Patterns InSight

Hi firefly333, At night it's gotten as cool as the upper-50s, but if you're outside it can feel cooler than that with a strong breeze or wind. I only brought short sleeves, a fleece hoodie, and a light jacket, and anytime I've been cool I just throw the fleece hoodie over my shirt and I've been OK. I think our cruise has been a bit cooler because the Captain took a more northerly route. When I did the Symphony transatlantic last year - which was a few weeks prior to this one - the Captain stuck to a more southerly route and I remember it being much warmer. It does get windy on the pool deck depending on what way the ship's going and what way the wind is blowing. Sometimes it's pretty calm, but on the first day or two, there was quite a strong breeze. It's not so bad when the sun is out. The Azores wasn't a planned stop and we didn't dock there (Oasis is too large to dock there) - we diverted that way due to a medical emergency and sat offshore while the lifeboat transported an injured passenger ashore.

I'm currently on Oasis of the Seas, as we get closer to Spain on our transatlantic crossing. Seas were a bit rough the first couple days but mellowed out since then. We've had some "excitement": two separate medical evacs that required diverting off course (first to Bermuda, then to the Azores Islands). Apparently I was thinking it would be warmer on this cruise as I only packed short sleeve shirts; since leaving Miami, it quickly dropped down to the 60s. We've been jumping our clocks ahead by an hour most days at 2 p.m. as we ease our way towards Barcelona's time zone. That's screwed up my sleep schedule a bit, which resulted in me being wide awake at 4 a.m. this morning. I took advantage of the sleep insomnia to grab my camera and wander around the ship for a couple hours, shooting photos and videos. It's really surreal - and even a bit spooky - to see these massive ships in the middle of the night with no sign of passengers. But it's also a very peaceful time to explore the ship. I edited together a short video showing what Oasis looked like early this morning and posted it to YouTube. (Uploading a 4K video from the ship's WiFi was an exercise in patience!) Feel free to check it out. I'll also drop in some of the photos I shot. I love these transatlantic cruises. I took the Symphony of the Seas transatlantic to Barcelona last spring and that was great too.