Besides putting the clocks back one hour last night, it is worth mentioning that today’s sunrise and sunset are very close to 12 hours apart. With sunrise at 5:21am and sunset 5:32pm, we know that the ship is approaching the Equator. We all got a notice from the hotel director that King Neptune will not be paying us a visit this time. That will occur later on in the voyage, where the occasion will be marked by a special ceremony. Last year, we never had a Neptune Ceremony because the ship never went below the magic line, staying north of the Equator the whole trip.
A group of our buddies joined us in the America’s Test Kitchen (Wajang) for a complimentary cooking class. This was not the usual “hands - on” cooking class we attended while on the Eurodam last fall. As we previously reported, there are way too many 5 star Mariners on this trip to break the groups up into 8 at a time. Previously, these classes included a nice lunch with wine in the Pinnacle Grill. That nicety is gone. At least on the Eurodam, we had a taste of the product we learned to make. Today, that was also missing. The test kitchen host, Abby Koch, gave a 45 minute talk on making pasta dough in a food processor. We learned how to use a hand-cranked machine, which flattens the dough into sheets. Nothing new to us, as we already do this at home. Then we watched while she demonstrated how to fill the sheets with a wild mushroom ricotta filling, cut them, and boil them in salted water. Finally, she made a butter sauce, mixing in roasted pine nuts to add to the cooked pasta. Sprinkling parmesan cheese over the top, it sure did look and smell good. Too bad there were no samples.
Well, we did not learn anything new, but we all got one red Test Kitchen apron with laminated recipe cards. This may be a dish one of us will attempt at home. And the nice thing, was that it was complimentary, a perk of being a 5 star Mariner and above. Today’s class was by invitation only, but the room was not filled to capacity, as we thought it might be.
We forgot to mention that we stopped by the desk of the future cruise consultants, Lynn and Larry. Have to admit, it was not a totally positive experience. Both of them were sitting at the desk, but we did not notice the sign that said they were closed. Originally opened until 6pm, they had an unannounced closure. Anyway, we simply wanted to ask a question, but were greeted with, ”Do you have an appointment?” No, we had not seen the sign-up sheet. It’s been years since we have seen a sign-up sheet, and for the most part, they don’t work. Guests who do not know what they want to book, go way over their time, and all of the appointments get delayed anyway. A friend of ours had sat 2 hours yesterday waiting for her time slot. So Lynn pointed to the self-service sign-up for a future deposit, and did continue to fill it out for us. Took her 5 minutes. When we asked about another cruise, she said make an appointment tomorrow. At this rate, they will lose some good customers if they are not careful.
Explorations Central is the new name for the shore excursion and related groups. Kainoa, the Polynesian Ambassador, along with his relative, Paki, gave their cultural presentation this morning. His talks are good, since he tells it from his personal experiences. Later in the day, ukulele lessons were given, but we do not know who the teacher is.
There are two guests speakers onboard. One is Michael Chriss, talking about longitude and maps, we think. The other is not on the itinerary today. There were two big playoff football games in the Sports Bar. Early this morning, the TV reception was spotty, so we hope it holds during the games.
Did we mention that Debby Bacon and her husband Ron are no longer entertaining in the Piano Bar on this cruise? A fellow by the name of Jamm plays there now, and was doing the musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber tonight. We have heard mostly positive comments so far. Change is hard for many folks, especially for repeat world cruisers.
The dinner menu has been surprising us with many new items. Many of them are in the vegetarian department. Bonnie likes to try new things, so sometimes she shares with the others. We had the traditional turkey dinner and wienschnitzel. Ox tail French onion soup was delicious, as was the pickled papaya Thai beef appetizer.
Tom Suha was the star on stage tonight. He was described as a charismatic young violinist. Everyone commented that so far, the shows have featured people we have never seen before. Perhaps that is a good thing.
We wonder what the weather will be like tomorrow. It has been unusually cool, considering where we are located. We sure are not complaining.
By the way, many thanks for all of the comments about things we are seeing in the ports. Nice to have ships or buildings identified by someone who knows.
Bill & Mary Ann
