Another day at sea found the weather quite co-operative with partly cloudy skies, some sun, and a nice breeze. What more can we ask? Still tropical, the oppressive heat and humidity seems to have taken a back seat. Hope it lasts.
Going out for a morning walk did not pan out because the forward deck was closed to foot traffic. But it was a good spot to stop and watch the many flying fish we have begun to see now. We were deep in conversation with a good friend, when Captain Paul happened to stop by. He can be seen on many occasions checking the condition of the ship. On past cruises, we always see the Captain walking the dock, sometimes with a camera, documenting any dents or scratches that may have happened along the way. That is really common after transiting the Panama Canal. Anyway, he chatted with the three of us for a while referring to his lecture yesterday with passenger's questions. We are happy to report that his talk has been put on the TV and we would be able to watch it sometime today. Who knows? Maybe all of the port talks have been televised and never advertised as such. We shall check this out. We did learn that there are 587 crew members onboard this South Pacific cruise, and of that number, 102 are officers. Someone had asked what it cost the ship to dock for instance in San Diego. The bill just came in and it was $4900 for dockage, but $21,000 for security. And that was just a small number of charges for that day. The question box will remain by the front desk, and the Captain will address more of them before the trip ends. It's really a great idea we think.
There has been chatter amongst some guests that a couple had lost their passports while in Savusavu. Under what circumstances, we do not know. However, it poses a huge problem for this couple, because they would not be allowed to stay onboard the ship without those passports. That brought to mind a dear friend who had gone on an African safari with her sister and best friend several years ago. Upon returning to the ship in Cape Town, she could not find her passport. She was told she would have to stay behind and get a new one which was quite upsetting news. With the help of her sister, they finally found the document in a purse she had used while flying. Saved by the bell, it taught us all the importance of that document.
Spending a few hours at the back pool was nice as the temperature did not exceed 77 degrees. There were a lot of high clouds, but during his noon talk, the Captain mentioned that the sea temps were in the high 70's. That is an indication that the air temperature will cool off also. The ship is doing about 7 to 8 knots, like barely creeping along. During the night, the ship stopped and we drifted. Being that we still have a lot of time to get to Nuku'alofa, we will maintain the slow speed and stop once again probably after midnight. By the way, we do not think that the stabilizers can be used at that slow speed, so we are tending to roll somewhat.
Some of the activities during the day involve Halloween such as a pumpkin patch game poolside, origami bats, mask making, creating door decorations, and a contest for the best door decorations. The guests have begun to hang many things on their cabin doors now, which is fun, but at one time, all decorations had been banned due to fire regulations. Guess that rule has gone ignored. Sometimes the birthday/anniversary balloons are over-done, but in time, they deflate.
The sunset was non-existent with low clouds on the horizon and none in the upper sky. But the moon has remained bright as ever, as it is full, casting a most beautiful light on the nighttime waters. Due to the time change last night, the sunset was close to 7pm. And in a few days, we will get that missing day back that we lost crossing the International Dateline.
Checking the daily dining room dinner menu on the TV, we saw an entrée of chicken Kiev with risi-bisi. OK that is what we planned to order. You ask what is risi-bisi? We don't have a clue, but we have to try it to find out. Something tells us it might be a rice dish. So we showed up for dinner, ordered the entrée and guess what? They had taken risi-bisi off of the menu and substituted a cold potato salad with beets. Darn. We asked our waiter what happened to the risi-bisi, and they said they didn't know. So we asked what it was and they did not know either. Oh we have the best time at dinner. So starters were a fried swiss cheese pocket with sweet jam, a Caesar salad, and a bacon/cabbage soup, which looked more creamy than expected. The chicken was good too. Now last night we had missed the toffee cake since they had run out. But we figured no one would remember we were promised a slice, and we ordered sliced pineapple and one chocolate mousse plate. Well, along came Bayu with two slices of last night's dessert. Being polite, we ate most of it, finding the toffee part rather dense, like it had been cooked too long. Tasty, but heavy. Then the second set of desserts arrived along with a bowl of vanilla ice cream. We were really bad tonight and ate the second desserts as well. We will have to have a long walk in Nuku'alofa tomorrow to wear the sugar off.
Bill & Mary Ann
