After breakfast, we grabbed our jackets to take a walk outside. Perhaps there were about a dozen folks doing the same thing. Most were bundled up. The seas have calmed down a lot since we left Vancouver on Monday. It may be a good idea to watch for whales. And that's exactly what happened. What we thought was another big whitecap wave, really was a female humpback with her calf following. The tell-tale sign was the blow from their spouts as they skimmed the surface of the water. As they neared the ship, we could see the dorsal fins as they slowly surfaced. Sure is nice to see, even though we soon outdistanced them by going a speedy 19 knots. Now we hope to see many more during this whole cruise, if we are lucky.
Activities on the ship were keeping folks busy on the inside of the ship. Kainoa gave a port talk on San Diego, followed by the guest speaker, Greg Redfern, speaking on sea and sky photography. What a good subject for the passengers.
Also informative are the classes happening in the Digital Workshop with Emily, the former librarian. While at sea, we noticed that there are two or three sessions. This morning organizing photos with Windows 10 was the subject, and this afternoon, how to keep your devices safe from malicious activity. Also, there was a class on bringing life to your photos with basic apps on your computer. All good and useful info.
Jewelry and art sales were being pushed, especially for the crowd that leaves the ship in San Diego. And don't forget the spa treatments and casino games. There must be a good-size crowd leaving, because we saw disembarkation procedures on every other door in our hallway yesterday morning. Gosh, that would be hard to get onboard, and have to leave in four days. On the plus side, our tablemate Vicky said packing was a cinch…..one small suitcase that she will pull off during the first expedited debark.
At 11am, there was a Mariner Brunch in the dining room. Last night at dinnertime, we got a preview of the set menu. There were three entrees, one beef, one fish, and one vegetarian. All new and improved. Our waiter, Slamet, has been kind enough to provide a sneak peek at the following day's menus, so we can plan our meals ahead of time, more or less. Or if we would like to order something not on the menu, we can do this as well.
Lunch for us was also in the dining room, but around 12:30pm. By then, most of the Mariner diners were done. They serve a different variety of hamburgers every day. We ordered the gouda and sauted onion burger with crispy French fries. Sure was good. We got to talking to a nice couple seated next to us. Sort of sounded like they are new to HAL, and had many good questions about the line. Since they will be leaving the ship in San Diego, they were disappointed that there will be no "gala" evening for them. Not knowing ahead of time, they packed formalwear, which they will not wear now. The dates for the dress-up evenings are not announced before the cruise on these shorter trips, only the actual number of them. We think there are 5 or 6 on this 53 day trip. With the relaxing of the dress code, it will be interesting to see how people dress up…….. or don't.
Looks like a good movie is being shown in the Wajang later……Independence Day: Resurgence. That may be a good place to stay warm and get some of that good popcorn………..
Later in the afternoon, one of us went walking to look for whales, and one of us stayed to do some computer work. The reward for the walk was seeing more whales. Figures. The cooler weather has given us the "munchies", so we checked out the Lido to see what small treats we could find. The pre-made sandwiches are looking a lot better. There are samples displayed of five sandwiches, along with a written description of their contents. Much better presented, we decided to try a few. Not bad.
This afternoon, we got a notice that we will share tendering services tomorrow with the 4 and 5 Star Mariner members and Pinnacle and Neptune suite guests. Feeling that was not quite right, we sort of guessed that we would get another tender pass for President Club members only. Around 6pm, we had a knock on our door, and found Christel, the guest relations manager, with a personalized letter stating that any President Club member should meet at the front desk, and be escorted to the waiting tender boat, thus by-passing the line. This really is the only civilized way to do this without causing resentment among the other guests. Christel said there are only seven of us onboard at the moment. Not that we have to be the very first off, it is nice to know we will not have to wait too long. Now we hope that the tender platforms are fully functional. On the previous world cruise, none of the platforms were operational. Sure hope they have been fixed by now……
Dinnertime was quiet as there were only the two of us. Actually, it was fine, because we can call it an early evening. We ordered one appetizer each, and the beef wellington entrée. All was excellent. So far, the quality of the food has been every bit as good as on the world cruise. And we are most pleased with the conservative serving portions. We even saved a little space for desserts of apple/walnut cake and a fruit plate with jello.
The entertainer this evening was Heather Sullivan, a young lady singer who we saw on our last cruise. She is famous for her performances at Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and the House of Blues in LA.
Tomorrow, we will be stopping at Avalon, Catalina Island.
Bill & Mary Ann
