You might ask how did it get to be February 3rd and it is Monday here? Well, simple. We have crossed the invisible International Dateline, where the day ends and the next day begins. It has to occur somewhere in the world, and it happens to be right here around the Tonga/ Samoa area. The clocks went ahead a full 24 hours or one day. Therefore, February 2nd, Sunday, did not exist for us. We do get the day back one hour at a time, as we have been doing since leaving Florida. It will take the complete circumnavigation to get all those hours back. Certificates arrived on or mailslot certifying that we did it at 2:30am last night.
The big event of the day is Superbowl XLVII, which if we receive the signal, will be shown in the Queens Lounge, Sports Bar, and on channel 33 in our staterooms. For the last couple of days, "super seats" were offered in the Queens Lounge for a price of $49.95. That would give you a priviledged front row seat with unlimited drinks priced under $7. for the duration of the game. Butler service included. You would have to be a serious drinker to break even on that deal, or not mind the hangover later on.
 |
| The room began to fill with the fans. |
 |
| They came for games and food. |
 |
The games were on stage
|
 |
| Pre-game TV |
 |
| National anthem sung by Renee, an accomplished opera singer |
Another deal offered was the same unlimited drink package for $34.95, but no special seating, and no butler. It was obvious to us when we went at noontime to take some photos from deck five, that few chose the butler package.
 |
Barb, Aart, and Ellen sitting in the special reserved seats.
They were the only takers. |
Among them, was our buddy Barb, who was there as a guest of Aart and Ellen. They were in Superbowl heaven with an array of super eats and drinks as they sat behind the roped-off area. In fact, they could have been judges on American Idol, instead of game-watchers. All in good, clean fun.
 |
| Decorations in the Queens Lounge |
The special eats included crispy-fried chicken wings, sliders, jalepeno poppers, small sandwiches, pizza squares, and chili.......all buffet-style. Plates in the shape of footballs were barely big enough to handle a small amount of each item, maybe. Drink specials included a souvenier glass of the drink of the day for $5.95 and $8.95. Domestic and imported buckets of beer ran from $20. to $22.. Of course, a 15% service charge was added to all of the packages. The food area of the lounge was the busiest, although we did see many folks filling the plates, and leaving the lounge to eat elsewhere.
 |
| Some of the food |
 |
| Poppers, chicken,& sliders (only one left) |
As for us, we stayed in the comfort of our room, while watching the game. Game? It was a massacre, but at least we worked on the window garden, adding more pots with sunflower seeds. We should have a staggered blooming season now. Around 2:30pm, we went up to deck eight to the Dive In Grill to get a hotdog and cheeseburger with crispy naked fries. The service was super fast, since most everyone was watching the game somewhere. Just as well, because it was unforgivingly hot outside today with a following wind. Watching the game to the bitter end took the rest of the afternoon.
The upcoming ports in Australia require entrance and exit cards, which were delivered to our rooms today. We had to fill in answers to general questions, and sign them. Australia is very strict with their requirements for entering their country. In fact, the restrictions for bringing any food items off of the ship can result in stiff fines. So by signing these forms, we are commiting to not doing anything illegal or harmful to their environment.
Yesterday, we got a form from the Shore Excursion department with tours to book in Alotau, Papua New Guinea on February 19th. Well, this is news to us, since the only other port we were scheduled to visit in Papua New Guinea besides Madang, was Lae, and that was cancelled a few months ago. We'll have to investigate this new addition, because we must have missed the announcement. No one else at our dinnertable knew any more about it than we did. We asked Yuri and Val about the port and they have never heard of it. Living in Australia, Papua New Guinea is an easy vacation destination for them. Now we are really curious.
There were only seven of us at dinner tonight, so we had lots of elbow room. The entrees were not too exciting, so we ordered large romaine salads with sesame seed flank steak sliced on top. The always available French onion soup was hot and delicious as ever. Although it is not written in the dessert menu, we found out that all of the jello is sugar and gluten free. We know, you are saying j-e-l-l-o? With a dab of whipped cream, it is a very light way to end a not-so-light meal.
There was no live entertainment this evening, but a movie, South Pacific (2001), was shown at 7:30pm and 10pm.
And a gentle reminder to turn our clocks back one hour tonight awaited us on our bed this evening. That works for us.
 |
| Our door fish from our travel agency |
 |
| International Dateline certificates |
