First, a few updates I left out of the Day 1 wrap-up (because the days are running together for me and I forgot it happened on Day 1 and not Day 2.) Prior to the ABC show in the Main Theater, there were two guys doing a skit as Marty McFly and Doc, who were very good (and very funny. At one point, Doc was buying plutonium at the ship's gift shop.) Somewhere in the midst of their bit, they made the announcement that there was a huge addition to the cruise: Living Colour had been added to the lineup. (This was no biggie for me, because if Living Colour was playing for free in my backyard, I wouldn't open the window to listen to them. But most people seemed to be excited.)
Later on in Studio B, before Trial By Fire played, Marty and Doc were back to announce the lineup for next year's cruise (which Denise already has us booked on). It included Howard Jones, Midge Ure, The Church, Kim Wilde, Morris Day and the Time, The Smithereens (with Marshall Crenshaw), Cutting Crew, John Parr, Jody Watley, Autograph, China Crisis and EXTC (The touring version of XTC without Andy Partridge) with the co-headliners being Bret Michaels and Devo. Denise was thrilled at this last one in particular. We're supposed to see Howard Jones and Midge Ure playing together at the Patchogue Theatre in a couple of months, so I wasn't as excited about them as I otherwise would have been. But I was intrigued at the addition of The Church, China Crisis and EXTC.
So anyway, onward to Day 2:
I woke up about 9:30 this morning, and my back was feeling much better. I had seasickness medication with me, and I also had the med that I use to control my occasional bouts of vertigo. But much to my surprise, I didn't need either of them. I haven't cruised in 5 years, so I thought maybe geezer me would be more prone to seasickness than younger me. Happily, not so much, even though the seas had been rough all night and were still rough this morning.
We had been supposed to dock in Nassau, Bahamas this morning, and at one point I woke up and thought the ship had stopped. But now that I was fully awake, I realized we were moving again. I looked out through the curtains, and as I had thought, we were still at sea. So either we were late getting to Nassau, or for some reason, we hadn't been allowed to stop there. I turned on the television and tuned it to the Map Channel, and sure enough, it looked like the little ship icon had hit the Bahamas, bounced off and kept on going.
Denise woke up to use the bathroom. She mentioned she had heard a long announcement earlier in the morning from the captain, but it hadn't been piped into our room.
I asked her if she felt like getting dressed and getting some breakfast. She replied with a big raspberry, and said that was what she thought of that idea. She then laid back down to go back to sleep. OK then.
I did some work on my laptop. About an hour later, she got back up. By this time, my stomach was complaining it was time for some food.
I then learned two unfortunate facts about the ship. The first was that the main dining room only served breakfast from 8 until 9:30AM. Thanks for the effort, boys. The second was that even the Windjammer only served breakfast until 11.
This made me rather crabby. I was hungry, and I was hungry for breakfast food! None of that crappy lunch stuff they were serving up yesterday.
We cleaned up, got dressed and headed to the Promenade Cafe, a little coffee/snack thingy on Deck 5. It also only served breakfast until 11, but it was at least a little closer than the Windjammer.
We got there just in time to grab some distinctly mediocre breakfast sandwiches. I had really been hoping for a plate full of scrambled eggs and sausages, but it was better than nothing. I also grabbed some coffee, which made me less crabby.
We learned that we hadn't been able to disembark in Nassau because of the rough weather. That was OK with us, because we hadn't been planning to leave the ship anyway. Because of the schedule change, though, a few things had been moved around to fill in the day, including an interview by Lori Majewski (of Sirius FM fame) of Flock of Seagulls' Mike Score that I wanted to catch.
Denise went off to do her own thing for awhile, and I went back to the cabin to work. I had a fairly light schedule planned music-wise, as the late show in Studio B was scheduled to be Jack Russell's Great White, and the Main Stage show was Cameo, neither of which I had any interest in seeing. (Paul Young had originally been supposed to play that early show, but his guitarist had gotten sick and mucked up the whole schedule, so they were plugging Gene Loves Jezebel back in.)
So here's the gist of the day: Denise and I met up at the main dining room at noon to catch the Mike Score interview. I did some work in the afternoon. Then at 4PM, we headed over to catch a set by Modern English from the balcony of the Royal Theatre. We had a little more room up there today than we'd had last night down below for ABC, although the seats were still uncomfortable. We've seen Modern English before, and we've always enjoyed them. Today was no different.
Our dinner ran long tonight because they sat us at a full table of eight people. (It was good, though.) This unfortunately made us late to see Gene Loves Jezebel again, although we caught some of their best stuff (including "Desire" and "Motion of Love"). After that, Denise saw Cameo in the Main Theater, and enjoyed them. I enjoyed going up to the room and not seeing them. (I wouldn't have said that too loudly, though - a couple of the guys from the band had the cabin next door to us.)
We then hooked up for a late night show in Studio B by the Depeche Mode tribute band, Strangelove. Unfortunately, although these guys are very good, they're also incredibly loud, much louder than any other band on the boat. (And this is coming from a guy who spent years sitting in tiny bars listening to The Good Rats cranked up to 100 without ever wearing ear plugs). It didn't help that we were seated directly under a speaker. I lasted for maybe 30 minutes tops, but I just wasn't enjoying it. So I left. (Denise hung in there for their full set.)
Today, I felt more in the rhythm of things. Unfortunately, much as I hate to say it, I'm not loving The Mariner of the Seas as a ship. The food has been very hit and miss, the crew polite but sometimes kind of confused (see my comments on the muster drill), and I don't love the basic design.
As someone who has mostly sailed on Carnival ships, they usually have an area near the casino where there's a concourse that has some food places (like the coffee bar) on one side, and a big series of windows on the other side. It has comfortable chairs where you can sit during the day and either people watch or look out on the ocean.
Royal's concourse is all inside, with shops lining both sides and no ocean view. I feel much less like I'm on a ship. I prefer Carnival's outside focus to Royal's inside one. And then, of course, there's that matter of the seats in the Royal Theatre (compared to the seats in Carnival's main theater, which are way more comfortable, offer some loveseat seating, etc.) It looks like I won't be ditching Carnival for Royal anytime soon.
