Finally, a day at sea to kick back and do as little as possible. It was going to be another warm day with temperatures in the low 80's even at 9am. The humidity is still 73%, but much better than what we had yesterday in Fakarava. Light rainfall was predicted, and we did see it on the horizon, but they were able to steer the ship around it. We recall the days of not so long ago, when a favorite beverage crew member, Manny, would come and warn all of us at the Seaview Pool that a giant squall was up ahead, and we needed to get our stuff gathered and run under the overhang. Sometimes it began as a drizzle then turned into a sudden downpour flooding the decks. These days we doubt there would be any warning. In fact, seeing everyone suddenly getting soaked might be entertainment for the crew and those crew members in the navigation deck with the cameras. Just kidding of course.
Breakfast was at 8am, which is better than 7:30am. No rush to go anywhere, we took our time and enjoyed several cups of coffee. The almost daily cappuccino for one of us will be a hard habit to kick when we go home. After breakfast, we went to the promenade deck for a mile or so walk. It happens to be the same time that the hosted deck walk happens, and some of the folks sure don't know the rules of passing. Where we come from, a polite "on your left" is nice. But here, some people just storm around you in the most inconvenient places, such as rounding the corners. The best part of this walk is that most of the rude folks leave after once or twice around the deck. Today there was a 10am cooking demo in the World Stage, so that drew the folks back inside thank goodness.
Yesterday we all received a notice that the passports would be handed back to us between 10am and noon. We were asked to bring our passport receipts to the mid elevator landings on the deck you lived on. As we were just coming back from our walk, we ran into our Mariner host, Arnold, who gladly gave us the passports without the receipt. Good timing. We will not need these until we leave for home on November 22nd.
Working in the room until 12pm, we headed off to the Seaview Pool to get some fresh air and sun. It was warmer than we thought in the sun as compared to sitting on our shaded veranda. We had learned from a friend that there was an Indonesian lunch in the dining room at noontime, but it was not advertised anywhere. Checking the lunch menu in the dining room on the TV we saw that the menu was totally Indonesian. Checking the Daily newsletter revealed not one word about this special lunch. Someone has been dropping the ball on some of these events. Even during Kimberly's pep talk at 9am, she did not mention it.
We have been forgetting to check our shipboard account on TV since their accounting is not always detailed enough. And for some unknown reason, a few of the charges had been put on from September, then taken off…not once, but twice. Looking closer, it looked as if one of our credits for the internet package had not been credited. The best thing was to take an older statement down to the front desk, and have them explain it. They could not figure it out, so took it to their finance department, who would get back to us later. That was fine, at least it was in motion. An hour later, we had a phone call saying a new statement would be sent to our room. Someone had gone back and removed the charges and credits, and added three credits for the internet, which should have been four. So confusing, they promised to check deeper, discovering that the initial cost for our package was already credited and printed at the lower rate. No one told us that in the beginning, so now we know. And due to the poor conductivity in our room, they promised somewhat of a credit for our inconvenience. Anything credited is better than nothing. All of our buddies have admitted they have never had such good connections to the wifi, but then their rooms are situated better than ours is on deck six. We learned later that other folks on decks 6 and 7 are having issues as well. It's not just us. We have been told that in time, all of the staterooms will have their own hotspot, the same as the newer HAL ships. Now we have to rely on the hallway hotspots, which in our case, is blocked by too much metal they told us. That's why propping open the door helps sometimes.
Lunch was Dive In burgers – one hamburger and one chicken. No fries, even though they said they were cooked fresh. We can live without them. Finishing up yesterday's photos and report, we enjoyed the sunset again tonight. Even with the dark clouds, it was pretty when the rays hit the water. If we continue sailing in this direction of northeast, we should see the sunsets all the way back. So much better than last year, when it rained most of the way back to San Diego.
Tonight's suggested dress was "dressy" and there was a Volendam Ball – a gala dance with the officers and crew. The trouble with that was it was scheduled at 8pm, right in the middle of our dinner time. Would we attend it? Probably not, but normally the time would be 9:30pm. A few years back, it was 10pm. So we figured that the early time targeted the early diners who could attend the dance, and still be in bed at a decent time. We found it funny that this affair would be scheduled now, an evening before the final port day. Since we have eight more days left, seven of them sea days, it might have been better to have the ball on one of those evenings. Again, what do we know?
Anyway, dinner was good with offerings of new appetizers. We ordered coated and fried ricotta cheese on a bed of spinach and a tomato sauce. They were small servings, but really tasty. One of us had the chicken broth soup and the other the Caesar salad which finally came with fresh romaine lettuce. Mains were one chicken alternate dinner and the other was the crispy roasted pork belly. It does sound strange, but it was good. We have been told by those who know that pork belly has been one of the popular items on the Australian menus lately. Desserts were the lemon custard-filled phyllo dough pouch with a strawberry and pineapple slice. Very good as well. Desserts will be another thing to stop when we get home, as it has become a sometime habit while onboard. This time we are happy with the reduced portion size of the sweet treats.
Tomorrow we will be in Nuku Hiva, our very last stop of this long cruise. Where has the time gone???
Bill & Mary Ann
