Happy Birthday, Leo!
Slept all night – sinfully quiet ship. Hoping that continues.
A lovely day in the Gulf of Mexico. The coast of Cuba was close enough to be seen from the ship.
Cuba
The first breakfast on a cruise generally sets the tone for the rest of the cruise – first off, no sour cream (I might ask again). The waffles were very good and there was cottage cheese and good scrambled eggs. The coffee was refilled often. Overall OK. I found a nice secluded seat in the back corner of the Lido Café.
We attended the 12 PM Entertainment Department Meeting. Everyone was introduced and the same Dos and Don’ts were discussed. Louis Beres is once again on this ship along with Bill Miller (Mr. Ocean Liner). Gary Hunter made us all feel welcome – it was a good crisp meeting.
For my first lunch of the cruise in the Lido Café, I had the salad bar (lots of offerings including my favorite, garbanzo beans) and wonderful Ranch Dressing. But the absolute favorite at lunch is the Gazpacho, which I plan to order every day of the cruise.
Video Advert for My Talk
My initial presentation at 1:30 PM was sparsely attended – the Hollywood Theater has a published seating capacity of 202 seats and the place was about 70 percent full – a little over a 140 people. I got a great introduction from Gary.
Gary Hunter and Me
Introduction by Gary
My talk might have run a little over the 45 minutes. I chatted with some passengers afterwards.
Pre-Talk Picture
Small and Mighty Crowd
I am counting on word of mouth to increase attendance.
Tonight is Formal Night –
we are going to try and get a seat in the Crystal Dining Room because there are some good things on the menu. The Maître D’, Mr. Gallo (who is very helpful) said he had no tables for two but we could sit with other folks. We were seated with a couple from Alabama and three other women traveling together. Turns out that everyone had either been to my talk or had watched it on TV. The dinner turned out to be very conversational. I had the Beet appetizer, Corn Soup, Salad, and Pappardelle Alfredo (basically). Ellen tried the Sole and the soup and salad.
We ordered two rib eye steaks for tomorrow night and we are hoping for a table for two.
Dinner was longer than usual and we thought we would have trouble getting seats for the show – “My Life: The Music of Billy Joel” starring James Fox. The theater was basically empty when we got there at a little after 8 PM. We took our seats in the way back. The show was very good – better than I remembered it – I thought there was more choreography this time round. Maybe not.
“New York State of Mind”
After the show, we spent the rest of the time on our balcony. A beautiful evening at sea.
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