Being that we are staying on for another 15 day cruise, we wanted to take the time to book some Pinnacle Grill dinners before the next thundering herd arrives on April 26th. From experience, we know that we cannot afford to wait, or else every time slot will be booked. And considering that reservations can be made online prior to sailing, we may still run into problems getting in.
When we came out of the Pinnacle restaurant this morning, we ran into tablemates Jim and Maureen. They had just come from the front desk and had a copy of their shipboard account. Checking other charges for correctness, they discovered two healthy credits had been added. It was for refunded port taxes that amounted to over $475 per person. Really? This had not been announced, and it was definitely not expected for missing a couple of ports. We guessed it might have something to do with Istanbul being cancelled, and some other ports substituted many months ago. That did occur after we had all paid the balance last year. We all agreed it best not to question the amount, because maybe they made an error with the decimal point. Like it should have been $47.50. Whatever the reason, this should make for a lot of happy people on the ship. Especially those that have run up charges for the spa, bars, shops, and tours.
While we were in the front desk area, we checked out the artistic drawing exhibition of the "artist in residence", a young fellow that has sailed on the last couple of world cruises. He conducts a drawing class in the Wajang Theater on sea days we understand, even though he is a passenger and not an HAL employee. His drawings on display today are for sale, as were high quality reproductions available for order.
Yesterday, it was posted that the auction the other day netted over $5100 for the charity in Funchal. Not a bad day for the charity.
And speaking of sales, there are ads daily with a list of things to buy……tanzanite gems, DVD's, future cruises, spa treatments, photo gallery sales, and casino games. There is always an ad for the Canaletto dinner for $15 every evening. We have yet to eat there, as we have heard mixed reviews from many friends.
There are to speakers onboard, Revell Carr and Lawrence Fairman speaking about brave sailors of the past and Renaissance art in Italy. Our tablemate, Martin, has not missed one talk this cruise. Living in Holland, he loves the history of the land and the sea.
Checking our emails, we were sad to find out that the senior Fyvush Finkel had passed away last summer. He was such a talented performer, and had a great act with his two incredibly talented sons. And speaking of emails, many thanks for the kind birthday wishes. And to answer the question about the many changes we have noted while on this trip, we shall be posting the growing list after we get home in May.
Most folks are packing already. It is hard to know how much stuff has been collected along the way as well as the gifts that we have received. The Luggage Shipping Services will sell boxes and tape to ship the extras home at a price. And we have a feeling that many of the small rolled suitcases will be left behind for the crew to take. If we are given the same items of a ship tile and a commemorative Delft plate, that should be the final gifts of the world cruise. Oh yes, we finally had two cookbooks delivered in place of the Culinary Arts aprons that they ran out of. One book is recipes for appetizers and the other is the Taste Of Excellence. A much nice gift that aprons, we think.
The best part of the day was meeting Barb for lunch in the dining room. Like us, she was most happy about the refund on our shipboard accounts. News like that travels quickly around the ship. Agung, our waiter, was quietly singing the song, Time to Say Goodbye. We laughed that he was dropping hints to us as the three of us are always the last to leave the dining room. He did admit that some folks need to go home, as they have been rude and demanding of the wait staff. There is not one waiter we know that deserves that kind of abuse.
It was a good afternoon for a movie….a comedy with Jack Black and a group of kids he taught to be in a band. He is truly one funny dude, perhaps silly, but sometime we need that. Today's Wajang movie was Passengers, about a distant colony planet and spaceships. This might be an option for tomorrow, since rain is predicted once again.
Around 5pm, we checked out the advertised Grand Lido Dinner, obviously in the Lido. A promised culinary masterpiece was on display, however, we sure did not notice a whole lot of difference in the food. Perhaps it was fancier, with better choices. But all we noticed were bright white lights that were blinding, and a bigger selection of cafeteria food. It's great for those who like this type of dining, but we still prefer the dining room.
There were several questionable items for dinner tonight, but we stuck to the chicken noodle soup, beef empanadas, and a typical turkey dinner with dressing and mashed potatoes. Extra cranberry sauce on the side. Can't go wrong there…….
The entertainment tonight was a group of ladies by the name of Stereoettes, a four piece vocal harmony group with a fully choreographed, harmony-filled show. Hey, we don't write this stuff, just report it. Hopefully their show is better than the description. Good thing it is not a dance show, because the ship has been rocking and rolling all evening…..and getting worse.
And once again, the clocks went back one hour tonight. That was something that was missed on tomorrow's daily newsletter, as it was not printed on the front page. Oops, someone goofed….again. We knew that Captain Jonathon mentioned the time change in his PM talk, so we went by the reminder left on the bed. We should be one hour off of Eastern Time now.
Bill & Mary Ann
