Started the new year off the coast of Copacabana Beach in Rio, Brazil. Incredible views and had some prime real estate to enjoy the show and ring in the new year.
New Years Fireworks
Wandered around the ship looking for a perfect spot and honestly should’ve stuck with my gut and stayed on deck 5 where there were less people.
Ended up setting up shop on Deck 12 around 9 PM and shot some night photography and played with the light. Little hard as the ship was rocking pretty hard at times.
Some fun shots of Christ the Redeemer as it changed color over the night as well.
Fireworks were great. Threw away a ton of photos cause of the ship drift, but these were still fun.
Daytime in the New Year
Tried to sleep in but right at 10AM I awoke abruptly to a very loud ringing. I reached around my head till I grabbed the room phone and answered groggily.
It was guest services wanting to let me know that I wouldn’t be able to leave the ship with luggage on the 6th (as I’ve already thoroughly documented, I already knew this). I told them I already knew and thanked them for the call.
I tried to go back to sleep, but after tossing and turning for an hour I gave up and resigned myself to the fact I was awake.
Took some advil for the headache I now had from the abrupt wake up, and wandered down for a chai and then stopped at the front desk where I asked them to make a note not to call my stateroom before noon unless it was an emergency 🤣.
The Great Diet Coke Shortage of 2023
I haven’t written about it, but about 4 days ago the ship apparently ran out of cans of Diet Coke (honestly I didn’t even know you can get cans on a cruise until this one).
Apparently, its hard to do demand planning for a new cruise with a very different population than normal. There were rumors they were going to restock in Rio, but at dinner yesterday they still didn’t have any.
But FRIENDS….do not fear, for 2024 brings glad tidings and great news…for behold…the cans are back.
Running Update
Since the track was a cluster last night with so many people, I set out to complete Run 2 of the Dopey Challenge (the 10K).
Unfortunately, it was not as cool as the previous day and it was blazing hot but I put in my 41 and 1/3 laps around the track.
Sunset
After a quick shower, walked up on the deck outside to catch the sunset.
Football!
Headed to the pub to catch both CFP games and had a blast with no vested interest in any of the teams. Pub was split almost in half of Michigan and Alabama fans so every play brought celebrations and tears.
Great games though. Lots of fun watching with people again.
Food
Dinner was GREAT! scallops for appetizer and blueberry cobbler for dessert. for entree, I got the special. Sangam had me at Beef Brisket, but added fuel to the fire by finishing the sentence with “w Mac and Cheese”. So good.
More Running
Currently doing Run 3 of the Dopey Challenge (Half Marathon), and writing the blog post during the walk intervals. Map update tomorrow.
Pretty nice outside, still humid but cooler and we’re just kinda drifting toward our destination so not too much wind either.
On the way up to the track, I did see some more cute towel animals as well as a tiny one.
Vibe Check
4 parts joy
1 part anger (for the wake up call)
Feedback
Leave a comment or question if you have any thoughts! Anything you want to know about as we go around the world? Any things you want to share as feedback, or any images that particularly spoke to you. I’ll try to read all of them as time permits!
Matti 
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