August 24, 2024 – At Sea – Rain, Foggy then Partly Cloudy – 60s

The ship is sailing through some very thick fog and it is also raising outside

 – the visibility is pretty limited and the fog horn is active.  The rain stopped and by early afternoon, the fog had lifted and we were treated to a beautiful day – blue skies with few clouds.

My talk today is at 3:30 PM in Celebrity Central so I have time for a more leisurely breakfast.  The Oceanview Cafe wasn’t too crowded when I got up there around 6:45 AM.  Today, to shake things up, I had two eggs over medium plus a cranberry pancake topped with syrup, chocolate syrup, walnuts, and banana slices.  The eggs were cooked perfectly, the pancake was nice and soft and the whole combination was delicious.  I have also been having the mini biscuits – they are pretty good. 

It was warm enough today to spend some time on the back deck (out of the wind).  The couches are comfortable enough and with a hot drink, it is just fine.

The ship is really moving today as she steams to Halifax.

Today was Italian Day at lunch in the Oceanview Café and that meant lots of focaccia breads along with make your own Caprese Salad.  I tried all of the breads which I slathered in sundried tomato paste.  Absolutely delicious.  I put some balsamic vinegar from the salad bar on my Caprese salad.  It was a simple but yummy lunch. The Cannelloni was also good for dessert. The best lunch - for me - so far on these cruises (even better than the Fish and Chips, which is usually the best for both Ellen and me).

I was concerned about the Celebrity Central venue for my talk today.  The capacity of this room is 208 people (the theater holds 1113).  I went down there around 3 PM and there were a lot of people in the room.  I set up my computer and watched as more people came. At 3:15 PM, the place was full and more people tried to get in. I just waited to see what would happen and chatted with the passengers.

There was a line outside the venue 

and when it got packed, I went to see Kristine to let her know what was going on.  To complicate matters, there were technical issues with the video recorder so people would not be able to watch this on their TVs.

When the room became overcrowded, I went to get Kristine to see what we should do.  

She came to the venue and apologized to the crowd and said that I would do this talk again before the end of the cruise (much to my surprise).  Out in the hall, where people were lined up through the game quad and further, Manuel was speaking to some of the guests.  

Don’t know what he was saying but I think it was nice that he came out and got involved.

I gave the talk to a fully stuffed Celebrity Central – there were people listening to the talk in the entry way to the venue, 

where I don’t think they could see the slides.  Even though the place was crowded and warm (Kristine had the AC turned on) the audience was terrific and super interactive and the session was a blast.  I still like the interaction that is possible in Celebrity Central.

I was hoping that some of offerings at lunch would also appear in the Oceanview Café at Dinner time.  Alas, no.  But Ana whipped me up a delicious pasta – onions, garlic, tomatoes and broccoli in tomato sauce over spaghetti.  I had it earlier in the cruise and it was a tad too sweet but tonight it was perfect.  I let her know that.  I can't imagine what you would pay for a dish of pasta like that on land.

We went to see Vox Fortura’s Second Show in the Theater.  

The playlist contained some material from their first show (they said it would) but they also did a very unique version of “Hallelujah”, where they mashed up the lyrics in the verses and spent most of the time on harmonizing the chorus.  It did work.

It's been a long day with the afternoon session so we went back to the room after the show.  The time changes, even sailing West, are tiring.