We heard that arts and crafts is in full swing now, that their supplies were found after two weeks of being lost in storage somewhere. In fact, Henk, our cruise director, mentioned last night that many boxes of supplies were shipped by accident to Osaka. Oops……wonder what they were thinking?
Other classes include watercolors, taught by Carol, who is quite talented according to her devoted students. Dance instructors Kirsten and Alex taught the triple step jive/swing to the more active of the passengers. A new guest chef, Denise, began her demos in the Culinary Center, while Hawaiian Kealoha attempted to teach basic ukulele lessons in the Crow's Nest. There is the digital workshop with many various activities happening daily. We feel that a day will come when these fun activities will come with an additional charge. You may laugh at that, but we have heard that some cruise lines charge now for a better quality steak to be served at their assigned dinner table.
We spent a better part of the day at the aft pool, soaking in as much sun as we could. It has been several days now that it has been too cold to do this. Of course, the last couple of days since leaving San Diego, all of the lounges have been stacked and lashed under the overhang at the Seaview Pool. It was back to normal today, with the pool being clean, and the lounges out, complete with towels.
Bill & Leta, as well as Barb, came over to visit for an hour. We have the best time with them….lots of laughs.
Lunch was late for us around 3pm in our room. Normally we would not have dessert for lunch, but Barb had saved some carrot cake from the party last night, and brought it to us wrapped in a swan foil basket. We shared it after enjoying Caesar salad and sandwiches. That kind of filled us up for the rest of the day.
Around 4pm, we took a walk to the Ocean Bar to listen to the band play. Scoop, our tablemate, sat for a while, and visited. He was a bit under the weather, with a possible cold coming on. Funny thing, the same thing was happening to one of us. Henk M mentioned that the virus going around the ship was more of a cold virus, not a stomach problem. So no matter how many times you wash your hands and use Purell, this virus is air-born….hard to avoid.
Tonight was another gala evening with no particular theme. The menu had some good entrees, but nothing really appealed to us. So we ended up not going to dinner. Having run out of time to call Barb, we snuck up to deck five, and informed Philip that we would not be at the table this evening. He instantly offered to call room service to send a proper meal to us, but we declined. At least he could tell our waiters and the group, and they would not be waiting for our arrival.
Good thing we turn the clocks back one hour tonight, because the extra sleep will be beneficial. There was a reminder card left on the bed so we did not forget. We also had mail in our slot, outlining the special events for the Pinnacle Grill Restaurant for the remainder of this cruise. Great idea, since in the past, these special evenings are only advertised two days ahead of time. Yes, most of these evenings were listed in the pre-cruise booklet we got, but many of the dates had been changed or eliminated.
Two other items were advertised on this notice…….the introduction of fresh fish specials at the Pinnacle Grill (to be announced), and the addition of Tamarind Pan-Asian select menu items on their regular menu. We have never sailed on the Signature or Pinnacle class ships, but we do know friends that love the Tamarind alternate restaurant, a change from the usual fare.
We thought that there was an effort to reduce the use of paper onboard, but we still got two ads for acupuncture treatments in the Greenhouse Spa, and another flyer for an upcoming opal presentation. Some folks might be interested, but we are not.
Captain Jonathon mentioned that we have gone as far south as we can. Now he has to head in a westerly direction. The swells continued all day, but not all as bad as we thought they would be. It is possible that we have escaped the worst of the weather that has affected the west coast of the US.
Bill & Mary Ann
PS We were surprised when a new tower fan was brought to our room to be exchanged with the older one we had. The new one even has a remote control with an alternate night light. It is the next best thing to opening a window.
Early morning sunrise, as seen through our salt-crusted window
Many shades of orange
Lit up our room
Sign of a storm?
Perhaps, but we out-ran it
