Another day at sea. The ocean was choppy so the ship rolled a bit. We lost another hour of sleep – our 5th – so we got up late and barely made it to breakfast before the buffet closed at 11am. We spent some time in the casino, of course. I am still, inexplicably, ahead, though by less than $100. Marlene is down. Way down.

We attended a special event for “diamond” and “platinum” passengers. I am not sure what is required to attain that status. I am merely “gold” but came as the guest of Marlene who is “platinum”. We met Donald, who was taking his 52nd transatlantic cruise. Some people spend a LOT of time on ships.

After dinner we attended a variety show by Jonathon Timpanelli. He was terrific, belting out tunes by Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Dean Martin and others. Then we saw a comedy show with a comedian whose name escapes me. He was funny but, in my opinion, not as funny as Lance Montalto.

Another fine day at sea. The weather was beautiful and the ocean was calm – “like glass” according to Marlene. I did a lot of reading, finishing Chasing the Dime by Michael Connelly, and we managed to snag one of the slots for a caricature. That wasn’t easy. The “sign-up time” was posted on the calendar as 11:45 am, but we went down on Sunday at 11:45 and learned that to have a chance we would have to arrive before 11:15. We got in line Monday at 11:10 and got the last slot of the day, at 3 pm.

We killed time by having lunch and going to the casino (down $45 now). But we got the caricature done at 3 pm, had a nap and went to dinner. One of the perks of Marlene being a gambler is that we got a free bottle of wine at dinner. Marlene doesn’t drink wine, so I had it all to myself. A very nice sauvignon blanc from California.

The theater show was “Love and Marriage” where 3 couples of varying marriage lengths – 5 weeks, 10 years and 57 years – guessed the response of the other to provocative questions such as “What was the name of the husband’s last girlfriend before you were married? And what hashtag would you use to describe her?” The couple married for 57 years had an exact match – the full name and #townwhore. It was all very funny.

We then finished the evening at “Carnival Quest” which was an R-rated scavenger hunt with teams of 5 to 9 passengers. One of the requested items was “3 unused bras” and women actually disrobed to remove their bras. It is amazing what people will do on a cruise that they would never do at home.

We are now nearly halfway to the Azores with a lot of water under our hull – over 17,000 feet. This was another fairly quiet day. Lots of reading. Some casino time, too. I am now officially losing, but only by about $20. We both had tilapia for dinner. Very good. We saw another theater show after dinner – “Getaway Island” featuring many tropical songs. Very nicely done.

After dinner we danced a bit. Marlene even did some line dancing. Not me.

This was a “do nothing” day. Eat, sleep, read and lose money in the casino. I am still up, but barely. The weather contributed to the general miasma: cloudy and cool with intermittent showers.

Our first full day on the Pride. We had breakfast in the buffet and met a lovely woman from Michigan, Amy, who was traveling alone and made arrangements to dine with her at dinner. It was a formal night so Marlene and Amy were both dressed to the nines. I was definitely the thorn between two roses. A guy asked me how HE could get two lovely women. I said “be me.”

After dinner we all went to the show – “88 Keys”, a tribute to piano classics. The voices were terrific, as was the piano playing. I was also impressed by the staging. Very professional. It was, hands down, the best cruise production I have seen since before COVID. Near the theater was a little hallway called, I believe, Serenity Garden. Empty but I thought it was lovely. Very tasteful.

We stopped in one of the nightclubs on the way back to the room. The band was playing some very danceable music, which we could not resist. We danced. And danced some more. Then we met the band. From Argentina. I think we will be dancing to their music many more times on this cruise.

We spent quite a bit of time in the casino. I think Marlene is down some but the slots continued to be kind to me. I ended the day up $123. It won’t last.