Saturday, March 9, 2024

February 14, 2024 – New Orleans LA – Mostly Sunny – high expected to be 65F.

Happy Valentine’s Day

Slept a lot better last night but throat is sore due to the cold air in the ship and room.

Had breakfast in the Oceanview Café.  This morning’s fare was a bowl of Frosted Flakes/Bran Flakes plus two pancakes and two eggs over medium.  Had to spend a few minutes explaining to the cook that I needed a non-meat clean pan.  He eventually disappeared in the back to clean the pan I hope.  The breakfast was good.

I brought Ellen her usual breakfast and now we are in the Oceanview Café sipping coffee and tea.

It is still pretty chilly out there so we are not planning to go off ship today.  Besides, it is a short day with departure around 2:30 PM.

I had another veggie burger for lunch today – it was just as good today.  What I like is that it only takes about five minutes to cook.  On some ships you have to wait at least 15 minutes to get your burger (you get the rest of your meal and come back for the burger).  Not the best situation. Also, the grilled onions on this burger just make it that much more delicious. 

The ship had turned out a lot of valentine’s day desserts.

I am scheduled to deliver my second talk – “The CSI Phenomenon: Forensics on Television” – at 3:30 PM in the Theater.  Post departure talks are historically poorly attended (people are tired from being out).  That was not the case today as the turnout was as good or better than the previous session (more than half full).

The audience was generally enthusiastic (I am never sure with this talk) and in speaking to individuals who attended was told that they enjoyed it.  It ended right on time.

When it is sunny and chilly outside, the only places to spend some time would be the Café al Baccio, the Rendezvous Lounge windows, and Reflections Lounge. We wound up at Reflections because it has a lot of windows and seats. It also is a good place to get a shot of the River Walk and the Mississippi.

We stayed there most of the day – it was very quiet until the trivia started.  The Trivia Host has his mic way up so it is difficult to do anything.  It was almost time for dinner so we got ready.

I had the Pasta Chef in the Oceanview Café make me some pasta – this time I had him add the sauce to the pan along with the previously sautéed veggies and the result was much better.  He told me he is not allowed to do that (he adds the sauce on top of the pasta at the end) because of food allergies.  As I noted previously, I hope he realizes that he also sautés shrimp in some of the pastas and that is a major source of food allergies.  The pasta was good and, along with a Cesar Salad, comprised dinner.  I think Ellen had some kind of fish prepared at the rear grill. 

Tonight is the first production show – “Soundtrack” – songs from the theater and movies. The Constellation Cast consists of six singers (three and three), two singer dancers (M and F), eight dancers (four of each), and two acrobats (one huge Reacher sized guy and a small woman).  Two takeaways from the show: First, everyone is very animated while performing an unusual but inventive choreography.  The movements are a blur.  Secondly, I did not recognize most of the songs – clearly they were from plays and movies I had not seen.  There was a very good duet "I Will Love You Until the End of Time" (from the Great Gatsby musical).

The showstopper was “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” performed by the best of the female singers and to a different arrangement.

There was also the obligatory James Bond Medley with “Goldfinger”, “View to a Kill”, and “Skyfall” in the set.  This was the second time we had heard Skyfall on this cruise.  It was an enjoyable show.  The Cast is very talented.






After the show, we listened a bit to Malenna, an acoustic duo.  A soft soothing sound that is a welcome change from the party band music generally in the Rendezvous Lounge.

The cabin is still cold even though the ship is slowly warming up after spending cold days and nights in New Orleans.  I called Guest Relations and asked them to send someone tomorrow to take a look at the heating system.

No comments:

Post a Comment