Another relaxing day at sea was in store for us. The seas have calmed down, and the weather was just about perfect. The overcast of clouds finally blew away, and we were left with clear blue skies with temps on the high 70's. And very little wind. Sure hope it continues like this for the rest of the sea days at least.
Every sea day, Kimberly, our cruise director, hosts a coffee chat with a member of the staff, lecturers, entertainers, and even crew members. In a half hour interview, yesterday she grilled Henk, the hotel manager we have known it seems like for centuries. It appeared she followed a format of questions in a magazine, and most of them were really funny. Henk did a good job of answering them, hesitating with the harder ones along the way. Maybe in his previous life, Henk may have been a comedian. Anyway, now that we know where to find these interviews on TV, we can watch them especially when she grills people we know.
There are two new guest lecturers onboard. Cultural understanding for travelers was the subject for Joel Fleisher, then Justine Nadeau delivered a talk all about whales of Japan. Due to copyright laws, these lectures cannot be televised.
Today we were pleasantly surprised to find some tables and chairs around the Sea View Pool. We got there around 11am, and took over one table. By the time the Lido opened for lunch, all of the tables filled up. Quite often, we see officers from the navigation team come outside to eat their lunch. It is the best place to get some fresh air and sun. Today they were in luck and sat outside near us. One thing this ship does not have are umbrellas on stands for the tables. There is sufficient shade on both sides of the pool area, so umbrellas are not needed. The Volendam had some and they were forever falling over in the wind.
Our buddy Greg came outside and stayed for a visit. A former tablemate, he shared what he and Heo had been doing in Hawaii. Normally that would be dinner conversation. At least we got to hear about their lunches and site-seeing in all three ports. They do share photos, so now we can put the stories to the pictures.
Lunch for us was room service Cobb salads and a shared roast beef panini. A 2pm lunch works better for us, and we do not have to search for a place to sit if we went to the Lido. Walking through the Lido on the way back to our room at 1pm, we noticed the place was full of people , most looking for seats. Way to crowded and noisy, we were happy to leave the area.
By the way, today was Lunar New Year also known as Chinese New Year. The Lido restaurant was the only place that had some decorations. And they were hanging Chinese lanterns. There was a time when the dining room was highly decorated for this occasion, but like everything else, things have changed. Oh well, at least we might have some Chinese cuisine at dinnertime.
Tonight's dinner dress suggestion was "dressy" for a change. Most everyone we saw was cleaned up nicely. The appetizers of dim sum were very good, and the salads tasty. We still think they are using up house-made salad dressings, because they are not the usual ones. This applies to the thousand island, ranch, and Caesar dressings. On past cruises, the dressings were Ken's, but we do not know if they are still being used. Our mains were one huli-huli chicken and one BBQ pork ribs. Both were good and served hot. Desserts were one date pudding and a few slices of fresh pineapple. Then our waiter appeared with a tray of single-wrapped fortune cookies. Nice surprise for the Year of the Dragon.
The entertainment this evening was a performance by the singers and dancers called Time After Time.
Bill & Mary Ann
