Life is what you make it!

We have two Sea days as we move even closer to Antartica. Our next stop is still in Argentina at Puerto Madryn.

We've been on our journey for a month now and we have met lots of interesting people from all over the world. It's part of the enjoyment of travel. As Eleanor Roosevelt once said, "Life is what you make it. Always has been, always will be." The saying means that individuals have the power to shape their own lives and determine their own destiny. It emphasizes the importance of personal responsibility and the idea that individuals have control over their own happiness. With this ship carrying 2578 passengers, there are many who share our happiness, and yet there are bound to be a few "whiners" onboard.

• One lady is whining about the "supposed caste system" - the fact that some cruisers are getting special treatment. Such as the members of the loyalty program who have achieved the highest status - 700 points (that's one point per cruise day OR 100 weeks of cruising with Royal Caribbean). Now, I'd say they earned special treatment with that kind of investment!

• But the one I really want to mention is the guy who sits at Rita's Cantina in the AM and whines about virtually everything ... the carpet smells funny, the man above him does Yoga at 1AM, the food doesn't taste good, the drinks are diluted. You name it, he doesn't like it. He usually sits alone, behind us at dinner time.

We look forward to dinner .. not just because of the great meals but it's been a delight to engage with our waiters, Shangam from Nepal and Fizri, his assistant.They take REALLY good care of us. Shangam likes to say "okey dokey" and Fizri understands and meets our every need including "travelers". I may have mentioned we sit next to a family from Switzerland. Every night brings more conversation, laughter and our German lesson. The children are extremely well-behaved and are teaching us a new German word each day. Here's a photo of the family I took with their permission on the first day with my new Ray-Ban "smart glasses."

It's customary for the waiters to change the stations they serve after each mini-segment. January 5th ended one segment and on January 6th a new one began. We asked our head waiter if we could keep our same table next to our "German instructors" and keep our waiters. Keeping the same table wasn't a problem but the waiters were to be assigned to a different section. So, imagine our surprise when we came to our usual table on Saturday and found the head waiter arranged for us to keep not only our table but also our same waiters! When our friends arrived they were equally surprised. We all cheered and let it be known how happy we all were. One thing about this cruise is the crew does absolutely everything to ensure that we're happy.

Oh, except of course for the "Whiner" who is never happy. He came to the table and asked Juergen if he understood English and then proceeded to tell him that he was "too loud". [As Gleness and Milton, our cruising buddies from Australia know, this may not be the first time we were "a little" on the boisterous side.] Those of you who know Jeff know he couldn't resist making a comment to the guy as he left the dining room. He said something to the effect of "do you complain about the noise when the waiters sing happy birthday too". The whiner merely responded with more whining.

It doesn't end there. They say revenge is sweet and I had some ear plugs in a package labeled as "quiet please". I wanted to place them at his table with a note "Compliments of tables 161 and 162". But thought better than to "poke the bear." So, you can imagine our sheer delight last night when Shangam delivered a birthday cake to Anna-Sophie and every table around us joined in the rousing chorus of Happy Birthday. [The best part ... It wasn't her birthday.] Ah, yes, Life is sweet. I wonder whose birthday is next?!?!