Tinbergs on Tour: June 9, 2024 – At Sea – Near Cuba – Caribbean Sea – Warm

It’s a beautiful day at sea.

Slept OK – the room is quiet – there is no endogenous rattle, squeak, or creak, in this room (very unusual). Even the heater/AC is quiet and works. This is the actual view from our stateroom - you have to work around the railing on this deck. Cuba is visible off the port side.

While the other lecturers are saturating the daily schedule, my first talk is scheduled for June 11, so I have two straight days off and will spend them like a regular guest.

I had breakfast up in the Marketplace Buffet. I found a nice seat at the most forward end of the restaurant – it had a window so this might be a one-time deal. I had a waffle with cottage cheese and jams plus some scrambled eggs. The service as always was good with coffee flowing constantly. The food was good. This the view from Deck 12.

I went to hear Jeff Larsen talk about the Cuban Missile Crisis – I knew this story pretty well and some of his graphics I had already seen many times. He’s a good speaker and it seems he has been in the field a while (I think he is ex-Navy or ex-military of some sort). The theater was about half full with people spread out.

NOTE – there won’t be much discussion about lunch in this log because it is pretty much the same every day. Ellen scans the buffet and I always get the gazpacho (best ever) along with something from the grille – today that was a perfectly prepared Impossible Burger. The other option for lunch include the menu items at “Tastes Kitchen” which include a personal Margherita Pizza, some Asian items, and a tuna salad. The salad bar is pretty good – they don’t have a lot of items we can eat but they do have an occasional veggie pasta and a very good salad (the ranch dressing is great).

I am trying to sample as many different beers as I can for lunch. Today’s choice is Asahi from Japan, which turned out to be a very nice brew and one that went perfectly with my I-Burger.

It is too warm to be outside – so possible locations to hang out are Crystal Cove (Deck 5 Midships) and Palm Court (Deck 12 forward). The ship is very quiet with little or no background music. Great places to read once I pick up some books from the library.

We found ourselves in Palm Court during Afternoon Tea – Violinist Martina Yarova generally plays during tea time – she plays this electronic violin that emits an otherworldly sound that is actually pleasant.

We had dinner again in the Waterside Dining Room – this time out it was a pasta with a tomato based sauce. It was good but before we left, we found a head waiter and ordered two kosher rib eye steaks for tomorrow evening. Looking forward to that.

The show tonight was “Crystal on Broadway”. We have seen this show before but are counting on a new choreography and arrangements. The show consisted of three or four songs from the following plays: “Something Rotten” (a play about William Shakespeare),