A 50th Birthday At Sea

The day after we left Alghero was a relaxing day at sea.  

 It was bright, sunny, and beautifully calm day in the Med.

It was also my 50th birthday.  

The door lock on the cabin cheerfully wished me a happy birthday:

Tash had managed to get a couple cheesecake muffins from the pastry shop, and garnished them with some maraschino cherries from one of the bars along the way, and thus continued our tradition of a cherry cheesecake for a family member's birthday, even at sea.

I then celebrated with a morning workout, followed by a more indulgent breakfast at the buffet, and then relaxing on deck reading books with the family in the sun.

After that we attended tea time, and then did some more walking around the ship, and shot some hoops on the basketball court.

Then we went to dinner.  We decided to splurge for my birthday and had reserved a table at the Crown Grill Steakhouse, one of the three premium restaurants on board.

To say the steak there was excellent would be an understatement. 

The steaks and service ranked up their with the best steakhouses anywhere. I had a porterhouse steak which was immense, flavorful, and cooked to perfection and one of the best steaks I've eaten, period.  

Also, I  got a birthday cake as a dessert which made it extra special.

If you're on a Princess cruise, a dinner at the Crown Grill is an excellent choice for a special night.  

After dinner, we went to one of the bars where some lively entertainment was going on.  

It was Princess' version of Fun with Flags.  Everyone participating got a paper and pencil and the host would put a picture of a flag on the screen up front and you had to guess what country it was.  To make it even more interesitng, he would add additional questions such as a famous singer from that country.  (ie the Jamaican flag was put up and Jamaica and then Bob Marley was the answer to question #2)

Lots of fun banter and humor during the game, and lots of flags of countries I had never seen before so it was challenging and fun, and the host occasionally gave some hints.  Lots of really tiny British ex-colonies have flags, as it turns out - the Brits on board knew them pretty well, but no one got all 10 countries along with all the extra facts but much fun was had.

After the game we then took it easy and relaxed, then played some craps at the casino, and then took a dip in the adults-only pool and then ended the night.

It was a most excellent birthday at sea.