New Year's Eve at Sea!

Dessert after the steak dinner.

Today was mostly simple, with sleeping, eating, some trivia, all tied together with free drinks.  But the restaurants were going to be busy, so it was hard to get a good reservation except super early or very late (like who wants to eat dinner at 5, on NYE, or at 8:40?).  So, we tried to keep to an early schedule on meals so we’d be more or less ready for dinner at 5.  Even so, it took nearly 2 hours at the steak restaurant and we had way too much food.  Theresa’s Lobster Tail was fantastic!  Bill’s NY Strip was OK. 

We didn’t exactly get the evening nap we hoped for after dinner.  We went to a trivia quiz for events in 2024.  Then they had a game sort of like the Newlyweds Game from the 70s.  The couple sitting next to us for the trivia was selected for the game and they actually won.  But they got an (open for some reason) bottle of champagne.  They don’t drink champagne so they bequeathed it to us (like we needed a whole bottle!).  Anyway, Bill ran it up to the room and we met in the theatre for the show which was singing and dancing (maybe should have kept the bottle?).  After the show, we went back to the room to chill a bit before heading out to deal with lots of people (recall we're both introverts).

OK, we're almost ready to deal with people!

A mosh pit!

Before getting to the top deck, another couple said it was a madhouse and they were heading down to find a bar since it was so hard to get a drink up top.  So, down we went to get two drinks and two bottles of water.  Back up on Deck 15, we could overlook the press of people surrounding the pool, some dancing, some swaying, some standing like trees.  We found a spot where we could see the giant TV and watched the count down.  It was already down to 7-8 minutes before midnight by the time we were situated.

We found a spot to watch the count down.

Pool time!!

They showed where all of the ships were for NYE.

At the stroke of midnight (by the ship’s clock, but not by our phones), the captain blew the ships horn, and people went a little nuts.  Kids were jumping into the pool…most with full clothes on. 

A midnight snack.

After 5-10 minutes past midnight, and a few texts to people we didn’t suspect would be woken, we headed to the buffet, because, well, midnight, of course!!  It was kind of funny—it was a buffet of “what do drunk people want”!  Mostly fried foods, and such were the fare.  We got a few bites, and headed down to our room.  We had a little champagne, and just relaxed. 

Happy New Year!!