Atlantic Crossing - Part Five

The Ocean View Cafe. Aft, 14th deck. The largest restaurant on the ship. The only sizable restaurant with an exterior component. Fifteenth deck, at the rear of the ship, tapers outward to provide cover for 14, which is a covered terrace and partly open to the elements. Tables at which you can eat, read or write. And soft couches and cushy armchairs with coffee tables. Or, if you prefer, as we discovered, laying down for a quiet afternoon nap on the couches. Much softer than the deck chaises available in so many other areas of the ship and not much in demand. Possibly because all of the time we were mid-Atlantic it just wasn't that warm outside. It's certainly was not where you would want to be when the wind is blowing like it's been blowing so far.

Mel heads to the fresh fruit. Cottage cheese, pineapple, melons of various sorts, nuts and berries. Who was she trying to kid? (Although any time you can avoid all other temptations was absolutely a good thing.) I'm over at the scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage --- two types --- boudin en blanc avec caramelized onions, broiled tomato, mushrooms, (very English breakfast) smoked salmon with chopped egg, capers, minced onion, chopped parsley and lemon AND une petit morseau du pickled herring. 'Cause it's good for you. And should, theoretically, counter all that's bad for you. Right.

Well, you would think after all that, it would be directly back to bed. But no. Mel hopped on the phone and signed up for time in the art studio later that afternoon. I headed to the 12th deck. Midships. To the massively huge, outdoor entertainment facility. Just a detail to clarify for those really keeping track: there is no 13th. For the same old, same old as everywhere else. The 14th deck, outside the Ocean View, aft, had a small staircase down towards the 12th deck midships.

Taking that staircase, you would land smack dab in the middle of the outdoor pools, hot tubs and sun decks. Stay to the outside of the 14th deck, thereby avoiding the staircase, you could walk clear around the entire facility looking down on the recreation area below. Down on to the pools. And there's three total --- two outdoor and one completely enclosed further towards the bow. Finding sun, shade, quiet, busy, indoor, outdoor, with music, or without, is often simply a function of cloudy or not.

At the moment it was not only cloudy but there was a storm raging. Indoor pool best, me thought. There are four hot tubs accompanying the two outdoor pools. The indoor one has two hot tubs. I set up around the perimeter. Up against the floor-to-ceiling glass panels overlooking the sea rolling by are these large, futon-like pods. Each one easily held two people. King-size, and round. And they sat up on a base of teak two feet from the deck, with a beautifully soft mattress and a canvas, telescoping lid, that folds up and down like a shell. You put the lid up and it completely engulfs you on three sides, open only to the ocean view. I swear you could do just about anything you might be so inclined to do in there and no one, anywhere, would be the wiser. Unless of course there happened to be an audio component to whatever it was you chose to do. In which case there was a fire hose cabinet nearby and I expect you'd find yourself doused and blown away by the ship's Fun Police in minutes.

I made my first attempt at getting the WiFi operating so I could Facetime the kids. No go. I realize quickly that WiFi is not something readily available. It was something that you have to pay for. I had a bad feeling that this is going to be another one of those things that just ain't cheap on a ship.