We lingered over breakfast, as we usually do, giving our very efficient room steward, Putu, a chance to tidy up our room. There has been some extra cleaning happening shipwide in regards to sanitizing all surfaces such as walls and railings. The elevators have gotten thorough cleanings, and we appreciate it. Captain Frank may have mentioned that our Covid count is low during his afternoon talk yesterday. He never gives the numbers of Covid cases as some captains do on other HAL ships.
We had a job to do this morning between 9 and 10am that involved passport collection for the upcoming French Polynesian ports. In lieu of a face-to-face inspection with the local officials, it will be done on the ship behind the scenes. Once again, desks were set up on every passenger deck, and we simply handed the passports over to the staff, and we were given a receipt. The documents will be kept in a secure place until November 10th when we leave French Polynesia. Then we can retrieve them with our receipts. On the Grand Voyages, our passports are always kept by the staff from the day we board, and only be given back when it is required by some countries. A few of those are Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, and maybe India. If you are going on an overland excursion, either through HAL or independently, you must have your passports with you.
The weather today remained overcast, cloudy, and rainy. On the other hand, it was not too hot or humid. Actually the sea temps are 82 degrees, while the air temperature was 78 degrees at the highest. The seas acted up all night, and we have continued having deep swells with high winds. If this continues, we rather doubt that tendering in Rarotonga will happen as planned. In fact, during his noon talk, the Captain mentioned that the sea conditions would worsen as we get closer to the Cook Islands. That's not going to help.
Currently, we are sailing close the Niue, a tiny island that had originally been on this itinerary. It had been removed a long time ago, since ships have trouble tendering their guests to shore. And that's on a good day. We know because we have been there several times, and also missed it several times. We recall the tendering to be dicey, if not downright dangerous. Glad we are not going there, even though people like to claim it as another country under their belt.
We took our usual walk and found more folks out and about. There were two lectures in the Mainstage…the first was a guest speaker by the name of Dr. Karen Woodman with the subject what is language. Following her, was Kainoa speaking about the history of hula. The end of his talk would be about 11:45am, and that's when the promenade deck gets busy. The folks can take a stroll before the dining room opens for lunch at noontime, then the crowd thins out.
We always stop at the Ocean Bar for cool drinks, which was sodas with lemon. Many of the chairs by the windows were taken with guests relaxing, sipping drinks, or playing cards. It was something to do on a dreary rainy day. Later in the day there was a movie in the Rolling Stones Lounge showing Charming the Hearts of Men. With popcorn. Three sessions of trivia kept the guests on their toes as well.
The Cellar Master Dinner was held in the Pinnacle Grill by reservation of course. It is pricey, but if you like the wines, it is a special meal for sure. Dinner for us was back in the dining room. It did not seem crowded as usual, but that could be due to the rougher seas and the ship rolling. We both had the crusted brie appetizer, a salad, and a bowl of cabbage soup. Entrees were a barramundi fish plate, but with sides of red potato salad and sauteed zucchini. One of us tried the pork piccata with spaghetti and a red sauce. It was delicious, but enough for two of us. Dessert was one chocolate panna cotta and one serving of orange sherbet. Quite refreshing.
As we will cross the International Dateline going from the west to the east, we shall gain back the day we lost. Therefore tomorrow will be Saturday October 29th once again. Funny huh?
Bill & Mary Ann
No Pictures
