The Hughes Zoo

Our first full day on the ship and we’ve already started to get into the swing of things. Breakfast in the restaurant on our floor, and then Jeremy and I spend the morning in the ship’s creche. Of course the plan is that we can drop him off and go and do other things, but honestly the quiet playtime was awesome, and there’s nothing I’d prefer to be doing more.

After our two lunches (Jeremy and I; then Ange, Jeremy and Will) we had the brilliant idea of going for a swim in the pool. It was freezing! The splash pool area was great fun for the boys though, and Will continued practicing his favourite new trick - standing up. That’s despite only just starting to crawl properly. After a walk and an ice cream Jeremy decided he wanted to watch people playing table tennis. When one of the tables was free, we had a play and he loved it. I think we were both as surprised as each other when he served it over the net.

Everyone was much more settled today, although we all still had our moments. The motion of the boat, combined with constant eating, is making Ange and I incredibly lethargic. Plus, we’re starting to actually relax into the holiday I suppose.

We’re pretty comfortable with the ship now too - we can find most things without any effort and have a routine of sorts. Jeremy and I went to the reading room/library for his pre-bed stories tonight, it’s all wood and leather and soft light. Rather nice, which is why I’m back in there now
After last night’s success finding the footy, I was fairly confident that I’d be able to find somewhere showing the F1 Monza GP, but a rather dejected-looking Italian barman killed my dream. He said he was going to try and catch some of it online - at more than $30/hr though I think I’ll just have to content myself hunting down the result in a newspaper (assuming we actually get them).

Being this disconnected is quite a shock to the system. I’m so used to having constant 3G access in my pocket that having no internet access at all feels like being cast back into the dark ages. Which is nice in its way, but rather annoying at times.

Ange has made the first move in attempting to combat the almost constant sugar and fat intake by going to the gym tonight. I’m trying to muster some motivation, but with effectively no freeweights and no rowing machine it’s a hard sell. Plenty of treadmills though, so maybe I’ll just concentrate on running for the next month.

I’m starting to feel a lot more relaxed and at home here. I instantly felt comfortable being out on the ocean, but now I’m enjoying the rest of the experience too. There’s live music everywhere: Jeremy’s obsessed with the 3 peice classical group what plays regularly in the atrium, and the funk-ish pool deck band is good fun.

There’s some nice nooks and crannies around, like the library and a 30s themed lounge/jazz bar. There’s also a disco, which given the median age of the guests is sort of amusing and scary. I haven’t gone in there yet.

About the only downside is that Ange and I don’t get to spend much time together without the boys, but I’m sure we’ll arrange babysitting once we’re fully settled in.

Tags: at sea, cruise

This entry was posted on Monday, September 14th, 2009 at 12:03 am and is filed under cruise. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.