Even though we are a day ahead of Pacific Time, we wish all family and friends a Happy President's Day. For us, today is another leisurely day at sea and time to relax after a long day of hiking yesterday. Wish we could say the weather has improved, but we still have the heavy humidity, little if any breeze, and temperatures close to 90 degrees. It can be a lethal combination if you don't stay hydrated. We used to spend considerable time at the Seaview Pool, but not so much anymore. Ever since Covid, we have steered clear of public pools and areas with large crowds of people. And having said that, there is still the health advisory first and foremost on every sea day newsletter, The Daily. And no matter where we go in the ship, we eventually hear "stereo" coughing between the guests and even the crew. It's beginning to sound like a ship of barking seals.
We had hoped that we could watch the port talks or even the excursion talks on our TV, but it still does not work. So we have resorted to doing online research, and also going back to our reports from 2020, the last time we sailed in this part of the world. That sure brings back memories of when we came to the realization that the 2020 world cruise was about to end. That's when Covid hit big time, and things worldwide were beginning to shut down.
We had spent a rainy day in Cairns at that time, and were waiting at the Seaview Pool for the sail away, which did not happen as scheduled. Some of the top officers joined us and we felt something was wrong, but nothing you could put your finger on. We had been advised that the following port of Darwin had been cancelled, but little did we know at the time, we were eventually heading for Fremantle, and the end of the cruise. We were all going home. Except the crew and officers. A very scary time for all, and something we will never forget.
The ship was traveling s-l-o-w all day at a speed of 8.2 knots. We must be close to Cairns as we followed the coastline most all day. Not many folks were strolling on the promenade deck today due to the excessive heat we assume. There were many usual activities to keep guests busy inside. The Captain declared it was a "great" day with calm seas and very little sea swell. We must be in the shipping channel because several commercial ships passed us today going in the opposite direction. We are glad to be on port side, since that seems to be the place to see these ships. We have not seen another cruise ship in weeks now that we think about it. We have another 140 nautical miles to go to Cairns, and the Captain said we can expect some showers through the night and even tomorrow. That might be a good thing since it would help cool the air off.
Two activities today may have helped keep the guests cool. One was a beer tasting event at the Ocean Bar, and the other was an ice cream social in the Lido Pool area. Our dinner waiters happen to work in the Lido after 2pm, so they were the ones that told us about the ice cream party. It began at 3pm, and when we checked it out, the line wrapped around the pool. It is a mystery to us why this attracts people, because the same ice creams and topping are in the Lido station. Maybe it was the addition of a cotton candy machine that was making yellow cotton candy. Not too appealing. We would guess that it was 100 degrees in the pool area, so needless to say, we did not stay.
By the time we went to dinner, our room temperature had climbed to 80 degrees. The problem was that the setting sun warmed up our rooms even though our thermostat was down as low as it can go. No matter what ship we travel on, when you hit tropical areas with high humidity, it is difficult for the air-conditioning to work well. Deck three is bad due to the doors that go out to the promenade deck. And the same is true for deck nine where the pools are located. The Lido is always hot and steamy on days like today.
Last night at dinnertime, Presty stopped by to ask how we were liking the food in the dining room. He asks this often and does listen to our comments. We can say there has been an improvement with the quality of the meat as well as the side dishes and variety. Much better than the last two years we would say. Then we got on the subject of fresh fruit and the area we have been sailing ever since Easter Island. We had noticed that the refrigerator in the Lido has been empty of apples, oranges, and bananas. And any other whole fruit that they pick up along the way. We just figured they had run out of it. Well, we learned from Presty that due to the strict rules in each country, they were urged to take away the whole fruit, and had to serve it cut up as in a fruit salad. This type of produce is forbidden to take off of the ship, and despite the warnings of fines, people were still taking off bananas and apples when they were going on short tours. That is a huge problem especially in New Zealand and Australia…even Easter Island where the bags were inspected on the pier. We cannot believe people would do that with all of the multiple warnings. Anyway, we thought that was interesting.
We both ordered the chicken tenders with honey mustard sauce (so good), a Caesar salad, and mains of tri tip with mashed potatoes….hold the kale, please. One of us put together the veal meatballs with linguini noodles and extra tomato sauce. It worked out well. Dessert was one scoop of rocky road and a panna cotta with caramel sauce. The guests bailed out of the dining room before 9pm to go to the show of the Celtic violinist, Sarah Moir. Usually, the World Stage is kept quite cool, so that would be another reason to go to the show.
We should arrive to Cairns by 7am tomorrow. We will be surprised if it is not raining. After all, we are in the rainforest area of North Queensland.
Bill & Mary Ann
