Second day at sea

3 March 2015

Today was our second day at sea, and in the morning we sailed between Jamaica and Haiti, although we could see neither.  We enjoyed exploring the ship a little further, relaxed, and participated in some events.  At 11.15, we listened to an historical talk, Backstage at the White House, given by an insider, Mary Bates, who knew Bill Clinton personally.  In the evening, we were entertained by Claire Winkesteijn, the runner up in Holland's Got Talent.  We found a new place to eat lunch, the Aquaspa Cafe on Deck 12, which offered healthy alternatives like salads and raw vegs.  I had an almond smoothie there.  We finally accessed the Internet here for a few moments.   It's expensive at 79 cents a minute.

There were high winds today, and one side of the ship was closed for passenger safety, but, funny enough, the other side was open.  Later, up on the pool deck, my hat blew five metres into the air above me, and the wind rushed it to the port side, only to dump it between a woman and man sunbathing in deck chairs.  I thought I'd sacrificed my hat to the Caribbean Sea.

There is a jogging track on the pool deck.  Five laps is a kilometre.  Eight laps is a mile.  No one was running - only walkers.  I walked a mile, sweated, and took a swim.  I had previously thought if you swam in a ship's pool, you would not be conscious of any rocking.  But this is wrong.  The ship's rocking causes water movement in the pool that resembles the tide at a beach.  It pours to one side, and is then sucked to the other side as if controlled by the moon, like the tide.

Before we came on this cruise, many people told us that usually you forget you're on a cruise ship.  The sailing is very easy going, you become involved in whatever you're doing, and completely forget where you are.  And veteran Celebrity passengers have told us it's usually calm sailing these waters.  But on our particular cruise, we've been constantly reminded we are on a ship.  She's rocked the whole time.  Nothing bad, but the rockiness of the ship gives us no opportunity to forget we're on a ship.  The ship seems to 'hit bumpy bits'.  If you're standing somewhere, you feel suddenly you're falling to the left, other times to the right.  As you walk through the corridors, you sway from side to side like you're drunk.  If you were drunk, you would be hitting the walls and people as you passed them.  Passengers walking together through the corridors sway to the left or right in unison like trained animals.  My shirts hanging in the wardrobe of our cabin sway gently back and forth as if collectively the shirts are breathing.  Jean likes the rocking motion in bed at night.