Airing my Dirty Laundry

Literally, that's what I had to do today. We're on day 8 of 111 and it's time to do our first load of laundry. One of the main questions we got before going on such an adventure is "how do you pack for 111 days?". You don't. You pack for 7-9 days depending on your circumstances. I packed 8 of most everything, underwear, socks, tshirts, nice shirts and shorts. And then much like the 12 days of xmas, 5 pair of footwear, 4 festive ties, 3 pair of pants, 2 ballcaps and a black/brown reversible belt. Toiletries were also minimal as we can always replenish at a Walmart. We already know that there's one near the port in Puerto Vallarta and Hawaii. It's the talk of the ship since everyone is also buying electrical outlet extenders, 3m hooks (do no harm) and then anything else they forgot or realized they needed. But I digress. Laundry is a manual process on the ship if you are anything but Elite Level (150 days). We won't even be elite by the end of the cruise. Oh well!. It's not a bad set up. There are 6 sets of stacked units and the cost is $3 per washer or dryer and $1.25 for detergent. Which reminds me, if you are particular about laundry detergent, all they offer is Tide, which is actually hilarious. Someone in Housekeeping has a sense of humor. The whole process takes 1.5hrs, so not bad. If you book a long cruise like this, it helps to be on the same floor as the laundry and don't forget dryer sheets (also on the Walmart list).

My morning was awesome. I'm still on eastern time so getting up at 6am is really 5am local ship time. I get my Yeti of coffee and found yet an even better spot to work today. Productive when the internet was cooperative. 5 hrs in total. So far, I think I'm covering the cost of the cruise pre tax, which the accountant in me is loving. Aside from that, I'm grateful for working and really believe I'll be better in the long run. I pity my wife returning to work after a 4-month hiatus with not so much as a single work email, announcement or reorg notification. I don't feel like I've missed any ship board activities because "work" got in the way. Staying connected to work bridges a gap between my typical life and these extraordinary circumstances I find myself in.

At noon, we tried something new. The Bayou Lounge and restaurant turns into a Pub for lunch and offers Fish and Chips, Fried Shrimp and this large pork and beef meatball stuffed with a hard-boiled egg inside, then breaded and fried. Fried Everything was the theme. It was good but I'm committed to eating healthy on the cruise so I'm not planning a return visit. After lunch, I did another short stint in the casino to let my lunch settle. It was another winning day. I'm sure the tides will turn at some point but for now, I'm very pleased being ahead so much. Then I went to the fitness center for an hour on the elliptical, a consistent 5.4 miles at a resistence of 20. The remainder of the afternoon was spent doing the aforementioned laundry.

Dinner was beyond amazing. Pics at the end of the amazing 6-course meal we had at Sabatinis, the Italian specialty restaurant, while the sun was setting over the ocean. Everything was outstanding, but some especially noteworthy items were 1) the cheese fondue, which was a creamy parmesan soup with candied pecans and porchini mushrooms, 2) the pasta course included a trio of of lasagna, baked ziti and chicken parm. The lasagna was honestly the best I've ever had. The ziti was so cheesy, I had to rotate my fork about 25 times in a feeble attempt to exhaust the string of cheese that refused to let go. Finally, my wife used her knife to slash the resistor and end the fork vs baked ziti cage match. 3) mixed seafood in parchment had jumbo shrimp, large sea scallops and other seafood perfectly cooked and finally 4) a compilation of their 4 best desserts served in brandy glasses. Two were chocolate based and two were vanilla cream based, one with raspberries and the other had a thick gelatin layer that added a great texture to the creaminess of the other parts. It truly was outstanding. Well worth the $25 pp upcharge and if you know me, that's saying a lot.

We then listened to our favorite guitarist followed by the 9:30 show of a comic/magician/singer. That was all 1 person. Pretty high energy show. First standing ovation of the cruise. On they way back to our room, we passed the lounge with the piano player, who had invited the lead singer from the production shows to join him in an impromptu, unrehearsed medley of songs. It was hysterically funny and very well done. The entertainment on the ship has been some of the best of any cruise we've been on.

Tomorrow is Huatulco, Mexico

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