Yesterday was our second day in Cabo San Lucas, and we spent it puttering around the ship. I tend to get up earlier than Lis, and so I’ll take my netbook up to the pool deck and write the blog for the previous day. Yesterday morning, after posting the blog, I came back to the room, and noticed that Lis had put the “Do Not Disturb” sign out, which struck me as odd, but maybe she wanted to make sure she could sleep in. I attempted to open the door with my keycard, but it didn’t work. This is not unusual – the doors often take a few tries before they’ll open – so I tried again, oh, about A MILLION TIMES, before I finally noticed that I was at the wrong room. Oops!! :( About 5 minutes later, Lis and I walked by this room again on the way to breakfast – “Do Not Disturb” sign was gone and the little faux-newspaper had been taken in. You’re welcome, neighbor :)

After breakfast we lay around the pool for a while. Lis actually attempted to swim laps, and I think mostly succeeded in getting in a workout, but she had to contend with some rude and/or oblivious behavior from some of her poolmates.

(An aside: the 2 luxury lines we like are Regent and this line, Crystal – we’ve sailed both twice. And it’s interesting the differences between the 2 lines vis-a-vis passenger behavior. On Regent, everyone is nice but indifferent – no one is rude to you, but no one is especially friendly, either. On Crystal, most everyone is nice, a few people are really friendly, and a few people are really rude. All in all, I think I prefer the Regent way…)

We had lunch in the Lido buffet (we’ve been having most breakfasts and lunches in the Lido, and are quite happy with it. Often I find cruise ships’ buffets awful, but Crystal has very good food, and this extends to the buffet. My only complaint is that it can at times be a little clamorous if you don’t time it right) and then hung out in the room in the afternoon.

For dinner we had reservations at the other specialty restaurant, Prego. Lis had talked with the maitre d’ yesterday and so had already pre-ordered her meal so that they could make it dairy free. The head waiter came over and reviewed her order, and spent a lot of time talking with us and going over everything to make sure it was all OK – we was very attentive, and also rather handsome, which is always a nice little bonus.

Lis had the antipasti appetizer and the spaghetti pescatore for her entree. I very bravely ordered a scallop appetizer (I’m not a seafood fan in general), and found that I enjoyed it very much. For my main entree, I had a butternut squash risotto that was delicious but rich – couldn’t eat it all. For dessert we both had strawberry sorbet with prosecco, and it was DIVINE! Probably the best dessert I’ve had so far, and I have had some lovely desserts.

After dinner we just wandered around the ship, stopping to listen to music, browse the ship’s stores, look at the passenger photos from formal night – it was quite pleasant. And, I made a happy discovery. Often we like to sit and watch the ball room dancing after dinner, but by doing so you are likely to run afoul of the gentlemen hosts – older men who know how to dance, and who get reduced or free cruise fare in exchange for spending the evenings dancing with the lady passengers. If you are female and sitting in the vicinity of the dance floor, you are likely to be asked to dance at least once, and maybe more, by the various gentlemen hosts. And they don’t go down without a fight, either – “I can teach you! It’s easy!” But this trip, I’m still in my walking boot from my recent ankle sprain (tendon is healing slowly, and the physical therapist said to wear it for a few more weeks). So when the gentlemen host came, I smiled and said thank you and pointed to my boot, and he just WENT AWAY! I told Lis (she had gone to the dining room to talk about the next day’s menu) and she was jealous. But I think I’ve hit on something for next time – I’ll have an Ace bandage wrap on my ankle, and Lis can wear a sling, and we’ll be able to watch the dancing in safety :)

As we were walking back to our room, Lis said, “I have a surprise for you!” Previously we had been commiserating about how sad it was that we weren’t going to having the Chateaubriande again. But, my sweetie had special ordered it for us – we will be having Chateaubriande for Thursday’s dinner – can’t wait!!