A pretty nice day at sea as confirmed by the view from our cabin.
Didn’t sleep all that well – jet lag plus travel craziness. I was up in the Oceanview Café when it opened. At that hour, I didn't have any trouble getting a table with a view.
I had my usual waffle, cottage cheese, sour cream, jams and scrambled eggs. I also had some oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar to start. The breakfast was certainly familiar and good. I actually look forward to this breakfast every day. Everything was here except for the sour cream. Because I was up here early, I did have a nice relaxing breakfast including a good seat at a window.
I went down to the Theater at 8:30 AM to set up. The AV guy was there and set up took just five minutes. Eclipse has a new headset that is made of soft material and not wires like they used to have. It also rests on the top of your ears and not wrap about them, which was unstable and uncomfortable. It was so much more comfortable to wear.
My first talk – “The CSI Phenomenon: Forensics and Television” started with no introduction. The AV set up was quick and easy. The only issue is that the projector is optimized for the show graphics so the lecture graphics are a little fuzzy. The audience was pretty good for 9 AM – maybe a couple hundred people of so (Eclipse Theater capacity is 1113. I spent a few minutes chatting with passengers. One passenger wanted to take a picture with me (why not) so his wife took one. Now, that's what I call a good start to the lecture series. The talk itself was OK - it all depends on how many passengers are fans of forensic shows. I don't think there were a lot of them in this bunch.
I finished right on time at 9:45 AM and the Destination
Speaker, Mara Unkefer (a Marine
Biologist) set up for her talk on the animals of the region. As I was leaving the theater, I ran into Ana
Dulce, who handed me a post it note with an new cabin number, 3132 – outside
stateroom Midships. We checked out the
room and it was perfectly set up and strategically located. I sent Ana a thank you note.
Today’s lunch in the Oceanview Cafe was semi-special – A "Taste of the UK" so we had fish and chips. If you got the fish fresh it was very good as were the chips. Since the ship is running at capacity, the Oceanview Café is slammed at lunch and it is difficult to find a table. We lucked out and did find a place to sit. The plan is get up here a bit earlier and stake out a table.
We visited Shorex in search of Escorting
opportunities. After some discussion, we
both got escort spots – mine was in the morning and involve beer and rum
tasting – downside, I had to be in the theater at 8:45 AM. Ellen was escorting a walking tour of St
John’s in the afternoon. It sounded like
a score.
We found some window seats in Cafe al Baccio and hung out there for most of the afternoon.
We had dinner in the Oceanview Café – I had veggie sir fry made fresh with rice instead of noodles. The cook and his assistant did a great job tonight - delicious.
I don’t know if it was the jet lag or the lack of sleep
but I developed what felt like a cold – pretty sure it’s not COVID (no fever or
aches) but I do have a runny nose and a little cough. I think it’s due to the cleaning materials
they use on the ship.
We passed on the show tonight – “Amade” – we had seen it before.
We did get some good seats in the Foyer and watched and listened to "Next Stage". The lead singer is very good and has a distinctive look - pink hair. Not too loud - songs that we know - just right for easy listening.
The new room is pretty quiet – there is a "ship noise" that
sounds like the stabilizers are being deployed.
However, as ship noises go, this is pretty benign and won’t be
an issue. It only comes on rarely or not
at all.
We moved our clocks forward 30 minutes (yes 30 minutes) to put us on Newfoundland time.
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