Well, it's Sunday, and a special one at that. It is Super Bowl LVIII Sunday and we will be cheering on the 49ers, since we both are San Francisco born and raised. It's really a toss-up whether or not they can beat the Kansas City Chiefs, but time will tell. We may have missed something, but usually there is a big promotion in the World Stage where they sell special seating with a drink package for the duration of the game. We do recall a nice event where Super Bowl food was provided in a buffet outside the Main Stage on the Amsterdam. The only advertisement for this game was to enjoy a bucket of beer with friends while you cheer on your team. There was no mention of any fun food being served. The showlounge was to be opened at 11am on deck two, but Kimberly had announced there was a pre-game show by the singers and dancers at 10am. As for the two of us, we decided not to fight the crowd for seats, and enjoy the game in our room on our big screen TV. After all, we had plenty of snacks to enjoy as well as ice cold cokes. During the commercials, we could go out on the deck and get some fresh air and sun. Actually the special ads were not shown, but ESPN put on rerun after rerun of sports ads.
The 49ers came really close to a win, but lost in the final minutes of overtime. It could have gone either way, but it was fun to watch anyway. We had expected the half time show to be blacked out, but it was not. We suppose the entertainment appealed to a lot of fans, but the music was not our favorite. Now Reba singing the national anthem was more our style. So congratulations go to Kansas City. We really got the feeling that they were favored to win by listening to the commentary before, during, and after the game.
Captain Frank came on the speakers at noon, even in the staterooms, and went on and on about crossing the International Dateline. We did not realize that this will occur tomorrow, and we will lose one whole day. Therefore, there will be no "Monday, February 12th" and we will be starting Tuesday.
By 4pm, it had cooled down a bit to take a nice long walk. The day was warm, in the high 70's, but we do not know how long this beautiful weather will last. The seas were calm although we still have some considerable swells. And we still have the company of the boobies…at least 16 of them. Their hunting pattern seems to differ from the previous ones we have watched. Since the flying fish are few and far between, these birds seem to stay high in the sky, and soar over the ship. They tend to go further away as well, so taking pictures is difficult. Getting photos of the sunset seems to be a lot easier.
Finally we had some nice choices on tonight's menu for dinner. One of us tried the grilled shrimp taco and the other had the Thai beef tataki….both were tasty. Mains were the prime rib, which was good, but for some reason they drowned the meat with gravy. If we knew in advance, we would have requested it on the side. Different chefs do things differently, not necessarily following standardized recipes. The meat was tender and went well with the baked potato and most of the toppings. Missing was the butter, which was brought as an afterthought. Desserts were a lemon cake and a sliced banana. Our waiters always seem disappointed when one of us orders something simple, like fruit, but it works well ending the meal on a sweet note.
Bill & Mary Ann
