Today was a most appreciated day at sea for just about everyone. Passengers and crew alike. Six days in a row with exciting ports is quite a bit to take in, especially if you filled each day with excursions. Many years ago, we did just that…..booked tours in every port. Then we figured once we did a tour, we could get the lay of the land, and do some things on our own. And even though we still do not own a cell phone, we have come to depend on the internet for a lot of helpful information. And it has worked out well to this day.
Today was Saturday, but there was a surprise Brunch in the dining room at 10am to 1pm. It was not widely published except in the dining room section of the Daily newsletter. So we were surprised when we went to the Pinnacle for breakfast at 8am, and watched as the rest of the room filled with guests by 8:05am. Most of the Neptune folks prefer this venue over the Lido, as we also do. And many of them have been on tours and missed breakfast for the last six days. The service is excellent here, and the waiters know exactly what we like by now. Our Greek yogurts arrived with beautiful plump strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries. They were delivered yesterday in Hilo, so we should be able to enjoy them for a week or so. Then we don't expect to see them until Polynesia perhaps.
We spent a lot of the morning reading, writing, working on the computer. There were the usual lectures going on as well as numerous sales on future cruises, binoculars, wine packages, watches, photography specials, and spa treatments. Then we had another environmental notice regarding the area where we are currently sailing. We have been asked not to feed the birds. We ask what birds? We have not seen any since leaving Hilo, and that happened to be a few egrets. Also, we have been warned to secure loose items when stepping outside. There has to be a stiff fine if anything is seen going overboard. We have only been witness to people feeding sea gulls on a trip we took to Mexico years ago. We were docked somewhere in a town where our room faced the ocean. Before the ship left the port, people came out on their balconies and began throwing pieces of bread to the gulls. And the birds were catching the bread in mid- air….actually pretty entertaining. Then the Captain came on the speakers forbidding everyone to feed the gulls. We recall it was a Princess ship at the time. It was obvious to us that these birds knew what to do when the bread was thrown and there must have been 100 of them.
Our Captain came on the speakers for his noon update. He stated that we were 312 nautical miles from the island of Hawaii, and we have to maintain a speed of 16 knots to reach the next port of Fanning Island. The wind was a force 5, which he considered a fresh breeze, and the swells were coming from two directions at about 2 meters or six feet. He expected the temperature and the conditions to stay the same for today and tomorrow. However, he did not mention the fact that rain was on the way. It had been mostly cloudy all day, but by the afternoon, it began to rain pretty good.
We are still having issues with the TV reception. It was acting up even while we were in the Hawaiian ports, but got worse every time we left. When reporting it to the front desk folks, they asked if it was "pixel-lating" or breaking up. We said yes, it was and also freeze-framing with no sound. We were told it was ship wide and she would turn our comments over to the IT department. Was it corrected? No. We do think something is broken and no one will admit it. It can be frustrating when trying to catch up on news, which has been alarming these past weeks. So if we want uninterrupted programing, we can watch a movie. They are pre-recorded and on demand, which is not tied to the satellite.
We also had a surprise visit from the air-conditioning/heat department. Two fellows knocked on our door and asked if they could check the temperature of the room and the ceiling vent. They claimed someone turned in a request to fix something, but it wasn't us. Ever since we came to this room, we have had the temperature as low as it can go. The average temp has been 75 degrees, which is OK with us. But apparently, this block of rooms have had problems and they trying to regulate it better. We told them that the dining room is freezing at night, and they said decks four and five were on a different systems. Then they chocked it up to the ship getting old. Oh, we get that.
Dinnertime arrived for us at 7:30pm. Appetizers were salads and one shrimp starter and one bowl of Grandma's chicken noodle soup. It did help one of us warm up. Mains were one Club Orange special of crispy pork bellies, and the other was supposed to be a serving of lasagna. Sarif had mentioned something quietly about what kind of sauce I liked. I answered Bolognese. When the meals arrived, there was the blue plate special, one lasagna, and one spaghetti with Bolognese sauce. Somehow I must have not heard him correctly when he asked about sauce. Oh well, we shared some of the lasagna, doing the best we could to finish most of it. Dessert was a passionfruit-coated light and fluffy jello-like slice on cake, and one NSA mint chip ice cream.
This evening the Classical Trio from the Explorer's Lounge took the stage with a selection of their favorite tunes. A relaxing way to end a very relaxing day.
Bill & Mary Ann
