Monday, November 14 – Resting in Rome

As Rogers and Hammerstein wrote in Oklahoma, when Judd Frye would die, “the flowers in the dell will out a different smell….”  For those who did not already know, passengers who reach their final destination before the ship does have the flower locker as their new cabin; hence, yesterday’s title.

Also, despite her best efforts, MA was not able to find any eligible sailors when she went for a drink and dinner last night.  We thought you would want to know.

The doctor in Florence told D to take it easy and rest for a few days and not to drink any alcohol.  Since he does not drink and is naturally lazy, these were easy instructions to follow.  We stayed in bed until 8:30 despite having turned out the light at 9:00 last night.  After a quiet breakfast in the MDR, during which a half-dozen or so staff members asked after his health, we returned to the room to read for a bit.  With the prospect of sleeping all day ahead of us, we left the room so the stewards could straighten it.  We think they were behind schedule this morning because Rome is the end of/beginning of a segment and they had to prepare the rooms for the new people [all 50 of them].  We took our tablets and the laptop to the Ocean Bar where D was able to find an outlet.  Once the laptop was plugged in, he worked on the blog while MA read.  When he was finished, she proofread and offered suggestions and corrections which he duly followed.  The entry was finished but not posted around 12:15, so we toted our HAL bag to the MDR for our first lunch there. Normally, the MDR is closed on port days but was open today for the newly arrived Mariners.  Apparently it was open the day we boarded, too, but we did not know it.

We returned to the room where D posted the blog and deleted email.  The lights were turned off around 1:30 and the alarm set for 6:00[!]  We didn’t sleep that late, but let’s say that this SCAN was a lot more fun than yesterday’s.

We ate dinner at the Pinnacle Grill, Holland America’s extra-charge steak house.  The add-on charge is now $35 per person, but we remember when it was only $10.  However, as 5-Star Mariners, we each receive 2 free dinners at the Pineapple [as we call it], so dinner was free and we will go again in early December as we cross the Atlantic on the way home.

TOMORROW – Nothing in Naples