Another day at sea brought us slightly warmer weather, smoother seas, and partly cloudy skies that turned to mostly sunny and blue skies. Captain Smit mentioned during his noon talk that he was pleased with the more tropical temps and hopes this trend will continue for one more day at sea tomorrow. This afternoon's temperature was 75 degrees in the shade with a small swell and little wind. The ship has been maintaining a speed of 14 to 15 knots as we head towards Kauai, our first stop. And we are currently 550 nautical miles from the big island of Hawaii.
For some unknown reason, we are still having TV reception problems. Wondering if it is just our TV, we called the front desk people, who had our TV reset. It did not solve the problem. So we checked with Vini, who may be able to shed some light on this problem. We explained to him that with every transit we have done going this way, we have never encountered a reception interruption. He promised to call back after he investigated, but we might have missed his call since it was lunch time for us. The interference did seem to get a little better, although, Vini never did return our call. We were more interested in knowing if someone was working on it, which they will not always tell you. We had no trouble with the internet, since that is a separate system.
Another message regarding pool etiquette showed up on the front page of the Daily today. The only place we can figure there has been a problem with lounges has to be the Lido Pool. There are a limited number of lounges surrounding the pool, and we can guarantee some folks park themselves there all day long. Now that our room is located about midship, we do not have the same walking patterns we used to. Using the middle elevator, we can access the Pinnacle Grill, the Lido, and the dining room without going through a lot of public areas. One thing we have not missed are the photographer set-ups on deck five that halfway blocked the traffic from the forward elevators to the dining room. Two backdrops have been set up on either end of the Ocean Bar, where you have to navigate crossing over cords and floor coverings.
We have noticed that there was smoking allowed in the casino on the last Alaska cruise as well as from Vancouver to San Diego. The rule is if you are actively playing a slot machine, then you can smoke. Now we miss passing through the shops, the Mix, and the casino. The only area we pass through is the library and the Explorations Café. And we have only gone to the Dive -In Grill once or twice this cruise. It is out-of-sight, and out-of-mind.
Today there was a Bierfest held in the Lido Pool area from 6:30 to 10:15pm. The Ocean Band played the music where there were fun games along with beer, pretzels, and sausages for starters. Back in the old days, sometimes there was an outdoor BBQ which was a lot more fun. Due to Coast Guard and fire regulations, these BBQs had to stop….too bad. We usually do not dine at these venues, and today was no exception. It was dinner as usual in the dining room, where our waiters welcomed us back.
We had starters of a smoked drunken chicken plate and one mushroom quesadilla. One of us had the tomato bisque and the other a Caesar salad. The "blue plate" special or Club Orange was a butter glazed chicken and the other entrée was Weiner schnitzel. Pounded very thin, the breaded and fried pork schnitzel covered the whole plate. It sure went well with lingonberries. We saved a tad bit of room for a rolled cake dessert and one scoop of NSA mint chip ice cream.
Due to the Bierfest, there was no show in the World Stage. That's what we call a "dark" night. And we had to put the clocks back one hour, putting us on Hawaii time now.
One more sea day, and we will be in the Hawaiian Islands. We are adding some sunset and sunrise photos taken over the last three days, as well as pictures of the ever-blooming room flowers. So pretty…..
Bill & Mary Ann
