We started off with breakfast in the MDR (Rio again opted for Windjammer buffet). Afterwards, we headed up to deck 9, where we met up with Rio for Walk For Wishes. Walk For Wishes is a fundraiser for the Make A Wish foundation ( http://wish.org/ ) that I believe is held on every RCI sailing (it has been on every one we have been on). Passengers who chose to participate donate $10 to Make a Wish (via the cruiseline). RCI matches that amount and also gives the passengers a t-shirt. Then, we all walk a mile along the top deck (4 laps in this case).
Our rule of thumb is that we ALWAYS to Walk For Wishes if there is a "wish kid" sailing with us. This is easy to know--if there is one the Make a Wish flag is flown on board. This second week we did have a young lady sailing with us (we saw her and her moms board in Civi--with their MAW shirts on, and saw her around the ship some)--so we knew we would be walking. It was a small but very nice group--and such a pleasant day for it:
During the walk, we struck up a conversation with a newly wed couple from Indiana whom we had met on their first night onboard (Civi). We enjoyed chatting and ended up finding a place in the shade on deck 10 and chatting another half hour or so. One of the most fun things about cruising is meeting all sorts of interesting people.
Heading back down to deck 9, Dave, Rio and I were roped into playing some silly pool games:
By the time we were down with that--it was lunch time. We headed down to the MDR, where the nice salad bar is always located on sea days. Marika and I were both a little disappointed in the salads. Many of the typical ingredients (including chicken, and the Ranch dressing I cannot get at home) were not there and they had all new staff trying to run it and not really up to speed yet (LOTS of new staff came on in Barcelona that second week and we mostly saw them shadowing the current staff in the dining room, and also cruise staff--but it seems this was a place they put them more to use). We had already ordered and I had said I would have the salad as my main entree, so I ended up with no protein at lunch.
After lunch, the schedule showed a cupcake decorating class at no charge in Latte-tudes. The kids and I headed there while Dave headed down to a Mixology class in the R Bar (which has a $20 charge, but was a lot of fun and included the 5 drinks you mix in class, so really it's a bargain). The kids an I started off playing Uno while we waited, and that degenerated into "card shuffling lessons" after a few minutes.
There was a table set up for the cupcake class, but no one ever showed up to run it. After waiting about 10 minutes, Rio asked the people behind the counter in Latte-tudes and they explained that no one ever signed up and it cost $30! Hmmm, I wonder if they would have more takers if the Compass told you you had to sign up ahead of time and told you it had a cost??? There were about 10 others waiting as well, and everyone headed off mumbling about the poor communication on this.
I was happy to be able to get down to the R Bar and take some photos of Dave's mixolgy class:
After which Rio and I headed up to the pool deck to laugh at the Sexiest Man competition, where we were not in the least bit surprised to find three of our Quest team members as three of the four judges:
There were at least ten contestants--the most I have ever seen--and most were willing to ham it up and be pretty silly (and about half were also of the build that really IS sexy!). Here are a couple shots of the mayhem to give you an idea of what it was like:
It was a lot of fun to watch. Afterwards, I headed back down to the R Bar, where Dave's class was just finishing and he and I enjoyed sipping the drinks he had made while listening to the guitar player:
From there, we met up with the kids in the theatre for another Q&A with the performers. With the exception of the dance captain, we had all different people this time--so it was really fun to learn the backgrounds of some others. The dancer from Italy did not even start to dance until he was 16! Wow!
By the time that was over, we had dinner and then stopped by the show. It was the same show as the week before--a Russian couple doing acrobatic type things. This is the kind of thing that i know takes a TON of talent and strength, but tends t not keep my interest long. This couple had much nicer choreography than most and we did enjoy it well enough the first time around--though we left early on this second week.
We also wanted to leave early to get SEATS on the edge in the Centrum for this week's performance of Seasons. Dave and I were able to get seats for ourselves, and Marika sat on the floor in front of us. It was funny, no one sat on the floor until she did and then almost immediately after she broke the ice, 10 or so others sat down.
The show was much more enjoyable with front row seats :)
Amy as Winter
Porter as Spring
Reece as Summer
and Leila as Fall
Heading back to the room, we ran into Andrea and Elisa who were celebrating Andrea's birthday! So, we did an about face and headed up to the Viking Crown Lounge for a while with them before turning in:
All in all it was exactly the kind of fun and relaxing day a sea day ought to be.
Up next, the lovely little beachside town of San Marinella, Near Civitavechhia.
--Hadley
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