MITSUGIRLY sails off into the HORIZON-review & pictorial
Day 8: Sea Day
So now we had 2 sea days going back. I really love the cruises that are jam packed full of ports and very little sea days (which is why leaving from Puerto Rico is my favorite). We love to stay active and on the go all the time. But, since this was an 8 day cruise, that meant a total of 3 sea days...and the next 2 coming up.
We woke up around 10:30 am on Friday and planned on trying to find plenty of things to do to keep us occupied today.
Trixie and Cookie had made use of the glow lights I brought home from the party the night before. Sakari got a kick out of them.
We headed off to the buffet for breakfast and I went straight for the omelette station. It wasn't crowded at all and I was shocked since it was a sea day and everyone was on board. Maybe everyone else had just already ate breakfast earlier.
After breakfast we headed out to the pool area and they were having the "not so hairy chest" contest (at least in my opinion). They picked 3 ladies from the audience to be judges. The guys were being judged on their "hairiness" and "muscles and firmness" and I think ability to "woo" their judges by dancing and shaking their bods. I know a lot of people don't like this competition and say it's degrading or what ever the reason, but it's kinda hilarious to me. I like to cut loose and laughter is a great thing no matter who you are and these things do get funny.
Sakari decided she wanted to swim while everyone's attention was on the contest and games.
Even though it felt like we had just ate, Kendra had been up since very early this morning (remember she came back from Aruba and pretty much hibernated in her room nursing a sunburn and not wanting to move). So, she wanted to go to the noodle/pasta bar upstairs. It is only offered certain days and only certain times. It was already 2 pm and they closed at 2:30 pm. She talked me into going. The hubby stated he was just going to stay put in his nice comfy chair and would be there waiting until I returned. He said he wasn't hungry yet.
Off I went.
Now this is free during these lunch hours but in the evenings, it's an additional charge, and it's an Italian restaurant. So enjoy it while you can for free...
You get a menu and you check off everything you want on it.
The food was good but I still felt like I had just finished breakfast and wasn't able to eat it all. I took the rest of my noodles back to the hubby with me and he ate the rest ("I thought you wasn't hungry?").
After lunch, we (and by "we" I mean Sakari) was begging to go back to the Sky Course to ride the cars and do the ropes course. She just loved this...more this time than before.
They started with the skyride. I decided to sit this one out and wanted to get pictures of them.
I guess Sakari didn't realize the first time she went on here that the outside cart hits a dip and goes really fast around the corner and leaves the other cart behind. At first they looked like they were racing and then after daddy "left her in the dust"...she slowed way down.
No worries though...once you go around the corner, the other car catches up and gets it's own hill.
Sakari would catch up with daddy and they had a great time.
Of course she had to do the ropes course again and went around and around until we had to tell her times up. LOL She got so comfortable that she was doing poses.
I couldn't believe just how great the weather was on this cruise and the seas were so calm and I didn't feel any rocking at all this time....NONE! This would be the very first cruise I never felt any movement or got that "fake drunkenness" feeling.
We absolutely love going to the 4d theater. I love anything like that. They have different shows each day and they do repeat so you have a chance to see them all.
You do have the option of purchasing tickets at any time. You can come to the theater and use their kiosk or at the counter when they are open or even use your phone app. We did not do that prior to coming and would find out that the shows were sold out. They would not be playing the one we wanted anymore today. HOWEVER...the guy was so nice and not only had our family, Kendra's family but another family that wanted to see this. They said once the current one was finished, they'd run in real quick and reset it up and give us our own show by adding an extra time for us. WOO HOO! We were excited.
After the movie, I knew that they were having a Christmas party in the atrium and I wanted to make sure that I didn't miss it.
Once we arrived, we would notice everyone dressed up in ugly Christmas sweaters!! They were hilarious and I loved it. I was so sad that I didn't know anything about this contest and wished that I did because I know Kendra and I would have made something for this occasion!
Two couples showed up with the same "1-piece" shirt. LOL
Creepy sweater with the grinch on it and legs hanging....LOL
There were even people with shirts and skirts that lit up.
Now I seriously couldn't figure out what these Eeyore outfits were supposed to be about. What did it have to do with Christmas or an ugly sweater? There was actually a group of them.
At one point Lorilei came and passed out Christmas Santa Hats. Everyone had them and it just set the mood!
Everyone started singing Christmas songs
They had a parade of ugly sweaters.
Then it was time for Santa's grand entrance....
It was a great time and it made me realize just how much fun it is to cruise at Christmas. It's an entirely different experience and I had really missed it since it had been a while since we did some Christmas cruises.
After the party, we split up from Kendra. She wanted to take Kam to the Build A Bear, which Sakari now feels too old for it, and Kendra had mentioned wanting to go to the Spiderman 3D movie later.
We headed back to the theater, purchased our tickets and was excited to see another 3D movie.
Now as I mentioned before, you can get your pop refills there for free but snacks will have to be purchased. They do not have any "regular" popcorn but you can buy bags.
The theater is pretty huge and has plenty of seating.
The movie was pretty good and Kendra was telling me that it hadn't even been released in theaters yet. I believe that I had read (prior to the cruise) that they do have new movies that haven't been released yet on the ship. The other one that they were showing was Atlantis and a few others.
Kendra never did show up and would later say "I didn't know you were going"...um, but it was your idea Kendra! LOL
The hubby went to the deli to try out the meatball sandwiches that Kendra had said were so good. He agreed.
Sakari wanted to go back to the room for some reason and we said we'd just head to the casino for a little action.
I actually did pretty good.
I always play the slots as everyone knows. I did awesome and was way ahead. This was a good cruise with the slots. I played for the first 5 days on just spending $20 the first day and winning enough to continue to play the entire week. Well tonight, I was definitely ahead.
The hubby usually plays slots too but he has been learning how to play cards as well. Kendra's fiance is a big card player and has shown him a few things. However, he would decide to play Russian Roulette...only it wasn't in Russia and there were no guns involved. So roulette it was! He was doing pretty good. He did a $50 buy in and walked away that night with $288. Not big time but not bad at all.
Time for a new comedian show. The old ones got off the ship at one of the ports and a new one got on.
He was funny and spot on with his comments. We liked him. Kendra and I would decide to get a 4 for $20 special on shots. They were yummy.
After the comedy club, we stopped for our nightly ice cream cone.
We headed back to the room to check on Sakari and found our towel animal for the night.
Sakari had made a drawing of one of her beanie boos. (She's really into collecting these things and I remember when Kendra was in this stage with the beanie babies).
There really wasn't much more to do so we decided to call it a night and just watch some t.v., drink some wine and head to bed.