A day at sea was on the agenda today. It was also Sunday brunch day beginning at 9:30am to12:30 pm. Ever since boarding the ship back on September 3rd, we have yet to eat breakfast or lunch in the dining room.
On our way to the Pinnacle Grill this morning, we had a meeting with one of our buddies regarding the closing of the show lounge doors on deck four. Yesterday, Clare made a pointed demand that no one is allowed going into the lounge when the doors are closed while entertainment groups may be practicing. Apparently, people are doing what they want and ignore the signs. We do know from past cruises, that the entertainers object to an audience while rehearsing. We get that but was it necessary for Clare to say if the doors are barricaded, that should be enough of a clue not to enter. She went on to say if they must, the fire doors would be closed. Then last night at showtime, this same entrance was still blocked and closed. We do not have a clue of who to ask about this, but it seems to be a safety issue now. Closed fire doors? Really?
One of us was still feeling under the weather, so the other took a long walk on the promenade deck, while the not-so-well person wrote reports. There were still hundreds of photos taken yesterday that had to be sorted, and it seemed to take the rest of the day catching up.
The Captain came on with his noon talk and reported we had 221 nautical miles to reach Nuku'alofa, Tonga tomorrow morning. He expected to be docking on time, if not early. The weather to be expected tomorrow was 78 degrees and partly cloudy skies. However, the TV screen said something different which was there was a 100% chance of rain and 10.2 mph winds. The sunset and sunrise times were given, but one of us failed to write it down.
Today's craft was a class on making masquerade masks, perhaps for Halloween. The port talk for both Tongan ports happened at 11am, and it should be recorded to watch later in the day. In fact, we discovered that the TV format for the shore talks has been fixed. Now we can read her entire lecture as well as listen to it. The other usual activities took place all day.
Lunch was from room service with one pulled pork sandwich and one club sandwich. Nothing else.
Dinner tonight was in the Pinnacle Grill at 8pm. We did a fine job finishing our wedge salads and soft chicken taco. The Pinnacle chef stopped by for a visit and when we complimented his new items, it earned us a pat on our shoulders. One of us ordered the lamb chops (oddly enough, the toughest ones yet) with skinny fries on the side and the other had the small filet mignon with 2 crispy onion rings on the top. It was more than enough food since we had not done a lot all day to work up an appetite.
Tonight's entertainer was a repeat performance by the country western singer Patrick McMahon with road tested classics from the highways of America. Judging by the number of folks passing by our window in the Pinnacle Grill , we would say he drew a nice crowd. One of these days, we might catch a show.
Bill & Mary Ann
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