Cruise: Part III

There is an awesome moment that occurs from time to time and it's pretty much only men who get to have this awesome moment. Ties, when you buy them, are not tied; you have to tie them yourself. The awesome moment is when you tie a tie at the most perfect length on the first try.

Entry Date, Tuesday 11/20. Day III. 12:30am

Some may consider this time of the night to belong to the previous day... It's really a new day.

Hmmmm... so. I just got back to the state room. Buzzed, I am. For sure.

I ate dinner at Tsar's Palace. The food was meh... The cheesecake for dessert was so flavorless that I could only eat a few bites. I'm mostly disappointed in the cheesecake.

I was dressed to the nines:

After dinner, I took a meandering walk through the main gathering areas of the ship. You could tell that some folks took great pride in dressing up. Others didn't give a shit and I found myself looking at such people as wastes of the ship's time and energy. Riffraff. Psh...

I worked my way up to the Spinnaker Lounge. It was crowded tonight and full of energy. Most people were dressed up. I ordered a gin and tonic and walked through the crowd.

The band, Next Stage, was playing music from the 50s. Then, they changed to music from the 60s. I was sipping my drink and scanning the crowd when I noticed a beautiful Asian woman wearing a blue dress. She was sitting alone and sipping a Corona. She glanced around the room at times, but was mostly fixed on the dance floor. She moved in her seat to the music. She wanted to dance.

"You look like you want to dance," I asked her in my head more than once. It took until the band got to the 80s and until I finished my second drink for me to ask her out loud. Before I finished asking her to dance, her hand was in mine and she was asking if I could put her camera and room key in my jacket.

I introduced myself as we walked to the dance floor. She said her name and I didn't understand it. She spelled it for me: Nana. (or Na Na -- not sure). Once on the dance floor, she asked me if I was on the ship alone. I said I was. She said she was alone as well. We danced for quite a few songs, talking briefly. She said taking the cruise was her "dream."

After dancing, we went to the bar in the back of the lounge and talked more over water. We exchanged numbers (room numbers) and discussed meeting for dinner tomorrow. A date? I suppose so.

We walked part of the ship and found ourselves looking over a railing at the harsh water below. I asked Nana how she ended up on a cruise out of New York. She said that she is from Japan. She moved to Canada a few months ago, but she doesn't like it so she is moving back to Japan in December. However, she wanted to visit NYC and take a cruise, so she did that.

It was chilly out and I gave Nana my tux jacket. Then, we walked more of the ship. I walked her to her room and we confirmed dinner plans for tomorrow (actually, I guess it would be later today being that it's 12:30am).

Entry Date, Tuesday 11/20. Day III. 2:30pm

I just downed a mai tai... so I'm quite buzzed. Back in the stateroom after spending about four hours out on the main deck.

I didn't set an alarm this morning and just let myself wake up when my body wanted to. That was roughly 10 o'clock. Still groggy, I changed into swimming trunks and put on sun screen. Then, I went to the buffet for breakfast and ate on the aft deck. As I ate, Florida came into view. I went up to the main deck and watched as we came into Port Canaveral.

(People on the pier were waving at the boat. People from the boat were yelling to people on the pier and visa versa.)

The pool area was pretty busy.

So, I found myself a sunny spot up on the main deck and tried to nap. However, the breeze was wicked and on the chilly side despite the sun being bright and hot. I gave up on sunbathing and went in a hot tub. I met a variety of people while hanging out in the hot tub, as people come and go. Most of the topics of conversations center around on vacations, cruise ships, where everyone is from, drinks, etc. Lots of smiles and laughs were had.

I eventually left the hot tub for some food. I had a cheeseburger from The Grill, a restaurant on the pool deck, and drank a mai tai. The sky slowly became overcast, so I went back to the stateroom for a bit.

Entry Date, Tuesday 11/20. Day III. 11:00pm

I am sitting on the aft deck, writing by the orange glow of retro looking lamp posts. It's getting chilly from the ship moving further out to sea and the time of night.

We left Port Canaveral at 10:00pm. The lights of Florida's coast still span the horizon, but they shrink into the distance rapidly. I had come from one of the side decks where moments before that I had walked out at the right moment. I wanted to take pictures of the coast's lights, but discovered a group of people hooting and hollering and leaning over the railing. I leaned over to see what they were so excited about and saw a boat riding so close to the ship that it was practically touching it. I surmised that the boat was helping guide the ship out of the port, however, I was told much later on that a "River Captain" has to board the ship to navigate it through the port. Once out of the port, the River Captain gets off the ship via a rope ladder and waiting boat.

At 7:00 o'clock, I picked up Nana from at her state room. She was wearing a fancy skirt and classy blouse. She looked lovely and I told her so. I smile at myself, smugly, as she walked ahead of me down the narrow hallway. So many friends were ridiculing me for packing so many nice shirts and pants. I looked good. Grey button down shirt. Black shoes. Black slacks. I'm glad that I don't listen to people when they tell me what to do or what not to do.

We ate dinner at Tsar's, which is the fancier of the two main dining halls. We talked as best we could (Nana only speaks some English). We communicated fairly well, but there were definitely awkward pauses and there were times when Nana was unsure of what word to use. There were times where I had to re-explain something because I often use rare words for linguistical colorfulness...

After dinner, we went to the Crystal Atrium and watched Randon play acoustic guitar. It was a tribute to Neil Diamond show. Nana did not know Sweet Caroline. We each had a beer, but left at 9:30 because Nana wanted to see the show in the theater.

I probably wouldn't have gone to the show on my own, but I'm glad Nana took me. It was a ventriloquist and he was quite funny. I wondered if Nana could understand all of the jokes, but there were times when we both shared a look while laughing out loud.

-- I just left the aft deck as it was getting cold. I wandered for a bit and ended up in Bar City. I ordered another Dos Equis... my dos Dos Equis?

I am smiling the biggest smile ever. I noticed myself doing this more and more over the last few days. I'm happy. Really. Really. Happy. Oh! -- it has been so long since I have used that word H - A - P - P - Y ! !

There is nothing superficial about the look on my face. I am 100% genuinely smiling. I should take a picture. I won't. But. I should.

After the show, Nana and I walked through the ship. She said she was really tired and asked for me to take her to her state room. I did so. We hugged. I asked her if she was free tomorrow. She said she had plans with some other friends that she had made. I told her to leave me a message at my state room if she wanted to meet up again.

I walked away without a care in the world.

(I found this thing on my bed. A towel animal... but what animal?)

(I like the moon. I took lots of pictures of it.)

(The endless hallway in the middle of the night)