Happy Anniversary to us!

Ronnie and I celebrated our 56th wedding anniversary over very rocky seas earlier this week. We are so thankful to still have each other after so many years! Who would have thought that God would have blessed a 2 month, 11 day whirlwind romance resulting in the marriage of two dumb kids?

We spent the day in Killybegs, Ireland (last post) and in the evening we had dinner in the Polo restaurant. Because Insignia is a rather small ship, it only has 2 specialty restaurants onboard. I made our reservation in the Polo vs the Toscana, knowing that Ronnie would prefer to celebrate over a steak vs pasta. We enjoyed a very nice dinner at a table for two on the very back of the ship with a floor-to-ceiling window view of the ocean. Just as we were about to order dessert, the wait staff surprised us by singing "Let me call you sweetheart" and a candle-lit anniversary cake! It was a very nice ending to a very nice day.

view from our table

 

celebrating 56 years

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

wait staff belting out "Let me call you sweetheart...."

chocolate mousse cake

After departing Killybegs, we began our journey across the Atlantic on our way to St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada, the land of the puffins. With only a week of our 51 day itinerary left, we were expecting to enjoy 3 days at sea in order to reach the first of 2 destinations in Canada, followed by 2 ports in the US and our final destination, NYC where we will board a plane to fly home.

But I've learned that the #1 rule of travel is to expect the unexpected. And the #2 rule is to stay flexible because things often happen that are out of one's control. In this case, our cruise director casually announced that we would be experiencing rough seas for the next 3 days. And we would be skipping St. Johns, Newfoundland where we had booked an excursion. Disappointing. The barf bags came out and (some) passengers begin to don the little round patches behind their ears, putting on their acupressure wrist bands and taking their anti-nausea medication. We brought an expired prescription for Meclizine with us - just in case it was needed. Thankfully, neither of us have needed anything, although Ronnie did confess to a slight headache that first morning. We've had 2 days of "rockin' and rollin" at sea that are not very pleasant, but it seems things have settled down for the most part now. 

Any time there is high wind with rain, the deck furniture (tables, chairs, lounge chairs) get stacked and tied up so that nothing is moving around. The doors to the outside are closed with safety warnings hung across them to prevent passengers from going outside. This means that all passengers are staying inside. People who might normally eat on the terrace or deck are eating inside and people who might exercise outside are headed to the indoor gym. This translates to more people in the lounge and other public areas. But a cruise line does what it does for the safety of its passengers, which we understand and appreciate.

 

provided - just in case....

deck closed!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ship cannot travel at the same speed it would travel in calm seas and the schedule has to be kept, thus the skipped port. :( So today is another sea day. The internet has been spotty, which is always irritating. But there are ways to entertain ourselves. Ronnie has been to 2 different onboard lectures and I've been to a cooking demonstration by the head chef (he made ratatouille and scallops). And as a bonus, I had a Humphrey Slocumbe Vietnamese chocolate ice cream cone after lunch. :) Now I'm about to read and may even take a nap if I get sleepy. Rough seas, skipped ports or spotty internet, I know I have nothing to complain about!