Day 5 – Another Sea Day
A slow and leisurely pace, sailing off to Jamaica, mon.
But another lesson I’ve learned is that sea days can be very expensive… souvenirs from ship, specialty coffees, extra drinks, and more time in the casino. So in your planning, Peg, you need to keep that in mind (heaven forbid I were to win the transatlantic on the QM2. Can you imagine how expensive that would be??)
We outlined the things we wanted to do on board, wandered around a bit, played some trivia games (that we were lousy out), and just relaxed; with tea in the afternoon, of course.
This would be a good time to introduce you to some “new friends” we made among the crew especially in the casino!
But first let me start from the top –
The day before when the Captain cancelled Grand Turk, he encountered John and the two became mutual maritime mates! But this sea day was my opportunity to meet
Captain Roberto Volpi
Captain was in the casino enjoying an after dinner drink – conversation started with John about shipping and sailing in northern waters. Well, those slot machines were calling to me and I had no idea what the guys were talking about, so I wandered off. Try my luck at a friendly one-armed bandit.
David Harrop
Casino Host
Our casino hosts for the cruise were Lorraine and David from South Africa. Just in everyday conversations we got to know them fairly well. David is originally from England, but most recently from South Africa. he said that he anticipates being transferred to another ship before too long; probably the Dream. That’s a much larger ship so I would imagine he’ll have his hands full if indeed he does go there.
Lorraine on the other hand is from Johannesburg South Africa. It was so interesting to talk with them about various aspects of life there. Lorraine and her husband (a dealer on the Legend) have two small children at home with her mother. That must be incredibly difficult for both parents to be away — not unlike our own military life, but at least there was one parent at home. For personal reasons that she told us, I doubt that she will be on the Legend should we return at any time soon. She will be missed.
With the extra sea day thrown in when we could not go into Grand Turk, what would normally be some off-time for David and Lorraine suddenly became a full day of work. They looked so tired by the end of three sea days in a row, but they never lost their good spirits and sense of humor.
The only way aft and forward on this ship is to go through the casino, so often there were children passing through. At one point I looked at some kids running through just about knocking people down:
Don’t you just love children?
Yes, but I can never eat the whole thing!!!
Past Guest Party
On this day we also had the Past Guest Reception (there’s another name for it, but I can’t think of it). They invite everyone who has sailed on Carnival before to a reception in the Follies Lounge. They serve free drinks and hors d’oeuvres. This is a photo of the band playing on the stage. They had a female singer and they also brought people up on stage to dance. John and I obviously didn’t go up there…we don’t technically “dance,” we just shuffle around a bit and look happy! Capt. Volpi came out at one point and welcomed everybody and then the Cruise Director Wee Jimmy took over. Wee Jimmy is not all that great in my opinion, but we have so little to do with the Cruise Director that my opinion really doesn’t matter. He does announcements everyday on the PA system, but if you’re in the cabin you really can’t hear them. I was impressed later when I learned that he had been attending the Menorah lighting ceremony each evening. Carnival said they would have that in addition to the Christmas festivities, but I thought it was extremely thoughtful of Wee Jimmy to help out and attend.
Okay…so on this day, John is quietly sitting in the casino, sipping on his favorite adult beverage, when his slot machine went into a bonus. Just a fun little bonus where the wheel spins and lands on an extra prize for you. When he hit this >>>>>>>>>>
The man almost feel out of his chair.. it took several seconds for his heart to start pumping again… and to realize that it was “pennies” not “dollars.” Even at that it’s a pretty good haul on a penny machine!!
Merry Christmas, Peg…Isn’t John a nice man????
That was enough excitement for one day! The next day we were scheduled to be in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We had an excursion planned for 8:45 am and my only concern was the length of the pier. Depending on what order the ships come in, if you’re stuck in the back, it can be a rather long walk (or so I’m told) for an old chubby like me. More on that in my next installment of
Working to Support My Cruising 
This entry was so great and you two looked like you were having such fun!! I was especially glad to see the Afternoon Tea, as this was one of my selling points to my mother about taking a cruise! Well, after seeing all of this I have to say I now want to take a Christmas cruise.
Thank you so much, Barbara, for your kind words. This Christmas cruise was the highlight of my holidays. It is difficult to do, because everyone wants you to be with them during the holidays; but it is something that should be done at least once in a lifetime. Words cannot describe the solitude and peace of Christmas Eve on the deck of a ship at sea.
Hi Peg…thanks for sharing your adventures!! We were on the Legend back in January and had a wonderful time. We did a brother and sister cruise, since we don’t get to see my brother and sister-in-law as much as we would like too.
I see your booked for the Fantasy. She is an older ship but has a great crew on board. Hope you plan on spending a day or two in Charleston before your cruise. She is a beautiful city to explore.
If you haven’t booked hotel arrangements already and you were planning on doing so, check out http://www.charlestoncvb.com They usually ave some good stay/play packages and hotel offers.
Happy Sailing…Grace
Thank you, Grace, for your comments. We’re going to try different ships, but everytime I think of the great time we had on the Legend, I would love to go back again. We are going to go into Charleston early and visit some of the great places that have been suggested. We’re staying at the Doubletree which looks great. On some photos of downtown taken from the ship, you can see the hotel just a few blocks away. Happy sailing to you also and stay safe.