The When & Where newsletter began with Day 100. Hard for us to realize that the trip has reached this point already. If we turn on channel 26, we quite often see the DVD’s that are being promoted from the very beginning of the grand voyage. The Caribbean, the South Pacific, New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, Philippines, the Asian countries, Sri Lanka, the Indian Ocean islands, and finally the continent of Africa have been filmed. It has been quite an adventure thus far, and not over yet.
A reminder that we need to start thinking about packing was in the newsletter this morning. Luggage shipping services has shipping items such as bubble wrap, boxes, tape, and pre-made packages. These can be purchased at the front office. For those folks that bought the 5 foot tall giraffes will probably need to start early on how to get these home in one piece. Anyway, packing for us is a bit more complicated, since most of the luggage will be shipped from Ft. Lauderdale. Then we need to save the rest for the next 27 days, when we should be home. There is still time, however, especially sailing transatlantic.
With the chance of rain in the forecast, we decided not to go to the pool, because it looked like it could pour any minute. The Captain said so in his PM talk yesterday. Turned out that the dark clouds stayed on the horizon, and it never did rain here. We did meet Barb, enjoying the dining room lunch, which seems to get better every day. Today the menu mentioned calypso cake. But we suspected it might be Mississippi mud pie. And it was, since one of us decided to test it and see. Maybe they need to clarify the descriptions on many of their menu items. We do have fun testing the waters so to speak. Kind of like the box of candies…. you never know what you’re going to get.
The fourth day at sea is a repeat, more or less, from the previous three days. It is a good time for the ship’s stores and spa to offer specials. Sales on jewelry, clothing, and spa services have been advertised a lot lately. Lectures have continued with Africa as the main subject. Lots of guests have been attending the grand activities in order to gather enough 10 cent coupons to get something before this trip ends. Since it takes 50 events to add up to $5, it has been difficult for some people to get even close. Perhaps this group needs to go on strike to raise the 10 cent ticket to a higher value.
We discovered that the internet was up and running. But then, after reading the note left on our doors that it had been partially restored, everyone and their brother was online. Trying it later after dinner worked way better. Seems that we were back in business when the IT Officer figured a way to cannibalize other things to make the power supply work again. Now they were not dependent on what is being shipped to Gambia or Senegal. Of course, getting the spare parts will prevent a future interruption.
We spent the late afternoon sitting on our special chairs in the atrium deck five. Many people we have met know that we will be there listening to the band. So it has been fun chatting with several people as they pass by. Sometimes, these conversations last an hour. But it is a good way to get to know some very nice folks, and enjoy the tunes while doing it.
Needing to check out what the stores have to offer, we strolled through the shops. Clothing is always nice to buy, even with the inflated prices. Some of the collection in the shop is a trunk show, which will be gone at the end of this trip. Not all the sizes are available, and there is no back-up inventory. So since we need to figure out what to spend our “use it, or lose it” shipboard credit, we need to find some useful and nice things to purchase. If we had been going to the lounges and buying drinks, or taking ship tours, the money would have been long gone. We did neither, so here we are, shopping.
Jewelry is always an option too. There are many choices in the shop for these items. You can choose from costume to very high end pieces. Watches too. Both of us have purchased some very nice watches over the years, but how many can you have? So we window-shopped, basically, trying to figure out what suits us best. Or at least one of us. Simply looking is very difficult, as the sales people want to show you everything. That will more than likely drive us right out of the store. And it did. We will come back tomorrow, and look again when a different set of sales people are in there. One of us did spot two dress purses that were pretty cool……expensive, but that is what the credit is for.
Tonight was gala evening and the theme was Fabulous Las Vegas. The dining room was decorated with foil black and red ceiling mobiles made with card symbols. You know, hearts, spades, diamonds, and clubs. There are no balloons on the tables anymore, as helium is not allowed now. Probably better, since these ended up in the hallways as door markers. Also not allowed anymore. We had a hostess this evening at our table of nine (Peter, George’s friend, seems to have adopted us). Our guest was Cynthia, a front desk worker, who has been on the world cruise two years in a row. She seemed to enjoy herself as she shared info about her life and country of the Netherlands. We did learn from her that our favorite security officer, John, had left the ship back in Thailand. No wonder we have not been able to find him. Seems that there was some red tape regarding his term here, and he had to go home to straighten it out. Sure hope he is able to come back soon. Perhaps if he is reading or blog, as he usually does, he will know that he is missed by all, and we wish him well.
Dinner was good with the usual suspects for gala entrees. Lobster ravioli, filet mignon, a pasta, a vegetarian entrée, and rack of lamb, which is what we ordered. The lamb was very good, although not the same quality as in the Sel de Mer, it was about the best item on the menu. The dessert of apple cheesecake was just right too.
The show tonight featured the singers and dancers with a production called Astoria. This was Astoria, a middle-class neighborhood in NYC’s borough of Queens. It portrayed a storyline set in a student music academy where love, music, and good times unfolded. And well done as well. But then all of their shows have been good.
We came back to the room to find gifts…….eight of them in fact. They were four luggage tags, and four TSA combination locked luggage straps. All very useful, although we are not sure how the straps would keep anyone out of your bags. Off course, they would slow down anyone attempting to take them off. We still use the luggage straps, and heaven knows, ours are looking a bit shabby. These will be good replacements.
Bill & Mary Ann
