Day 10-BA5 takes the lead
At sea…dinner at Savor Restaurant…
We saw MALEVO tonight…
7/1/22. Friday - At Sea
-1:00-3:00 - “Nick” the A/C Clinic repairman/owner calls me directly and says he will “replace the condenser” tomorrow, 7/2/22. At this point, my family has gone almost 30 days without air conditioning, in the desert, during the hottest months of the year. “Nick” gives me no options regarding days or times for the repair. Instead, he simply tells me he will be at my house tomorrow, on SATURDAY, 7/2/22, at 8:00 a.m. That’s it – take it or leave it.
L. and I don’t step out of our cabin until late in the day. Mom joins us and here begins my neverending quest for…tampons. Yes, it seems my period started when it wasn’t supposed to and I have just two tampons in my purse. Mom, L., and I stop at the gift shop to see if they have any, but because of the “supply chain” on account of Covid, there aren’t any. If you can explain how Covid is somehow related to my inability to procure a box of tampons, please let me know. I fail to see the connection, but these days, the ambiguous “supply chain” is blamed for everything. The gift shop employee confirms that there are no tampons anywhere on the ship. great.
To make matters worse, Mom actually pointed out some tampons at the airport - she had them in her hand!! - but I couldn’t be bothered to buy the box because I was engaging in magical thinking and was certain I would NOT get my period on this trip, even though I felt it coming on. Who knew that would be the last box of tampons Mom or I would ever see in my lifetime?
We’re walking all over this ship and almost none of the passengers mask. Again, like I said earlier, EVERY employee wears a form-fitting mask that never slips…they also NEVER take them off, not even when they’re on break. Why are the employees so fastidious about this? Is it company policy? If yes, why does company policy only apply to the staff and NOT the passengers? It’s a little creepy seeing EVERY employee masked when NONE of the passengers are masked. Do the employees know something that we don’t? At least the ship is well-ventilated. Most of the sections are open to the sea breeze and I’m freezing the majority of the time…but there’s still A LOT of people on this cruise. If someone contracts Covid, it’s going to spread like wildfire…
Mom, L., and I are down for sushi so we try Teppanyaki, the Japanese restaurant, on Deck 6. It’s closed. In fact, L. and I will spend the entire cruise trying to eat at Teppanyaki only to discover, each time, that it is mysteriously closed. Mom makes it in once…me and L.?…never.
3:00-4:30 - Because Teppanyaki is closed, we head to the Garden Cafe Buffet, only to find that it, too, is closed. The Buffet closes from 3:30 to 5:00, but this early in the cruise, I don’t know how anything works yet. In fact, during this small window of time, NOTHING is open except O’Sheehan’s Bar and Grill. O’Sheehan’s is the only restaurant open 24/7 on the Escape, so we go there.
I will say the food sucks. L. gets the “pretzel buns” and a “Mudslide” because she says she’s always wanted to try a Mudslide. I get some lackluster chicken sandwich and a glass of champagne. The “house” champagne throughout the ship is primarily Lamarca, which I’m not a fan of…HOWEVER, Mom scored EXCELLENT drinking packages for all of us and because Lamarca is free, I readily forget how much I hate it and I ‘DRINK UP, YO!!!” the entire cruise. Besides, there’s really no such thing as bad champagne is there? In fact, in life, there’s nothing better than champagne! Because of my Mom, I order champagne with abandon everywhere I go on this ship and it’s incredible. Thanks Mom!!
I take a few bites of the chicken sandwich and stick to the fries…which are just okay.
4:30 - 6:00 - After awhile, I give up on food all together - we’ll be meeting up for dinner soon, anyway - and Mom, L., and I part ways. L. and I find the spa and use the passes M. convinced us to get. For whatever reason, L. and I are fascinated by the heated stone beds scattered throughout the enclosed deck, but by “stone”, I do NOT mean mystical river rocks found in the Himalayan mountains and blessed by a monk, or whatever… These are heated cement lounge chairs. I keep my clothes on and lie down - the cement is very warm and it feels so nice…for about a minute because… I’m lying on cement! After 30 minutes, my bones are literally screaming and every joint that’s in contact with the lounge chair feels bruised. Why are these stone beds such a novelty? And yet…they are! :-) I come back to these beds repeatedly throughout the cruise. They’re just so warm…
Somebody behind me is snoring super loud on a regular lounge chair and it’s so irritating. I look behind me and it’s…my brother. I wake him up and say, “Hey, you’re snoring really loud.” He says, “Oh”, and in one fluid motion, like origami, unfolds himself into a standing position, rises out of his lounge chair, and walks away. He’s just…gone. No “bye”, no nothing. Where is he going? I find out later he went back to his cabin. Eventually, L. and I leave the spa and head to our cabin, too.
7:00-9:00 - We all meet up at our cabins and walk down to Taste? Savor? These two restaurants are interchangeable in my mind by the time the cruise is over, but the food is incredible! I eat whatever I want because I don’t give a f—k. I’m on vacation! More champagne, please. Keep it coming!
9:30-10:30 - “Tonight’s Entertainment Lineup” as featured in the Freestyle Daily is Malevo. On this cruise, passengers aren’t allowed to simply show up at the Escape Theater for the show. You have to get tickets, even though they’re free. Somehow, M. got the memo regarding this fun fact, we decided which shows we would attend as a family, and M. got the tickets.
This is how Malevo is described in The Freestyle Daily.
“Malevo specializes in Malambo - a traditional Argentine fold dance of great virility and dexterity - and seeks to take it beyond its limits with a modern, avant-garde and transgressive aproach, merging it with other dance styles like flamenco and urban percussion. After being named an official ‘Cultural Ambassador to the National identiry of Argentina” and on the tail of numerous successes including events and performances in Las Vegas, NY, Dubai, paris, Cairo, St., etc…”
Translation: Young, hot, Argentinian men, with their shirts off, dancing… they’re incredible.
The Escape Theater is packed. Out comes my mask and i wear it during the entire show. Nobody else bothers.
10:30-11:30 - After dinner, L. and I explore almost the entire ship - we see one of the Molevo hot dancers hanging out at a lone table by the pool - and end up at Cellars Wine Bar, where we order drinks and talk. L. tends to go for those fruity numbers…like pina coladas or s—t with umbrellas in them…you know the kind…it’s like drinking punch, but whatever. Back in California, L. is always on the move and never home, so it’s nice to have this one-on-one time with her, especially since she can’t go anywhere. She’s stuck with me…on cruise. :-)
11:30-1:30 - The bars on cruise have early “last calls” - 12:00 am. L. and I return to our cabin. We have an excursion tomorrow - Santorini and a Selfie - so I try to get some sleep, but I’m not successful. What’s new?