We are currently sailing south outside the Inside Passage, but did enter between the island of Vancouver and the mainland of Canada in the late afternoon. It did not matter a lot, because the weather wasn't the best. It remained windy, rainy, and quite cold for most of the day. Our morning began as usual with a nice breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill. Today we had a visit from the Pinnacle chef, a nice young lady from Mexico. We thanked her for such excellent meals, and promised we would be back. There were only a handful of diners this morning, and we figured it was due to the fact that there was a dining room brunch from 10 to 12:30pm. Since we did not participate, we will have to ask if it was a tasting menu, like they do on a grand voyage.
Back to our room, we found two Delft tiles with the 150 year logo on them to add to our collection. We did have a few jobs this morning such as getting a printout of our shipboard account at the Front Desk. To our surprise, we had a $79 credit due to refunded port charges. As we understand it, port charges are paid when the balance is due. Then if the price goes down at the time of sailing, they refund the difference. So far, we have not seen the opposite, if the charges increased. We have never been charged more. And since the port charges were paid by credit card months ago it is refunded to that same card. Or you can take it in cash.
It was time to stretch our legs and resume walking the promenade deck.
There were about three other folks doing the same thing. The rest of the guests must have been taking advantage of the super sales, gambling in the casino, or heaven forbid....packing. Glad we don't have to do that for awhile.
At 2:30pm there was a special classical concert by Elliot Finkel in the Main Stage. His performance was stellar, filling the room on both decks. We have seen him, along with his late father and brother on many cruises years ago. He has only gotten better with age. He has had quite a career with performances at Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, and Broadway to name a few.
Around 4pm, there was wildlife spotting on the aft deck, but with the driving rain we did not even bother to go. During our walk this morning, we happened to spot another sun fish as it floated by the ship. Normally we see whales and dolphins, but not today. We did spot one bird.
Dinner was in the dining room with the Culinary menu. We had one zucchini soup and a crab cake with salmon. Salads followed, then we both ordered prime rib. They were large servings, but a bit over done. It is very hard to order the meat just right, because many times it is served almost raw in the center. It was tasty despite being more well done. The maitre'd, Komang, came by and we asked how many folks were sailing onward like us. He said the number was 20, and we may know some of them. Another wonderful waiter also came to see us...Prio, who we know from many grand voyages. We chatted until most everyone was gone from the dining room. Our waiters said they would be rotating tomorrow, as they do every 3 weeks or so. If we are lucky, maybe Prio will be our new waiter.
The show this evening was Musicology performed by the Step One Dance Company. We have seen this show while on the N. Statendam, where it was really done well in their special round stage. Maybe next week, we will attend more of the shows.
Bill & Mary Ann
