Cheers!

Rockapella Cruise

Day 3 -- Monday, January 24, 2011

Fun Day at Sea

The alarm sounded at 6am, and Liz and I actually woke up with it.  Surprising, considering how tired we were when we went to bed.  Liz said that she thinks that the rocking of the boat made us sleep more soundly, like babies.  Aw, Pella should have sang lullabies to us in our room.  OK, starting that early in the morning, Sher!  Anyway, we called the Fitness Center because we were confused about what time the Sunrise Stretch was supposed to take place, due to conflicting information from 2 different documents.  Alas, it was too early in the morning, so nobody was at the center to answer the phone.  So we just walked over there for the earlier time, which ended up being the Abs workout, which I didn't want to do because I was already signed up for Yoga.  I overheard some people talking about drum corps.  I turned around, and saw that they were wearing shirts for the Reading Buccaneers.  I approached them and found out that they were on a drum corps cruise!  I was hoping that they would tell me that they'd be performing somewhere, but no.  It was just a vacation for them.  We talked a little bit of drum corps, and I was happy.  After they left, I looked out the window while Liz did the Abs class.  The fitness center is at the bow of the ship, so I got to see where we were headed.  I then joined Liz for the Sunrise Stretch, which was energizing.   

We then went up to the Sports Deck so that we could do some walking on the track.  I walked a mile with Liz, then left her to run at her own pace so that I could attend my Yoga class.  There were several other women in the class, and I think I did pretty well, considering that I hadn't done Yoga in a while.  At one point, one of the women said, "I don't think this is a beginner's class."  While Yoga is not the time to be competitive, I understood how she felt:  one of the women next to me was quite limber and was sitting on her head at one point, which I've never done.  It turns out that she's a Yoga Instructor herself, and while she was talking to our instructor, she asked if they did any Zumba.  None of the instructors on the cruise have been trained in it, and the guest offered to do one for free if there was available space and time, and the instructor was very open to it.  I never saw one announced though, so that was a bummer.  I heart me the Zumba.  :)  It's just as well, though.  The ship rocked a little bit while we were doing Yoga, which is why we didn't do a lot of balancing positions on our feet.  Zumba might have us falling down all over the place.  I found Liz and ate some breakfast before we walked around and  found Dan, whom was at a table for the Rockapella Group people to check in and find out what was going on for the day.  He asked how they should market for the next cruise, so we gave him some ideas, like posting pictures of this cruise on their website and on Rockapella's website, to show what a great time we're having.  We also gave ideas as to where we'd like to go for future cruises.   We then returned to the room to get ready for the rest of the day.

Liz and I met our cabin steward, Nelson.  He told us that he picked up the clothes that we had put out, and said they would be ready tomorrow.  Um, no.  They were only supposed to be pressed, not dry-cleaned, so they shouldn't take a full day.  He said that he would talk to the laundry people.  Liz and I freaked out a little bit, because our formal dresses were there, and tonight was formal night.

The Food

I went to Jenn's cabin to get her for the Food and Wine Pairing, and we walked up to the Emerald Room.  We had arrived earlier than most of the people, so we had a table front row center.  We each had five glasses, on top of a placemat which had circles on it that were labeled for each kind of wine that we'd be tasting.  There was also a plate for each of us, with little food samples.  I stress the word "little".  They told us to come hungry, and this was it?  We thought that maybe it was just for the first glass and they'd bring out more, but no.  The glasses, however, were more than just one sip's worth, so I guess we paid more for the wine than for the food.  That's fine, and to be expected, but then please don't tell me to come hungry.  The food, by the way, was made up of steak, fruit, salmon, cracker and cheese.  For each glass of wine, Silvilla, the sommelier, talked about the wine and the types of food that would go with it.  

Bananaman and the Wines

The wines:

• Val de Loire Vouvray (France)
• Nobilo Sauvignon Blanc (New Zealand)
• Beringer Chardonnay (USA -- Napa)
• Georges DuBoeuf Beaujolais Villages (France)
• Yellow Label Cabernet Sauvignon (Australia)

Of course, the wine snob in me felt that the decision to provide, of all the wines in Napa, a Chardonnay from Beringer was far too pedestrian, but I'm from CA and I know that there were a lot of other options for Chardonnay, and this was probably just the most reasonably-priced one they could find.  But maybe they could have found a different type of wine somewhere in Napa and found a Chardonnay from somewhere else...or just not have Chardonnay.  Whatevs.  I enjoyed all of the wines, but I mostly enjoyed, of course, the Nobilo and the Val de Loire.  I didn't always agree with Silvilla about what wine tasted better with the different food samplings, but that's probably just due to our having different palates.  Jenn had signed up for a tournament at the casino, so she left and I stayed to finish up my wine (except for the Chardonnay).   So, let's see: that 4 wines + not much food = Sherry is a goner.  I needed something to eat.  So I went to the Red Sail Restaurant and got myself...dessert.   It was an almond napoleon.  It was yummy.  It was not, however, filling, but I needed to be somewhere.

I somehow found my way to Bar Blue for the Rockapella Trivia contest.  I saw Karla sitting with MJ and Stacey, sat down next to them, and announced, "I'M DRUNK!"  I'm pretty sure that they weren't the only ones that heard that, but I was too busy giggling to notice.  I got comfortable and we were told to number our papers.  Yes, I messed that up quickly, but I was writing in pencil, so it was OK.  Don't judge.  I was actually so drunk that I, the PellaPusher, blanked out on the names of the guys in Rockapella.  Yes, the former members.  Yes, the current members.  I couldn't believe it:  I was staring at 2 of them and couldn't remember their damn names!  That concept, of course, made me giggle more.  Spelling counted, which didn't worry me, but JT offered some help:  "Scott has 2 Ts and no K."  June told us that Steve's mom used to dress him like Little Lord Fountleroy.  (I don't remember if this had anything to do with the questions, but June was not at the wine pairing with me).  Out of 52 questions, I got 15 right.  One of these days, maybe I'll see if I could have answered them better had I been sober.  But the questions were not all that easy.  Karla won the contest with 32.  Pella Posse in da house!!!  She won a signed Carnival Cruise t-shirt.  Stacey took 2nd place with 26, and won a Carnival towel.  MJ came in 3rd place with 25, winning a Carnival pen set.  I'm so proud of my friends!  

Ross and Drunk Sher

JT, Bananaman and Drunk Sher

We were advised that our trip to Belize was changed to Costa Maya because there was a problem with the tenders that would have provided us transportation from the boat to Belize.  Robert told us that it was OK because Costa Maya is 100% better than Belize in terms of beautiful beaches, restaurants, and shopping.  Well, OK, but now I don't get to go horseback riding, and the others don't get to go tubing.  Bummer.

Wendy gave Steve his cape, and he loved it.  He was even wearing it in the lobby after everyone left the Blue Bar.  
















I got to take pictures with Bananaman and Steve in his PellaPosse shirt.  Liz and I shopped for a little while.  I bought an aluminum water bottle and a Fun Ship Freddy pen.  Liz bought 2 purses (they were a deal for 2 of them).  We saw John and Christina in the store, and John graciously took a picture with me and Bananaman (finally!), and I was pleased that he, too, was wearing his PellaPosse shirt.  We returned to our cabin, and there were still no dresses.  Uh-oh.  

Sher, Bananaman and John shopping

We went to the Platinum Dining Room for Tea Time.  We were pretty much sitting with the same people that sit at our table at dinner, which wasn't planned, except for the PellaPosse part of us. We were allowed to choose whatever flavor of tea that they had in bags, and the runners brought dessert carts around for us to choose some goodies.  We were also given a little salmon appetizer.   I chose Chai Tea, a fruit tart with lots of chocolate, and a chocolate filled meringue cookie.  I asked for milk.  So did others at our table.  The waiter brought milk and poured it, but would not leave it on the table so that we could pass it around.  Was there some kind of milk shortage?  Is this not a TEA event?  Do you people not drink milk in your non-herbal tea?  What?!  We giggled every time someone asked for milk and watched as they provided the milk and took it away.  Why didn't they just take the sugar away while they were at it?  OK, I'm hearing you reasonable types providing some explanation like they didn't want the milk to get warm at the table during the course of the afternoon.  But the tea lasted no longer than 90 minutes, and don't you think that, after 3 people at the table ask for milk, MAYBE we'd be able to use most of whatever's in the little carafe-thing?  They weren't huge bottles of milk.  It was ridiculous.  But we survived, and had a good laugh at it, because I'm pretty sure that I was still tipsy at the time.

Jeff choosing his tea.  Note the absence of milk on the table.

After our low-milk tea, we all walked to Guest Services to make our plans for Costa Maya.  I decided to go to the Mayan Ruins, and so did the rest of us, except for Jenn.  There were two excursions to the ruins, and Jeff & Wendy chose the one that took more time, while the rest of us chose the other one.  We went up to the place where they posted all of the professionally-shot photos.  JT had a pic with 2 bags of money, which was really cute.  I ended up buying it on the last evening, since nobody else had done so.  


We decided to try out the sushi bar, which was closed.  WTF?  I need protein, people!  So Liz and I went to Red Sail to get something at the buffet.  While we were walking around, looking for the sandwich station, we saw Fred walking with a plate of pizza.  I asked him if he'd like us to join him, and he said yes.  So we found the sandwich station, and I got a grilled cheese sandwich.  They didn't have cheddar, so I had provolone.  It was weird.  I lamented the non-cheddaryness.  As we walked back to the tables, we saw MJ with Ross, JT and Tim.  I told them that we were joining Fred, and MJ incredulously said, "Fred's OUT?!"  


So we joined Fred at his table outside.  Fred talked to us more than he ever had before, in all of the times combined.  (He's usually talking to Karla after concerts).    Fred used to play guitar and organ for his high school band, The Dudes.  (This was a trivia question earlier in the day).  He showed us an old picture of them.  I don't remember why, but he also talked about a lady almost falling out of her blouse.  (I never think that Fred notices that stuff).  He said that he used to wear Hawaiian shirts before it became "the thing", then switched to plaid when Hawaiian shirts became too popular.   He would not be wearing a tux to dinner, just an Oxford shirt and pants.  APPARENTLY, he only wears tuxes for weddings and funerals, although I wonder if he meant that he wears a suit, because I've never seen anyone wear a tuxedo to a funeral.  Later, JT would tell us that the Oxford shirt is "the dressiest shirt that Fred has".   Fred and his wife, Fran, honeymooned in Cozumel (our destination for the next day), and went to the ruins in Tulum.  Aerosmith happened to be in the movie studio at the time Young Frankenstein was being filmed.  They saw them do the bit of "walk this way" and then they went home and wrote their song "Walk This Way".  No, I do not remember how all of this conversation linked together.  Perhaps we were freely associating.  All I remember is that we were having a good time talking to Fred.

Bananaman and TowelDog

We parted ways with Fred for the time being, and Liz and I searched for a shopping card for the next day.  The desk where we were supposed to get it was closed, so I went back to the cabin while Liz waited.  I was happy to see that our beautiful dresses were hanging there, wonderfully pressed.  Thanks, Nelson!  He had made our towel in the shape of a dog.  I journaled for awhile before getting gussied up for dinner.  






Dressed in our fancy formal wear, Liz and I met up with the others to take pictures.  Yes, you read that right:  Liz voluntarily got into pictures.  The background that we chose had a photographer that didn't know how to get 7 of us into the picture, so that was frustrating, and we just ended up with Wendy & Jeff in one picture, and the rest of us in the other one.  Oh, well.  We walked up to the Upper Platinum Room for dinner.  Wendy wasn't feeling well, but she was a trouper and stayed at dinner for as long as she could.  Scott showed up!  He said, "Sherry, you look beautiful!" and I tried not to fall over.  Karla wanted all of us to get pictures in our formals with the guys, but that didn't happen, which was a bummer.

Fred Sandwich

Flirty Flirty Eyes sat at our table, between Terri and me.  We had a great time talking to him.  His mom is French Canadian, so she speaks French.  Steve's dad makes up words to pretend that he's speaking French.  Steve said that he got Rockapella's call the day before he received a job offer from Norwegian Cruise Lines.  I told him, "We're happy you took this one."  He said, "Me, too."  He told us that he was the first white guy in The Lion King Celebration at Animal Kingdom. I told him about my writing a letter to Disneyland regarding their casting of a white Jasmine.  We also talked about my writing to them about getting rid of the Magic Kingdom Korps.  I told Steve that he looks like Aladdin.  He said that he wants to see the stage show of "Aladdin" because he heard that it was really good.  I told him about Jasmine's new song.  Yes, folks, I somehow managed to stay focused on what Steve was saying to me instead of being mesmerized by his FFE.  

Aren't we a vision of loveliness together?  ;)

We made plans for the next day's race before Wendy needed to leave.  Steve took pictures with us at the table and almost said "I go both ways" when posing with me and then for Terri.  Terri had made cool mini collage postcards for each of the guys.  Karla was very happy to be sitting next to Fred at dinner.There was some confusion about the table seats, because we weren't sure which of the fans, besides the Posse, were supposed to be at our table.  Steve had ordered wine, so he had to sign a receipt to pay for it (alcohol is not included in the all-you-can-drink stuff).  He noticed, though, that he had been given the wrong receipt.  He said out loud, "This is for Room 4210, and I'm in Room 4201."  OK, so now we all know his room number.  ;)

Jill and Sher double-fisting martinis

APPARENTLY, I had not had enough alcohol, because I convinced Jill to join me at the Martini Tasting.  We decided to share, since they provided 4 glasses.  We chose Melontini, Raspberrytini, Mangotini and Chocotini.  The last 2 of those were my favorites, though we drank it all.  We met Carla and Cecilia, whom were hilarious, as well as 2 other women.  Cecilia said that she wants to go to Alaska because they have 8 men to every woman there.  She said that she didn't mind the cold with 8 warm bodies around her.  They talked about some creepy guy that tried to hit on them.  Some other ladies arrived and talked about the same creepy guy that tried to hit on them, describing him as a balding guy with long white hair in the back.  I guess the guy gets around, because the bartender knew exactly who they were describing.  We all laughed and wondered what poor soul was garnering the creepy guy's attention at that moment.  When the tasting was over, I bid adieu to Jill and all of the other entertaining women, and went to bed.  Yes, in my own stateroom.  No, not with the creepy guy.


Next up:  Cozumel