A day at sea was appreciated by everyone after the heat and humidity of Darwin yesterday. And being that it was a Sunday at sea, there was another brunch in the dining room from 9:30am to 12:30pm. They are no longer taking reservations like they did in the beginning of the cruise.
Kimberly is still under the weather, and Erika the entertainment director has been taking her place from the 9am coffee chat, the Bali talk with shore excursions Kimberly, and the afternoon time activities. At 6:30pm, she hosts cocktails in the Rolling Stones Lounge, followed by announcing the evening shows in the World Stage.
Captain Friso announced at noon that it was a beautiful day again, and we were lucky to have such smooth seas and pleasant temperatures. He did predict some rain showers late this afternoon, but we never saw any. We have over 500 nautical miles to arrive to Komodo Island where the Captain said there may be some challenges with the anchoring there. It will be another tender port, but we don't recall any problems doing that in the past. But then, we have never been there on this ship.
The World Stage was busy with three speakers and a good movie at 3pm – Crazy Rich Asians. At least these activities gave the folks options to stay inside on these warm and humid days. As for us, we were kept busy working on the pictures and research from yesterday's stay in Darwin.
We kept lunch light because we had a special dinner this evening in the Pinnacle Grill. The invitation read: On behalf of Beth Bodensteiner, the new President of Holland America Line, Captain Friso , Hotel Director, Henk, and Officers and Staff invite the President's Club Members to Pasar Malam Asia, a Singaporean Night Market-style Dinner at 6:30pm. We did not have a clue to this type of cuisine, and all we were told was that it was Asian-inspired food. We had to trust Tina that she remembered the shellfish allergy for one of us, and we would have asked, but she was not available this morning at breakfast. We believe she was consulting with the chefs with tonight's menu. We did some research by checking the Lido menu which was having the same event tonight. Many of the starters and entrees were fish-related, so we think they will choose certain items for our group.
And the list on our menu was long with no choices with appetizers or mains. We were served the whole eight course meal. We opted out of the wine offerings and ordered cocktails instead. No problem. We were seated at a table for seven which included friends Ellen and Aart, Don McD, with hosts of the Chief Engineer, Bart and his wife Darling. We have had the pleasure of their company at the last cocktail party, so everyone was at ease at our table. The first course was a combination of two starters by the name of Ngoh Hiang and Kerabu Bee Hoon Chicken Floss. OK, now that is a tongue-twister and a complete mystery. Good thing the ingredients were described as a deep fried roll with prawns, crab meat, pork and water chestnuts well-seasoned. Combined with that was a spicy sweet and sour vermicelli salad, colamansi ?, lemongrass, serundeng? with chopped peanuts. One of us had the same appetizer minus the seafood. The next course was a soup called prawn laksa with coconut broth, more vermicelli and boiled egg. Mine came without the prawns. The entrée was a sampler plate full of good favorites starting with Singaporean style noodles, one Asian-style braised beef short rib, a thyme coated salmon with rice, green beans, and red onions. Everyone else had two chili shrimps, except me….I had deep fried cauliflower. It worked out well and I never had to worry about the allergies, thanks to Tina.
Dessert was a trio of sorbets, most of which we could not identify the flavors. All-in-all it was a fun evening with good tablemates and nice hosts. Most of the night was a trip down memory lane sharing fun times over the years. Captain Friso came by with Chantall to say good evening to us. He will be leaving the ship in Singapore, and replaced by Frank, our alternate Captain.
The singers and dancers were on the stage with "A Swing Thing", which most everyone missed the beginning. Our meal did not end until 9:15pm and we were happy to call it a night.
And the clocks went back one hour tonight. That's nice.
Bill & Mary Ann
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