9/29/10 – Day 5 – Perfect day for Cruising

     Today was a beautiful day as we traveled just to north of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands.  Once again, the seas were calmed.  The sun came out and was shining bright.  The temperature rose to the upper 60s.  And, more importantly, we had some really nice times with both family and friends.  My folks and I discussed our plans for some of our upcoming ports of call, as well as had the opportunity to play some board games together.  Should I mention that I won our game of Scrabble by 80 points?  Well, I guess I just did.  Beating my father in Scrabble is not an easy task. 

     So my father mentioned something to the cruise staff about the need for the younger passengers to get together.  And, as a result, there was a 40s and under gathering this evening at 9:30, which I attended.  For a while, I was the only paying passenger there.  Adel, the assistant cruise director hosted the event.  For the first half hour, it was just her, I, and two other gals (one who works as a fitness instructor on the ship and the other whose husband works as an engineer on the boat).  Eventually, we were joined by a couple who just barely met the criteria, Mark and Robyn from San Diego, who were both 49.  Later another guy joined us that was in his mid 50s, whom we welcomed him even though he was above the age requirement for the event.  Finally, the two female singers from the ship’s entertainment cast joined us.  Overall, it ended up being a rather nice gathering, even though all of those who were 48 or under, besides myself, were ship staff.  About 11:00 pm, Robyn (from San Diego) led us all over to another area of the room where there were Birthday decorations and a cake...at midnight, it would be her husband, Mark’s, 50^th birthday and this was a little thing she had planned to help celebrate with whomever happened to be there at the time.  So, the group all stuck around until after midnight to celebrate Mark’s birthday.  It was a lot of fun, and as I mentioned earlier, a very nice evening with new friends.