Wow, what a surprise when we got to the ship yesterday. We were upgraded to the Penthouse!

We had no idea it was coming. We got a message at our hotel in Rome from our travel agent, but it read, “The have a new cabin on the sheep. The pint hose.”

We pretty much understood that “sheep” was “ship” but the pint hose thing we didn’t get. I was thinking “pint-sized house” like maybe we were getting an even smaller cabin than usual. But no! Donna, our wonderful TA, got us da best place in da house!

You know, I’ve always hated reading travelogues and other stories about people getting upgraded. I thought they had connections, blah, blah, blah.

But now I know that it can happen to ordinary people who aren’t best friends with the cruise line president or any other president, for that matter. And now, when someone asks, how did you get upgraded like that? I can answer, truly,

“I don’t know.”

But here we are, and now I’m tempted to forego all those shore excursions we signed up for and just hang out on the balcony for the next twelve days. Just as soon as it stops raining…and warms up a bit. I didn’t know May in Italy could be so cold (it’s been around 60 with rain and wind. Mamma mia!)

All this room! I’m used to cabins with stand-up showers in the corner and a curtain that blows in on you unless you aim the shower head at it. This penthouse puppy has a Jacuzzi – it doesn’t seem to work but, hey, it’s still a big tub, right?

And it has a huge, four-door wardrobe closet instead of a big open spot with a pole and no hangers. But the seas were angry last night, my friend, and our ship rolled around like crazy. The wardrobe doors banged open and shut continually and nothing would keep them permanently closed no matter how many times I got up to try.

I swear I didn’t sleep more than twenty minutes at a time. But it’s the penthouse! So there’s definitely large gulps of lemonade along with the little tiny lemon slices. And I think the sun is trying to come out…