Thursday, March 26, 2020

December 29, 2019 – At Sea – Pacific Ocean – Mostly Cloudy – 67F

Lumpy seas all night.  Lots of rock and just as much roll.  May have slept a little – don’t really know.  


Got up finally at 7:00 AM and went to Horizon Court for breakfast.  What is usually the best breakfast of the cruise was not.  The place was already crowded and it was so dark that it seemed like I was eating in the middle of the night.  I had my usual – waffles, cottage cheese, and jam plus some scrambled eggs and the signature biscuits.  Sad to say, everything was somewhat disappointing capped off by someone sitting down with me while I was still eating.  I will need to work out a different system for tomorrow and hope that the same food will be better tomorrow.  (So far the best thing, I’ve eaten on the ship has been the Caprese Salad and tuna panini in the International Café.  I have confidence that things will improve.)

On the way back from breakfast, I stopped off at Guest Services to submit two maintenance requests (clogged sink and dead batteries in the room safe).  I also need to register my card for GE perks but I have to see a specific person for that. 

When I got back to the room, there were knocks on the door – the plumber and the safe guy were both there (it was a little after 8 AM).  The sink and safe are now working properly.  I also called room service for Ellen (her door card was not picked up) and they delivered her breakfast within 15 minutes so that was a good thing too.

I went to hear Rowena, our Aloha Ambassador, talk about our first stop, the Big Island of Hawai’i.  She had a nice crowd as Destination Speakers always do.

A lot of people stayed for my first talk – “Forensics and History: The Mystery of the Romanovs” - at 11:00 AM in the Princess Theater.  The talks on this cruise are in a somewhat different order than on other long haul voyages (a result of some glitches in documentation).  I just had to move some background information around to make the talks make sense.  I was introduced by CD Steve Campbell (I had to stay behind the curtain until my name was called as to make a grand entrance).  


The theater holds around 750 people and it was about one third full.  


I don’t know how many English Speakers are on board so I can’t evaluate the turnout.  The talk went well, considering I am still fighting the bronchitis contracted before the cruise.  I quietly coughed a few times but kept right on talking and got through.

I chatted with a few folks after the talk and the feedback was positive.  I found out later that Lee’s wife and child attended the talk.

We had lunch in the Da Vinci Dining Room – a green salad (Ranch) and a fettuccini pasta that was difficult to describe but good.  Ellen had the other pasta minus the bacon – specially made but not really the same.

We spent most of the afternoon in the back of the Wheelhouse Bar – they have comfortable seats back there just right for a quick nap or reading.  I am making progress on “Dark Sacred Night” by Michael Connolly a Bosch/Ballard combo novel.

The ship is again having difficulty in maintaining a comfortable ambient temperature.  The Wheelhouse Bar was cold – I was wearing a jacket and was cold.  The Crooners Bar is generally warm.  The theater is very cold.

I went to see Lee again to make some final changes to the lecture order – seems like a very nice guy and easy to work with.

We attended the Chanukah Candle Lighting ceremony at 5:00 PM.  


The service was nice and the latkes were OK – passed on the jelly donuts so I wouldn’t ruin my meal.  We met a couple from Israel that were on the ship with us a year ago (they do this run every year).  She remembered the titles of the talks after a year – amazing.

We had dinner in the Michelangelo Dining Room – we got a nice table for two with good separation.  I had the standard meal – Baked Potato Soup, Cesar Salad, Grilled Salmon, and an ice cream sundae.  I need to ask that the fish be well done – it was good but more like sushi than salmon.

We went to the theater for Showtime to see Canadian comedian, Simon B. Cotter.  He was the Canadian Comedian of the Year but he struggled tonight.  It seemed that we had heard all of these jokes before done by another comic.  He has another show scheduled which we hope will be different and new.  The theater was so cold that some guests complained.  I had to go to the room to get my windbreaker; it was funny to see people dressed in winter coats in the theater.

We hustled to the Vista Lounge to see Dan Delgado’s 8:30 PM Show.  When we got there, the theater was basically empty.  When he started, the theater was about a quarter full, maybe less.  The band plus Dan made for too high a decibel level so we left for the warmth of our room.

I don’t know what the next step up from “lumpy” is but the seas were not happy.  The rock and roll and the wave thumps were intense.  I am hoping we can get some sleep tonight.

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