Day 26 - Day 2 at Sea

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Today is Sunday and it’s our first full day at sea. Up a bit late and headed to breakfast about 10.00AM in the Horizon Lounge on Deck 14 (only need to climb one flight of stairs which is good). Some eggs on toast with coffee and I’m good to go.

Had a look at the Activity List and decided we’d catch the presentation about how to shop in Ports of Call in the show lounge. Some aussie guy was running this explaining why we can get Diamonds here so cheap. Something about cutting out 8-9 middle men I think he said and it was Diamonds International we need to shop at who are one of a few companies who buy direct from DeBeers who own all the world’s diamond mines.

He also gave us some tips on where to shop to get authentic things, which was helpful as we have already booked shore excursions for each port of call so we won’t have an awful lot of time to be spending in each place shopping.

I decided I’d go and try the Ryder Cup Golf Challenge (not knowing exactly what this was going to be !) which was on Deck 16. I went to the Golf Cyber Centre but it was not there. I got some cool Jamaican dude to help me find where to go as it was hidden. I was now at the very top of the ship next to the funnels where they had a nine hole putting green. Not your usual putting greens as each hole had some serious slopes in play.

There would be only five people to register, and the Assistant Cruise Director (an Aussie from Townsville) got us going. We would play holes 1-4 in round one, and we were not allowed to cut corners as most holes which were on like a U shape or similar and very undulating. I was the only representative from Australia as the rest were yankies. 3 Women, 2 Men.

After the 4 holes were in I was tied for the lead with a couple of the ladies on 13 shots. There was this one lady from Kentucky who had an unbelievable accent which I just loved to hear her talk. It had a real drawl about it. Something like the old lady on Beverly Hillbillies.

Luke & I then had lunch at the buffet whilst Kerry & Elise went to the Stones & Gem presentation to find out more about things like Tanzanite and the Crown of Light Diamonds.

Around 2PM Kerry wanted some lunch so we headed back to the buffet, and sat next to this american couple. They were from Northern California in the mountains somewhere (Tom & Ruth). Tom was saying how this was his first cruise and he had a jeweller friend of his had died recently so he was now having to find another way to buy his jewellery. Ruth has been on over 10 cruises and done the Mexican Riviera before. They talked about how they had been to Hawaii and hired a small boat to go around Big Island and two whales came along side and scared the crap out of them.

They left soon after and then another couple joined our table. It was Crawford and his wife (don’t know her name as she did not talk much). They were also from California (about 20 miles south of San Francisco) and this guy was interesting. When he found out we were from down under he said he had beee there. I said “when ?” and he said in 1943 during the war. He was 17 years old then and was in the navy on the submarine. He spent time in Brisbane and in Perth, but did not see any combat action. He talked about how we loved the aussie slang and recalled going up Brisbane River and seeing a sign saying “welcome sailors, don’t forget to keep your pecker up !”

We talked a bit about politics, Obama, and college which I found interesting that they have these community colleges which only cost around $500- per year to get you degree and explains why so many americans get college degrees. You don’t need a good score in High School to go to Uni and many programmes have support programmes for those who are not academic genuis’.

I just love the cruising experience where you sit down next to strangers and start talking. Everyone has a story to tell and they come from all different walks of like. I often wonder why we all do such a good job of ignoring each other when we are at home. What a better place the world would be if he cruising etiquette was applied universally to normal life !

We tried to give Trivia another go at 4.30PM in the Explorers Lounge and we joined a group of 4. This session was hosted by another of the entertainment crew (from Australia !). One lady was from Denver Colorado, I’m not sure about the others. We did much better this time with 15/20 which was a tie for first. We got lucky with a couple of Aussie questions which gave us an advantage. Lost on the tiebreaker round unfortunately.

Got back to the room and had the Tuxedo arrived and they gave me the trousers that would have fitted me before I started Jen 4 Men (about two sizes too large). Got the change pretty soon.

Kids arrived back in room around 5.30PM and we found out Elise had been with her friend Natasha, and Luke had been doing Digital Scavenger Hunt, and been in the pools.

We had reservation for dinner in Savoy Restaurant tonight but not until 8.15PM so we went down to the Atrium bar to hear the the 3 Mexican Amigos strutting their stuff. Saw them making the Champagne Waterfall display.

Luke & I had a quick game of ping pong then we then got dressed up for formal night and waited patiently for our formal photo’s. The Savoy Restaurant was much more classy than the Santa Fe. Our waiter was from Portugal and he was good.

I had a soup for entree and had Beef Medallions for main which was really nice. The food on this ship is really good and definitely a better quality than we have sen from Royal Caribbean and Carnival. Really intimate compared with the big dining rooms we have used previously on other ships. The waiter convinced us to book a Champagne Breakfast on our Balcony tomorrow morning as we pass by Cabo San Lucas on the tip of the Baja Peninsula. He said they was often lots of dolphins around this area.

With our anytime dining we can choose from four different restaurants and can make reservations to either eat on our own or share a table with others. They also have the buffet open, a pizzeria, and a steakhouse where you can pay $20-00 to eat there as well.
After dinner the kids did their thing and Kerry & I went to the see the man show at 10.15PM. We thought it was a magic show but it was the So You Can Dance show which was pretty good and showcased various dancing, singing & music from various era’s.

The Cruise Director is Lee from UK and he doe snot have a very strong voice / character to what we are used to. Perhaps that has something to do with demographics ? They are normally really strong voices, with loads of energy to get people out of their routines.

Temp today was a bit cooler but still fine & sunny. Lots of people were sunbathing and I guess it was about 22 degrees. We had to put our clocks forward and hour so it was actually 1.15AM by the time went to bed.

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