2 Sea Days toward Bali - Crossing Equator

---

Geo: 1.28941, 103.85

TUESDAY, JANUARY 24 - SEA DAY

So I got up at 5:30am, took a shower and left for the O'Sheehan's Bar and Grill to get a booth so I could cross stitch. I knew we would be crossing the equator between 6am and 6:30am. I wanted to see the dotted white line - equator. I had put a stickn note on the time to remind Glenn of our activities for the day. 10am - lecture by Peter; 11:30am - ice carving out by the pool; 12:00 - Equator ceremony out by the pool and then 2pm showing of Sully. I also reminded Glenn where he could find me.

I had a very enjoyable morning cross stitching. Glenn appeared on the scene around 8am. He asked if Norma had found me. Norma was the 72 year old lady I met up by the pool one morning and I showed her where to get the coffee. She is traveling with her sister, that doesn't like to get up early. Glenn had seen her up on Deck 12, and told her where I was "parked", however, she finally came to chat with me. We reviewed our day in Singapore. We had run into them as we were getting back on the ship on Monday afternoon. Her sister was just hobbling along. Glenn had gone ahead and talked to an NCL agent to request a wheel chair to be brought out to her.

Glenn went up to Deck 12 and brought down breakfast for me. Oatmeal, prunes and English Muffin. I did take a morning nap for an hour. We went to the lecture by Peter. He gave some history about the upcoming port - Bali and Komodo. We do not have an excursion booked for either one of these. He mentioned that there are numerous language groups on the thousand of islands that make up Indonesia.

After the lecture, Glenn got a Sudoku puzzle from the library. He gets one everyday to work. It started to rain and the pool deck was crowded when we were watching the ice sculpture. Pretty fantastic. Then they had the "crossing of the equator" ritual. It was a skit with the cruise members. And then you can get "sprinkled" with the water from the equator to signify that you have crossed the Equator. Kinda like Infant Baptism. It was fun. They had a similar situation when we were at Cape Horn at the tip of South America. Glenn did this - I didn't.

After a quick lunch, we returned to the room to watch the 2pm show of Sully. Glenn and I had already seen the movie in Tennessee back in the fall, but I wanted to see it again. I did take a nap after the movie and before our Latitude Reception - Glenn went to work out, while I slept. We got ready for the 6:15pm evening reception for the Latitude members. Think Advantage club members, however this is for those that cruise on Norwegian Cruise Line. We sat at a small table with a couple that are from Brisbane, Australia. They got on the cruise ship back at the end of December when it was in Hong Kong, cruised down to Singapore, then cruised up to Hong Kong and then is on the cruise with us. That is like 45 days of cruising. Of course there were stops in Thailand, Vietnam and China. And of course they were on the crippled cruise, where NCL reimbursed them for 50% of the trip, since NCL had to alter their schedule so much because of the azipod problem.

As we were walking back to the show, we stopped at the CruiseNext desk, that is where you can book your next cruise. We just had a general question, and Margaret said "oh, my God, I just got an email about you. It was from Andrea, and she said for me to look y'all up and say hello to you." Margaret works with Andrea in Miami. Andrea is my personal cruise consultant. So, Margaret took a photo of us 3 and will send it to her the next time she gets on line.

The 7:30pm show was a one-man show. He had the big band as back up. He sang sounds of Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis and old blue eyes. And he also did very good impressions of famous actors, Shawn Connery, Milton Berle, Gene Hackman, Sylvester Stallone, and even politicians like Bill Clinton, George Bush, Jr, Obama, and then he said "I'm still working on Trump". That got a big roar of laughter. He was very good. Hopefully he'll play/sing again.

By the time of 8:15pm rolled around, I was tired. Glenn went up to Deck 12 for a plate of food and brought it down to eat with me. I just had 1 roll. Not hungry. Been eating all cruise. Glenn did go to bed before I did.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 24 - SEA DAY

This morning, I got up before 6am and made my way to the booth at O'Sheehan's Bar and Grill (one that is open 24/7). Norma never showed up. Glenn showed up at 8am. I noticed that Irene (the hat lady) was sitting on the other side of the restaurant. Glenn went over to greet her and to confirm that we would like to be at her husband "Surprise" Birthday party. I thought she said it was on a Friday. Glenn comes back from talking to her and she said it was Sunday, a Sea Day. Well, on our schedule, it has Sunday as we are in Darwin. So, I go over and visit with her. She again said, Sunday, Sea Day. My schedule from the Spa says Sunday. I asked her again, "are you sure?" She then called over her little Indonesian "helper" and asked "can you check with someone to see if Sunday is a SEA DAY?" Sure enough I was correct. She was glad that I doubled checked with her. So, now she is switching the Surprise Party to Saturday, 6pm, same location.

I visited with Irene extensively. She is Hispanic. Met (not sure if they are married) Eloy back in 97. She said "they've been together ever since". She use to work on Tele-novella. Which is the Mexican soap opra. She says she comes from a large family. Her mother died when she was 1, however she has several 1/2 brothers and sisters, cause her dad was married two other times yet, the wives had died of cancer or other disease. Quite interesting lady. We were talking about our upcoming tours, our time in Vietnam and Singapore. I then remember, when we were in Vietnam, and we had stopped at the Embroidery museum/market, it was Irene that told me to go and find the "Last Supper" tapestry. I also mentioned to her about our Sunday service Glenn and I are holding. Irene had to leave because she had a 9:30am spa appointment. Irene said she would buy me a souvenir spoon if I couldn't find one when we are in Komodo.

Today has been very relaxing. Glenn and I are not "doing" a lot of the game shows, or trivia shows that we have done in the past. Sometimes, I would be running from one thing to the next thing.

Glenn did go up on Deck 12 - pool side, where there was a sale on t-shirts. 2 for 10. As he was picking out the correct size, I started talking to a lady from Florida. Sandy is traveling with her cousin, Bonnie. Sandy mentioned that if it wasn't for Bonnie (probably her rich rich) cousin, she wouldn't be traveling. We talked awhile about the culture differences, when you have folks from Europe, China and Australia on a ship with Americas. See us Americas stand in line. The folks from Europe "butt" in line. I remember trying to watch the ice sculpturing and no one "kindly" moved out of the way for me to look at it. Glenn said the same thing. He was trying to go around some European, and they said to go the other direction.

Glenn and I then went downstairs to the Casino. We saw Bonnie. She was pushing the button to the "slot machine". I struck up a conversation with her. I asked her how it all worked. She explained it a little bit. She said, "You know I have a very intelligent old lady. When I come on the ship. I do not go to the shows, I do not drink. You will find me here in the Casino. She showed me how you stick in $10.00 dollars, how the points ring up. At one point, she won 13.00 dollars. She was playing the one penny machine. She said I gave her good luck. Then an employee of the casino, came up to her and handed her a small plastic bag. Bonnie smiled. She said it was a couple of toilet tissue rolls from the bathroom in the casino, because the paper there is better than the cheap toilet paper in the stateroom. So, she had made friends with someone on board that will get her some "good" toilet paper. She also mentioned how she is trying to get her butler guy a pass to get off the ship tomorrow and go with her and her family on the excursion. I'm not sure how that will all work out. She also mentioned that when she cruised recently, she helped out one of the employees.

Glenn and I ate lunch at the Versailles. I had chicken salad on pretzel roll, and Glenn had a "bogie" sandwich. Glenn worked out, and I came back to the room for a nap. The Australian Open is going on now, so we have been watching it off and on.

We got dressed for dinner and decided to go to the Ginza Restaurant (Japanese). As we were standing in line, we struck up a conversation with a couple, Phil and Lang. Don't know their last name, but we can remember their names by Phil Lang. He is American and she is Chinese born in Vietnam, moved to US when she was young. Very interesting couple. They have traveled the world. We invited them to come and visit us in Guatemala. We gave them our card. They are retired, from Southern California, Orange county. They owned several franchise of Dairy Queen.

We did not go to the show, since we have already seen Band on the Run. Good production, but didn't want to see it again.

---