on’s, a rock n’roll group preform a tribute of Buddy Holly and the Crickets, but it just didn’t seem right.
We finished up the card game and called it a night. Just a relaxing day at sea. Tomorrow we are going to the “sit and be fit” seated exercise workout in the morning, and then the second half of the speaker series on the Panama Canal.
Buonanotte, Ciao Enrico
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