Queen Mary 2 Sea Day - 07/22/19
22 July 2019 | North Atlantic Ocean
Helen

Woke up around 8. We enjoyed an extra half hour as the time changed that amount. Watched tv and took our time getting up. Eventually, we headed up to Deck 7, Lido, for breakfast. Once we were done, we headed up to Deck 12 to see what the Golf Challenge was. We found two small kids taking practice shots when it was supposed to be adults only. We didn't end up participating. Then we were going to play some ping pong, but they didn't have any balls and someone said they were getting some more. Again, we didn't wait. There was a galley tour on our daily schedule, so we headed to the dining room. It was a short talk and then we followed the rest of the passengers into the kitchen area. It was a great tour. We got to ask questions. Met up with someone we had shared a meal with earlier in the cruise, from Arizona. He and his wife have been working and living in Germany for the past four years. They are heading back home to the US. It made me think that we have been gone for so very long and each day we are getting closer. We then walked several laps around the ship on Deck 7, as we got some exercise. It was almost sunny and pleasant, at least on one side of the ship. I wore extra clothes and I was warm enough although it was only 13C. The seas were relatively smooth. Decided to go by the area where you book cruises, in order to get our status updated. However, there were several people in line. We waited about 15 minutes when someone showed up with an appointment. So, we decided to go back to the Purser Desk to voice our concerns. Once we got there, Mark realized that we hadn't given them our updated documents for Canada immigration & customs, so he went back to the cabin to get ours. We told them that this was the second time we had to come by to get them to update our card status from a first time cruiser. Then we were passing by the casino and decided to play on the roulette wheel. We had the option of playing with 50 cent coins instead of the regular dollar coins, so that is what we did. There was one other lady playing with us. I was able to double when number 7 hit and I had two coins on it. Mark played longer but his numbers didn't hit. We took advantage of some of the fancy machines being unused. I was able to get my money back and be up some, so I gave up. Mark played long enough to get a $5 bonus. However, his machine was pretty tight. By this time it was lunch time. We walked around to the Golden Lion pub. There were no open tables or chairs, so we decided to eat in the dining room for a change. We shared a table for 10 in front of a window. All the other passengers at our table were British. We enjoyed some interesting conversations. Mark noticed one of the guys was wearing a Mercedes Petronas t-shirt, so he asked if they were F1 fans. Yes they were. They missed this year's British F1 race due to our cruise leaving on race day. Everyone was having a good meal with lots of funny stories shared. After lunch, we headed back to our cabin. I kept checking on the laundry room as I wanted to do a couple of loads of laundry. Each time, it was full of people doing their laundry. At one point, I was told that two washers would be ready in a few minutes. I grabbed the laundry bag and waited with a few others. I didn't realize that it was free to do laundry and they even provided the laundry soap. I started two loads. Mark went to hear another lecture by Astronomer, Jonathan Crass. I waited about half an hour before heading back to grab a couple of dryers. Thankfully, everything worked out. I was able to retrieved the two loads from the dryer before Mark returned. Put the clothes away. Then showered and got dressed for dinner. It's another formal night so a lot of people dressed up. We headed to the dining room at 6 pm. Our dinner mates were no where in sight. We thought maybe they selected another dining venue, but they were enjoying the Captains party perk for their higher Cunard status. They had enjoyed a few glasses of champagne at the party. We got to hear a lot more funny stories and had a string trio performing during dinner.
We decided to skip the Broadway singer performance tonight. We came back to our cabin and changed into warmer clothes and headed up to Deck 7 for another deck walk. We both got bundled up but when we got to Deck 7, it was raining. We climbed up to a protected area, but I was not liking the stiff breeze. We walked to another deck and again, it was protected, but still cold and wet. So, we gave up. Went and got some soft serve ice cream. Mark had a coffee. Then we took some water back to our cabin. As Mark checked out our movie choices, he found the movie we watched the other day. We got to see the start, which we missed last time. We are watching, Book of Love, once again. We had a message on our phone telling us that we are Silver card holders and that our new cards are available at the Purser Desk. We will get them tomorrow. Thanks for the emails and messages. We are trying not to use up our wifi, so we have enough to post our blogs. We have one more day at sea before arriving in Corner Brook, Newfoundland. We fall back one hour as the time changes once again. Enjoy your day!