AT SEA, THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE, FORMAL NIGHT

Sunday, January 18, 2026
Enchanted Princess/At Sea/Caribbean Sea
79F, sunny, a little chop in the sea

First, sleeping on a ship is the best—the motion of the sea is very lulling, and I always sleep better on a cruise.  However, we forgot to set our clocks forward one hour last night to accommodate the Atlantic Standard Time Zone. During sea days that doesn’t matter all that much because we really do not have a pressing agenda. An extra hour of sleep never hurts anyone.

As his routine, wonderful TK went to the International Café for coffee and brought me a cup back with him. That gave me time to shower and put 10 pounds of makeup on so I might look presentable for the day.

We did nothing but relax while we passed through the Bermuda Triangle, known for unusual activity since the days of exploration by Christopher Columbus.

For lunch we visited the Amalfi dining room for a burger and “colossal fries,” my favorite—they are the seasoned fries like those at the Beechwood Inn, the Shrine Club, and a few other restaurants in Erie.  Our service was excellent.

By the main pool

Forum Area

One of several shops

Clothing, jewelry, cosmetics, watches,

t-shirts, sun glasses, liquor, 

candy, sundries, and more

shops all over

At 4 p.m. we attended the “Veterans and Military Personnel Get Together,” a meeting we always like.  Champagne was served for those who wanted it, and each veteran could speak about his service. About 30 veterans attended, many with their wives. There was one woman veteran who served 36 years in the U.S. Army.  The Marines, Navy, Army, National Guard, and Air Force were all represented, from the Vietnam era to Desert Storm.  

From an intelligence officer embedded in the Vietnamese Army, a combat radio operator, one who spent 20 years on nuclear submarines, a combat photographer who served in Italy with no combat but his photos were used by the AP and Stars and Stripes, and a sniper, to a broadcast specialist on Armed Forces radio, all had interesting stories, albeit brief.  And of course, my favorite sailor, a boiler tender on the USS Columbus, 1968-1972, in the Mediterranean.  One speaker stated that there are now only 45,000 living WWII veterans out of 16 million who served.  He also mentioned that one of his friends, a veteran of WWII, Korean War, and Vietnam War, who received a Purple Heart in each war, just passed away at 99 years old.  That is almost unbelievable. My Uncle Robert Phillips served in all those three wars, too, but did not have any injuries.  

Formal Dinner.  Donna arranged for a different table so all 12 of us could sit together and now we have two different servers who seem more attentive.  It was formal night, which does not mean what it used to. We saw shorts and jeans.  To tell the truth we do not dress as formally as we used to. For our first cruises, we even rented a tux for TK.  No more of that!

You can imagine the usual dynamic banter between old friends. Tonight Brian K introduced us to a Brondell bidet available at Costco which can be hooked up to a toilet without a plumber.  He has one in each bathroom at his home in California.  That led to a lot of discussion about restrooms in Europe, Donna’s hot tub adventures, and more.

We decided to reenact a favorite photo of when the six of us were in San Diego 16 years ago/2010. We cruised from San Diego along the Pacific coast of Mexico, including Acapulco. When we returned to San Diego, Brian and Nancy toted us around in this big truck, all six. We did so many things, Coronado Beach, the San Diego Zoo, In & Out Burger, Old Town San Diego, and more, but a special memory was eating at the Corvette Diner and the photo we took there.

Corvette Diner, San Diego/2010

Front: Brian/Lawrence

Back: TK, Nancy, Janie, Donna

Amalfi Dining Room, Enchanted Princess/2026

Front: Brian/Lawrence

Back: TK, Nancy, Janie, Donna

(photo by Denise G)

WHAT BEVERAGE IS THIS?

We had fantastic guesses for the beverage that Lawrence was served at the Amalfi Dining Room the first night.

       The Guesses:
·         Fresh mango juice
·         Pink grapefruit juice
·         Pomegranate juice with orange juice on top
·         Blood orange juice
·         A combo of blood orange juice and pink grapefruit juice
·         Pink lemonade

What was it??

ICED TEA!  Can you believe it??

Thank you for your guesses!! Everyone at dinner questioned the way it looked, and our server told us it was Italian Iced Tea. What??? She also said tea was like that all over the ship and no one liked it. Lawrence did not drink the iced tea, bottom line!

TK’s Takes:  We forgot to set the clocks back. We did not even go near the buffet today.  Sat around the main pool. My favorite 4 cheese pizza was available at the pool area (and he  had a slice).