A mist of heavy fog greeted us early in the morning. Not quite thick enough for the foghorn, but enough to add a chill to the air and make the decks slippery. Good time to head for breakfast and some nice hot coffee. Captain Paul happened to make a surprise visit to the Pinnacle Grill about the same time a gentleman seated close to us was deep in a conversation with the manager about why he was not allowed to invite a friend to breakfast here. Unless that friend was in a Neptune Suite, they would not qualify to use this venue. When the Captain entered and stopped by this table, the man asked who he was….possibly another manager? Oh that was not the right thing to say, however the Captain did explain that's how it works in here. The fact that this single person was paying double for his Neptune Suite did not make a bit of difference. With that said, he left the room. Anyway, we did finally get to meet Captain Paul, who seems very friendly, reminding us of Captain Friso who did the first half of the world cruise this year.
Trying to solve our internet problems, we spoke to Joice, the assistant hotel manager, who was most helpful. Long story short (more or less) the signal in our room is weak at best. So Joice sent two IT fellows to our room within minutes to trouble-shoot. Checking the two hallway hot spots, they found them working. However, the signal in our room was all over the place. With his own laptop, one of the IT guys discovered that the distance from the hot spot made a difference in the reception. Our desk is located next to the veranda door, and the furthest spot from the hallway. As a test, we placed our laptop on the coffee table, and we got a better signal. Go figure…. Leaving the door opened also increased the signal strength, although that is not an option for us. Nothing was really solved, except for moving the computer around. Even with the upgrade of Starlink, it is not perfect.
The rest of our day was more pleasant as we visited with friends. The drizzle had ceased for a while, so we went to the Seaview Pool to see if the sun was coming out. We did run into good friends and spent some time chatting. The sun eventually disappeared and it began to drizzle lightly. Most folks just sat in it. Oh well……we will get to the tropics soon we think.
Lunch was Dive-In again. We did see that there was a dessert special in the Lido and while we were outside, and we did see people coming out with waffle cones that were dipped in chocolate. We stopped eating the ice cream cones when all they served were tiny old-fashioned cones on the world cruise.
Other fun activities included Hawaiian bracelet making, ukulele playing, hula dancing, and aloha sunset cocktail hour. Lectures presented further education on volcanoes and iconic Hawaiian symbols. We spent some time walking the promenade and watching for flying fish, some of which were huge. No birds today. These flying fish will survive to see another day. Then at 5pm, we strolled by the Ocean Bar to find Ballroom Dancing Hour in full swing, as were the many couples who were also in full swing. Reminded us of dances one might learn at the Arthur Murray studios.
Dinner was good with starters of Caesar salads, a Thai beef salad, and a bowl of bean soup. Mains were a diced short rib meat sauce with linguini….one of our favorites. And guess what was another item for dinner? Liver and onions….Barb. We thought about you. We had enough room for one hot fudge sundae and a toffee fig pudding. Good thing the portions are small. Showtime was a comedian John Wing guaranteed to make you laugh.
And the clocks rolled back one more hour this evening. We believe there will be one more hour before we reach Hilo. Fine with us.
Bill & Mary Ann
