April 20th, For the first time!

Today, is Thursday, April 20, 2023 and we are cruising toward Tahiti which is over 2,400 miles from Auckland, New Zealand. We are literally in the middle of nowhere in the South Pacific Ocean.

These are the types of days that Doug and I were looking forward to having when we scheduled this trip. Days of nothing to do but relax and watch the water go by! I know that may be hard for some adventure-oriented folks to understand, but when you live a life as hectic and fast paced as ours, you need to have forced breaks. Time when you can’t do anything but sit, read, work on blogs and just relax. These four uninterrupted days cruising at sea are just what the doctor ordered.

We started today with breakfast at our favorite little restaurant, the Coastal Kitchen. It is a small venue with only a few tables, as compared to the massive feeding buffets located in many of the other dining areas. The chef there is a Black man (Winston) and the head Hostess is a Black woman from South Africa (Nonsea). They recognize us and welcome us, as though we are old friends each time we dine there. It has become our little “Cheers” location for those of you who are old enough to remember the 1980’s Cheers sitcom. We discovered that they had grits on board a couple of days ago, and we have been working with them to get the soupy white water that they called grits changed to the stiffer more substantive version that we know back home. They are making tremendous progress with cooking the grits longer and they even have added a little salt to the boiling water. (Smile)

While at breakfast this morning, we met another black couple – Alonzo and Sheila Turner Cartlidge. It so happens they have residences in Atlanta near Camp Creek and in New Jersey. They go back and forth between the two. It also happens that they have owned a travel agency for 37 years, the Old Guard Travel Agency, and they cruise frequently, as much as three to four times per year. As a result, they have become the number one black-owned travel agency with both Royal Caribbean (our current cruise ship owner) and MSC Cruise line. They told us that there was a sizeable number of black Americans on this particular cruise, as a part of a tour package they had organized. And so they invited us to a reception being held in their suite later this afternoon, to meet some of the other members of their traveling party.

After breakfast, we went on a walk around the ship. We wanted to walk our mile at the top of the ship but the winds became too much to fight, so we only were able to walk halfway around the deck. We then decided to retreat to our room where Doug could do some work on his project and I could continue to read my book. I have finished three books so far since our journey started and that has been wonderful. I will start on my fourth book tomorrow and hopefully, it will last until I get to Tahiti. We are going to have to make a third trip to a bookstore once we get to Hawaii.

As a resort of their traveling on Royal Caribbean through the years, the Cartlidges have tremendous points and travel privileges with Royal Caribbean. They are responsible for bringing a tour group of 40 folks on board. They are staying in one of the top suites, a Grand Loft Suite, which is located at the rear of the ship with all of the other really high-end suites. Their cabin has an upper level, where the bedroom and bath are located and a downstairs that was large enough for them to comfortably entertain 20 people. It was unreal! Several of the members from their tour had connections to Atlanta. This was the first time that we had seen a group of Black travelers, so Doug and I enjoyed being in their company for a while.

After our visit with the Cartlidges, we went to lunch at the Solarium Café, just before it was to stop serving lunch. Doug had a cup of barley soup, some spaghetti and some fruit and cheeses. Patrise had a little spaghetti and some chicken. After lunch we went back to try and walk around the deck again. This time we settled for ice cream cones and a seat in lounge chairs that lined the pool deck inside of an enclosed area, where we could look out at the ocean, but not be impacted by the wind.

After that trip, we returned to our cabin. Shortly, after arriving back to the room, Doug started to come down with symptoms of an upper respiratory infection. He wanted me to go to the ship store to find some Nyquil, or some other cold medicine. These types of medicines where not sold in the Ship store; they are only available at the Medical Center, after a doctor has examined you. So Doug and I spent the next couple of hours waiting to be seen by a ship doctor. The doctor happened to be from South Africa and the two of them struck up a conversation about Johannesburg.

They first tested Doug for COVID. Thank goodness it was negative, but he has to return tomorrow evening, to be tested again. The doctor gave Doug a decongestant and Tylenol as a pain killer to try and treat the symptoms. We stopped by Costal Kitchen for dinner and then called it a day. Both of us needed the rest.

(Patrise ready for dinner in the Coastal Kitchen)

(Patrise diving into her shellfish chowder. It was quite tasty. The chicken she had as her main course had a tasty flavor in the skin, but the meat was so try, it could be "chicken jerky.")

II had a wedge salad for a starter and rack of lamb for the main course.)