The day started early with a nice sunrise. We bet many folks slept in late today with the clocks set back one hour.
We had some nice surprises at breakfast this morning with the arrival of new guests. Finally, we know some of them from previous cruises such as Connie and Michele, Henk and Lucia, and Mary and Joe. They all prefer the longer voyages like us, and we have sailed with them on the Grand World Voyages. We will have more time to visit later in the afternoon.
Going back to our room, we discovered we were locked out. OK....now what? Pande, our room steward, was close by, so he let us in with his master key and said he would report it. Not wanting to wait, one of us went down to the front desk to have them-re-programmed. It became apparent that many folks were having problems due to the length of the line.
There is a separate spot for the Neptune folks, Club orange guests as well as President's Club members. However, I seldom do that and wait in the regular line. Today I was spotted and motioned over to the side counter. The keys were fixed and tested and it only took five minutes tops. Why that happened, no one knows.
We worked online most of the morning to catch up. Our veranda did have some sun, but there was little heat in it. Even our walk on the promenade deck was chilly and especially windy. The temperature was 68 degrees, with 88% humidity. There was an 11.3 mph wind and we were sailing at a speed of 18knots. The five-foot sea swells kept the ship in motion....rolling and pitching.
During his noon talk, Captain Thomas mentioned that we had traveled 338 nautical miles from San Diego, and had another 1886 nautical miles to reach Kauai. He added that the Pacific Ocean was the largest ocean on earth, and the early explorers were masters at navigation in those old days. He called it remarkable for them to have traveled so far without modern day instruments. The last of his numbers were sunset at 5:46pm and sunrise at 6:14am followed by a reminder to wash your hands often.
We had an invitation for a President's Club champagne welcome in the Mix Bar at 4:30pm. Going five minutes early, we were among the last ones to arrive. Tucked against a wall behind the baby grand piano, there was a total of 11 of us, and we knew everyone for a change. The hotel manager Leonie joined the group and visited equally with each one of us. Actually we were offered any beverage we wished. And as many as we liked. Canapies were offered, but we passed since we had just eaten lunch at 3pm. We all had fun conversations until it was time for all of the guests but us to head for early dinner.
Instead of dinner, we went to watch the sun set.
Dinner was "dressy" with the Captain's toast at 7:15pm. And because it was dressy, we had a new version of the Vivace strings playing in the orchestra pit. We had appetizers of one salad, an urn of onion soup. And two shrimp cocktails. We added rack of lamb with different sides. One of the entrees came with the mashed potatoes and the other with a loaded baked potato. And it was served hot by dining room assistant Matre'd Betty. A small volcano cake with caramel was the desert we shared. We noticed two tables for two on the lower level Obviously, they had run out of tables since we are at full capacity on this cruise.
Showtime featured a singer by the name of DJ Bucciarelli with Neil Sedaka sounds. And we discovered that Kainoa is onboard this cruise as one of the Polynesian Ambassadors. He delivered a talk on the geology and geography of Hawaii.
Back to our room, we discovered the gift fairy had made some deliveries of the heavy Legendary Voyage bags and two insulated coffee mugs for our to-go drinks at any of the cafes. A nice keepsake.
One day down, four sea days to go.....
Bill & Mary Ann
