Today was a pleasant day at sea, the first on our way to Rio. Breakfast continued to be a good way to start the day and the crowd in there are repeaters like us. As the days roll by, most of us have claimed their favorite tables.
There was a cooking show in the Wajang Theater this morning with Erin, the cruise director and the culinary team. They were whipping up their signature beef short ribs. This evening the guest chef, Andre, will have a special dinner with wine pairing starting at 6pm – one seating only. We have friends that will book this venue and all of the other pop-up dinners on this entire trip. In competition with that special dinner, there was a Brazilian-themed dinner in the Lido at 5:30pm, as well as an Oi Brasil samba under the stars at 8:30pm. It was promoted almost like a mini-Carnaval-like event.
We kept busy with photo processing like we always do after being in port city all day. Matching the pictures to the numerous churches, cathedrals, parks, cultural centers, government buildings and palaces was challenging. The colonial section of Recife is loaded with these old structures, more so than many other big cities. The Info center had many brochures for us to take, but many of them were written in Portuguese. Some had English translations.
At least one of us had the chance for a morning stroll on the promenade deck. The sea swells are not that bad, but we still seem to have some motion going on. Perhaps doing a speed of 19 knots contributes to the rocking and rolling. During his noon talk, the Captain said we were 740 nautical miles from Rio, and we were sailing 119 nautical miles off of the coast of Brazil. The winds were 15 knots and the temps were in the low 80's. The stabilizers were out, making it more comfortable for the guests. Tomorrow, he expects much the same weather with a few showers thrown in for good measure.
We took another break for a walk to the Sea View pool. There were a lot fewer sunbathers back there than we expected. It seems that the busier area is the smoking side (port). Sitting at a small table on the starboard side, we found that there were no waiters offering drinks. The one fellow that was there, was over on the smoking side. Now our arms are not broken, and yes, we could have gotten our own ice waters, but we waited to see if a waiter would come on this side of the pool because there were more people like us there. Nope, never happened and we were there almost an hour. That is unusual for a grand voyage as the bar staff are usually very attentive regardless of what you are drinking.
Room service mini sliders was our lunch today. It only took 20 minutes to arrive, which is record time so far. They are even better than the Dive-In burgers in our humble opinion.
Dinner in the dining room was still busy with the fixed seating crowd. Starters were one chicken empanada and two different salads. Mains were lamb chops, a little too rare even though they were ordered "medium". Prime rib was good and a whole lot of food. Could not eat it all. Desserts were one trifle in the small jar and one dish of frozen blueberry yogurt. We have noticed that the ice creams of the day are not listed on the dining room dinner menu anymore. Neither are the frozen yogurts or sorbets. You need to ask for them. One good aspect of that is the ice cream will not be melted from being pre-scooped earlier and sitting in the kitchen.
We could hear the drums of the Oi Brasil music which came down from deck eight to deck six. Good thing the suite doors are well-insulated.
Bill & Mary Ann
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