Now I’m having wireless access problems today. Basically just an uneventful day at sea… sunny, cloudless skies and smooth seas.
Will update this tomorrow when I can get the WiFi working again.
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UPDATED (WiFi Now Working):
After sailing through the Plata most of the night, we awoke to a clear and sunny sky in the southern Atlantic Ocean. The seas are (currently) smooth, running 4-5ft.
We had breakfast in the Oceanview Cafe, which is Infinity’s buffet. The food presentation, selection variety, and passenger flow (around “action stations”) are all good. The actual quality/taste seems to be a bit uneven. For example, the waffle station is one of the best at sea with a wide variety of toppings (e.g., lemon cream cheese, butter cream, orange cream, whipped cream… not to mention equally copious amounts of fruits, nuts, and sauces). By contrast, the potatoes we’ve eaten—both at breakfast and lunch yesterday—were, umm, “al dente.” No bueno.
After breakfast and a stop for gourmet coffee, we returned to our cabin to allow Emerson to play and (later) take her morning nap.
Between transferring to the ship and getting settled yesterday, I didn’t have much of a chance to talk about the Celebrity Infinity and our accommodations. I’ll talk about the ship tomorrow, but I’ll describe our cabin now. In a word: spacious. We’re in cabin #6001. It’s an ocean view stateroom (large, round window, but no balcony) at the very front of the ship that looks forward out over the bow. Based on my research, I understood that #6001 was larger than typical staterooms with more far more indoor floor space than even a balcony cabin. It was also ~$800/pp. less at the time of booking. So, we’ve gotten more (room) for less (money). Even with Emerson’s pack ‘n play, there’s plenty of floor space for her to play and us to move around. There’s also more than ample storage. Admittedly Libby and I are light packers (no formal night for us!), but we have unused drawers and cabinet space – even with all of the baby paraphernalia. The décor is tasteful: light wood tones, bronze/gold and blue fabrics. And, it feels suitably nautical. Infinity is due for dry dock in November, and I’ve heard others describe her as being a bit threadbare and in need of a refresh. Perhaps that’s true compared to other X ships, but I’d say that she compares very well to ships we’ve experienced in NCL’s, RCI’s, and HAL’s fleets. Here’s a photo of the cabin:
Back to today…
At 10am, while Emerson napped with Libby, I attended a “Celebrity Life” event – a geologist from the Smithsonian Institute, Jim Zimbelman, gave a talk about the geology (what else?) of South America and Antarctica. It was an informative talk with interesting factoids, like Antarctica is the premier source for collecting meteorites on Earth.
We went to the art history lecture at noon. The lecturer, the ship’s art auctioneer, was… well… pretty much a moron. Left early. Took the complimentary mimosa with me.
At 1pm, Emerson and I went to lunch while Libby attended a lecture on whales. The whale talk was very good (I caught a re-run on TV). It was delivered by a humorous British biologist… more (probably useless, but interesting) factoids. As for lunch, E and I ate a steak sandwich with peppers, onions, and mushrooms. Yes, this is what I fed to a baby. What can I say? She has to learn sometime. And, she liked it.
At 3:15, I went to a geography talk delivered by an Australian physicist. It was marginally amusing, but it lacked the substance of the presentations from domain experts. And, truth be told, I probably could have delivered it better, which makes me think I need to get a port lecturer gig in retirement. 
Tonight was formal night in the main dining room, which we skipped. Instead, we went back to the buffet for dinner. It was blissfully devoid of other patrons, thereby allowing us to eat without fearing that Emerson would suddenly turn into a disgruntled howler monkey.
Tomorrow’s another day at sea… I’ll plan to talk a bit more about the ship then.
