Monday morning we woke up pretty early – with the 3 hour time difference we were still living some where between the ship’s/Alaska time and the time back home. When we woke up we discovered that the Cruise Director did a morning show every day that went over the details of the day and gave other pertinent information. We watched JJ every morning and often referred to the information he gave. After the crazy year and half that I had it was so great to have someone tell me what to do, where to go and not to have to make any decisions. I think the most difficult decision each day was what time to go to dinner.I had ordered breakfast the night before to arrive around 8:30 so I could eat before the massage, but woke up early enough to run upstairs to the horizon court – which is the 24 hour buffet. They had a big pot of oatmeal, and that is what I ended up eating every morning for breakfast with brown sugar and raisins of course. On Monday I brought it back to the room so that I could get continue to get ready. We then went upstairs to the Lotus Spa. They led us into the nice waiting room where we filled out a bunch of information. Long story, but two week prior to this I flew home from New York City after the conclusion of the bike tour. For some reason, which I still do not know why, after I got home my right ankle and foot started swelling quite badly. On the Saturday between the trips, I went into the doctor’s to get it checked out was immediately sent to the hospital to have an ultra sound to make sure I did not have blood clots. Thankfully I did not, so they put me on water pills and the swelling went down. The first day of the cruise I noticed my leg beginning to swell a bit again, so I put that on the form. My masseuse was Wandi and she was from South Africa. She was very nice and we chatted a bit. Our cruise was the last one before the boat went on dry dock so the majority of the staff had 3 weeks off after us, including Wandi who was going home for the time. She was both excited and nervous. Wandi did a good job giving me a massage, and I have had no trouble with my foot since then. Of course as with all the other massages I have had I was left with some bruises. It is crazy how easily I bruise. After our massages, Shan and I went back to our room to get ready for the first of our Cruise Critic gatherings.
Cruise Critic is a website I found at some point early in my cruise planning/research. On the site you can join a roll call for your cruise and get to know people online before you leave. I really enjoyed getting to know this group in the weeks and months prior to the trip and was looking forward to meeting them in person. We met up in Skywalkers and walking in was reminiscent of my summer on the tour. I walked in and said Hi I am Erinn and the whole group was like "Hi Erinn – so good to meet you." I so touched when one of the couples from St. Catharine’s brought me some news paper clipping from when the tour went through. We sat down to chat for a while, but it was pretty rocky up there and Shannon was really feeling it. She went back to the cabin to lie down and I stay up there. I think I was there for over 2 hours. It was so great to have a group of people that I ‘knew” on the ship for the week. After the cruise critic gathering I went back to the room to see how Shan was doing and then grab a bit of lunch before our Pilates class. Now neither one of us had done Pilates before, and Shan had never even done Yoga. I had at least done that before and knew not to go too crazy or else I would be very sore. Shan on the other hand gave it her all. Now for those of you who have not done Pilates, there is a far amount of balance involved. It is not such a great idea to try to learn these positions on a rocking boat. I spent half the time laughing at myself and was not taking it at all serious. I think Shannon was trying to impress the cute instructor. After word Shannon needed to take a nap. Here she is recovering from Pilates.
Next we needed to get ready for the 1st formal night.
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