First Day at Sea
I began the day virtuously, going with chikuru to the ship's gym to exercise.  Since he and I had resolved to avoid elevators most or all of the time while on shipboard, and since our cabin was on deck 2 while the gym was on deck 11, we had already had a pretty fair workout by the time we reached our destination.  Nonetheless, we dutifully put in twenty or thirty minutes on the aerobic machines.

As I was not particularly interested in the guided ship's tour that some of the others were taking, I settled after breakfast in solitary splendor about halfway up the tiered sun deck above the main pool area.  ("Solitary" is of course a relative term, as the boat was (as previously noted) filled to capacity and the weather was fine.)  I spent the morning there, alternately watching the crowds and reading my book, sipping a soda and basking in the warm-but-not-hot sunshine.  Not the stuff of which gripping narratives are made, but very relaxing.

The afternoon brought excellent news: our maitre d' had somehow accomplished the impossible and arranged for our party of eight to be seated together for the remainder of the cruise!  A late seating, too, which made most of us even happier.  I, for one, cannot get excited about starting a formal multi-course dinner every night at 5:45, which was chikuru's and my original seating time.

In the evening I played Blackjack in the casino, but I lost all the money I was willing to lose ($21 at $3 a hand) too fast for it to be much fun.  I resolved to confine my further gambling activities to penny and nickel slots, at least until the final night of the cruise.

Day 2