Cruise to Alaska, Day 4 — September 2, 2024

We awoke to a view of fog from our balcony, lots of fog. Although I didn’t feel seasick, I began to feel somewhat off balance. I tried the ginger lozenges. When there was no improvement in how I was feeling, I tried a pressure band, and I applied a patch behind my ear. Throughout the cruise I would see patches behind the ears of many passengers. My friend Arlene had told me about a ReliefBand, which is worn on the wrist like a watch, and I started using that. I can’t tell whether one of these products worked well, or whether it was the combination of products, but I began to feel better.

We discovered that Dawn and Bunny weren’t in their stateroom. I remembered that Bunny had said she wanted to play bingo, but bingo didn’t begin until 10:30 AM. We waited, but when we didn’t see them, we went back to our stateroom. Our steward told us that at the Customer Service desk on Deck 7, someone could show us how to link our phones with Dawn’s. This seemed like a good idea, but her phone wasn’t turned on. We went back to our stateroom and resorted to old technology: I wrote a note asking her to turn on her phone and slipped it under her door. Eventually we linked up in person. Instead of bingo, they had gone to an origami class and made snowflakes. Soon it was time for lunch. Nick chose a Caesar salad, while I selected Indian food and a slice of watermelon.

Our ship would be heading toward Alaska for the entire day. Each day, passengers receive a list, both by app and on paper, of the day’s activities aboard the ship. While Nick went to a photography discussion, the three of us women went to the auditorium for an event for new Princess travelers. We met the ship’s social director, who introduced some of the crew’s officers, and we had to guess their positions. It was actually fun. Later we met up with Nick, who told us that he was the only attendee at the photography discussion, so he and the photographer picked each other’s brains.

There would be two “Formal Nights” during the cruise, and this was to be one of them. I asked someone in the elevator how formal we were expected to be, and her reply was that we shouldn’t worry, because although some passengers would be dressed as if they were attending a wedding, others wouldn’t be wearing formal clothes. Later, on our way to dinner, we found this to be true: there was a mixture of passengers who were dressed formally and casually. Our clothing was between those two extremes.

For dinner on formal nights, it’s possible to order specially prepared main courses. I chose tenderloin while Nick selected both grilled calamari (of which he gave me tastes) and tenderloin. They were wonderful.

After dinner, we attended the show in the Princess Theater. We would learn that each night, a 45-minute show would be presented, twice. The singing, dancing and costumes were excellent. I imagined each of the performers as teenagers in high school, with their parents driving them to their lessons in voice, dance, or music.