At Sea Days #4&5: Crossing the Tropic of Cancer aboard Costa Pacifica

My certificate from Costa Pacifica for crossing the Tropic of Cancer — My certificate from Costa Pacifica
for crossing the Tropic of Cancer

April 4-5, 2019

ABOARD COSTA PACIFICA IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN – My cruiseship crossed the Tropic of Cancer while I slept, marking a milestone on our way from the Caribbean Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. I tried out two new dining venues and continued working away on travel planning for my next three trips as we spent our fourth and fifth days at sea.

Got up at 7 p.m. April 4 aboard Costa Pacifica. While I slept this morning, we crossed the Tropic of Cancer. This is the fourth day at sea during the trans-Atlantic voyage from St. Lucia to the Canary Islands after we departed La Romana, Dominican Republic, March 25 and visited six Caribbean islands.

I went up to the dinner buffet to grab my breakfast. Then went outside to read Lonely Planet’s Budapest & Hungary guidebook. Mom and I will be in our ancestral homeland next month. Temperature was a pleasant 68°.

Reading about Hungary during At Sea Day #4

Sat down to lunch at 12:46 a.m. April 5 (At Sea Day #5) at Pummid’oro, Costa Pacifica’s pizza cafe. It’s open until 1 a.m. and is the only dining option at that hour. A pizza and dessert costs €8.50 ($9.47), but I received a 50% discount as a Costa Club member.

Late-night lunch at Costa Pacifica’s pizzeria

I ordered the “Rucola e Gamberi” pizza, which has mozzarella, shrimps, and “rocket” (the British term for arugula). An unusual combination of toppings, but the pizza tasted good.

For dessert, I ate a lemon tart plus some pineapple.

Late-night lunch dessert at Costa Pacifica’s pizzeria

As most other passengers went into dreamland, I went to the Deck 4 conference room at 1:52 p.m. to work on my Senegal and The Gambia itinerary. I’ll be visiting those West African nations immediately after this cruise terminates April 11 in Barcelona, Spain.

Took a break at 6:18 a.m. to jog on Deck 4, the lifeboat deck. It doesn’t go all the way around the ship – there’s no access around the front – but it’s so much less windy than the marked jogging track up top in the open air. I jogged for 42 minutes. Watched sunrise at 6:48 as I exercised. Nothing special this morning due to heavy cloud cover.

Sunrise aboard Costa Pacific in the North Atlantic Ocean

Down to my cabin for a shower and to organize my laundry to send out. There’s a “magic bag” special where the crew will launder up to 25 items for €20 ($22.27). I’d much rather do my own laundry for free or a few dollars, but sadly Costa is among the cruiselines that does not offer self-service washers and dryers on its ships.

Went upstairs at 8:11 a.m. for my dinner – the breakfast service in the New York New York dining room.

Dinner (breakfast service) at Costa Pacifica’s New York New York dining room

Oh wow, this was so much better than the breakfast buffet upstairs! There was a good buffet set up and you could also order from a menu. A most excellent meal.

Back to the conference room at 8:59 to review shore-excursion options for the Danube River cruise Mom and I are doing later this month into early May. Excursions are included in the cruise fare with Ama Waterways, so it’s just a means of picking which one in each city you want to do.

Retreated to my cabin at 10:05 to get ready for bed. Tinkered some more with the cabin TV, but still could not get rid of the Costa settings blocking me from hooking up my laptop to the television via HDMI cable. I disconnected a wire during my troubleshooting, and now the TV has no display. Oops! I can’t figure out how to get it working again even when I reattach the wires.

Oh well – it serves Costa right. The next guest in my cabin will probably complain the TV doesn’t work! I’m so irritated with this first-ever HDMI blockade.

At 11 a.m., the ship’s time advanced one hour from GMT-1 to GMT. I reset my clock to noon. Watched videos before bed at 1:52 p.m.