It was a comfortable and warm day at sea with temps in the low 70’s, less humidity and 10.3 mph winds. It did remain cloudy most of the day. We finally met fellow diners Carol and Pat, often seen on other world cruises, but never formally met. They are among the loyal diners for breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill and are also members of the President’s Club. We shared the story of the fire on the Diamond Princess back in 2002, and the reason for the switch of names. Cathy and Mike, who sit next to us at breakfast, chimed in and said they could verify what we said, since they were there as well. We agree that it is nice that we all remember that trip like it was yesterday.
It seemed like people were anxious to leave the room because Culinary Ambassador Chef Morimoto was scheduled to prepare seared Kyushu tuna in the World Stage at 10am. It seems to be a big deal that he is onboard, which if you love fish dishes, it would be a big deal. Sorry, that’s not us. However, there will be a total of three days in a row that Morimoto by Sea has taken over the Pinnacle Grill at dinnertime. A few years ago, this venue was filled by Rudy’s Sel De Mer. We have heard that he is on the Princess ships these days. We miss seeing his specially-designed charger plates.
It was a good day to work on pictures and catch up on research and document the upcoming tours from Shore Excursions. We enjoyed a room service lunch after 2pm with one salad, which was custom-made and a club sandwich. We can verify that the salads that are offered by room service are the best, even better then the ones at dinner in the dining room and fresher than in the Lido. And by keeping out of the Lido during the lunch service, we are not tempted by cookies and ice cream cones.
Captain Frank gave his sea day report saying the ship was doing 17.5 knots with 271 nautical miles to reach Shimizu tomorrow morning. We were currently sailing 28 miles from land and were close to Hiroshima. It was overcast with high clouds and 70 degrees. The sea swells were 5 feet high with 20 knot winds, which increased from this morning. The Mein Schiff 6 will also be docked in Shimizu where both ships will be docked portside.
Josh had a talk on Shimizu, a new stop for us, and Yokohama for Tokyo. We will catch up with that at 10pm when it shows up on our room TV. That works out better for us since we can rerun the talk and get the details much better. The trick is to stay awake. We decided to add some more yen to our wallets just in case the credit card did not work.
This evening was labeled “formal” and was for the Cherry Blossom Masquerade whatever? to follow dinnertime after 8:30pm. Passengers were asked to don a mask and dress to impress for a night of mystery and excitement. So was this a “ball” like they usually have, or not? So far we have not talked to anyone that attended. There was music provided by the group Vivace beginning at 8pm. And as usual, this event was held mostly for the convenience of the early diners and not the second seating guests. We foresee the day when the ship goes to anytime dining all of the time on both levels of the dining room.
There was no World Stage entertainment due to the Masquerade Affair.
Looking forward to a new port tomorrow…Shimizu with a view of Mt. Fuji, a mere 14 miles away (weather-permitting).
Bill & Mary Ann
No Pictures
