Our first day at sea heading towards the Seychelles was a most pleasant one. The temperatures remained in the high 80's and it was still humid, but with the ship moving, there was a nice breeze. That always makes a difference. It was also April Fool's Day and the staff had fun with The Daily newsletter. Our location was listed as "lost at sea" and tonight's dress suggestion was "birthday suit". We do hope no one takes that literally.
Other April Fool's Day activities would include a costume party in the Rolling Stone's Lounge at 8:30pm. There would be a winner to crown the ultimate "fool". Not sure what this was about, but we will miss it. That's our dinner time. There was also a bar hop for $25 at 8pm. Also dinner time. Other silly things were walk 1000 miles (it seems like that most hot days), coloring for fools, get jiggy with the Zuiderdam dancers, or doodle your designs. Hey, whatever floats your boat, we say.
Our day was spent doing photos from yesterday. It takes time to pick the best of the best, and it is a good way of staying cool in our room. Taking our "1000 mile" walk, we noticed very few people were out and about. It could be they were in the show lounge with a new speaker, Lyn, lecturing on the summer of '69 – a year of cultural achievements and milestones. Turtles of the Indian Ocean was the subject for the second speaker, Lauren. We still wish these talks would be televised for watching later in our rooms.
We did our usual walk to the Seaview Pool and found a table with the most breeze. Greg surprised us and came by for a visit. It is always fun catching up with him and what his port activities were. He and some friends did a couple of resort tours while in the Maldives. It is always interesting talking to those who have done it and hearing the pros and cons. Talking to another friend this morning, we learned that one of the same tours that they did here, was half the price if booked independently. Same resort, same food and drinks, and even two extra hours to stay there. It seems to work better when the stay is over night. That way if something happens, you still have another day to get back to the ship before it leaves.
Lunch was two chicken Caesar salads and a shared sandwich. Checking the dinner menu, we found that it had today's theme of April Fools Day. Some of the items were strange, such as breakfast for dinner. Was it a joke or for real? We found out when we went to dinner that it was for real. And we heard a lot of people ordered the full English breakfast as well as appetizers of a poached egg on a half English muffin. Well, that's different….why not? We chose the split pea soup, which tasted good, but was not hot. Maybe warm at the best. Ever since our assistant waiter Alfred left, the new guy never got the memo that we liked hot food. We did mention it to him after the fact, telling him it was no big deal, but next time we order soup, it needs to be hot. During our meal, we had a visit from Hari, one of the chefs. He happened to remember our request for hot food, and he asked how it was going. Well, we mentioned the soup, and he promised to make sure it came out hot from now on. Like we said, it wasn't a big deal, but he wants everyone happy.
We had one shrimp cocktail and a salad followed by lasagna and beef tenderloin. Sometimes, the beef entrees are hit and miss. Tonight's tenderloin was excellent. Hope that continues going forward. Dessert was the usual pineapple slices. By the way, we were served green brioche rolls. Green? We still cannot figure that one out.
As we head southwest, we should be crossing the Equator once again. The Captain did not mention that yet, and we know there will not be another King Neptune Ceremony.
Bill & Mary Ann
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