Day at Sea - Day 6

---

Tuesday, March 6th



Today we are cruising at sea all day, so there is nothing specific that we had to do at particular times. We went to the sit-down breakfast in the Michelangelo Dining Room and had a very good and leisurely meal (not practical when we need to zip off to a morning excursion). But today it was nice and restful. Each time we meet new people, and frequently compare travels stories.



Then Janet went to a Trivia session. There were 3 teams who needed another person and she said the bidding started at $10 for her to join them. Unfortunately her team did not win the prize, so they did not pay her the fee.



Meanwhile David went to a lecture on Duplicate Bridge. They are supposed to play bridge games this afternoon, but after the last cruise the staff had thrown all the cards away (not transferring the virus). There are new packs of cards, but they may not be able to play this afternoon unless the cruise director lifts the anti-virus rules. David also learned that the Ship’s Library had to dispose of all the paperback books after the last cruise – somehow they think they disinfected the hard bound books).



At 11:00 we met up in the central piazza and watched a fruit and vegetable carving demonstration. We have seen these on previous cruises, but they are always fascinating to watch. They tell us that we can do it at home after the cruise, but so far we have never tried it. Don’t expect anything special this time either.



For lunch we went to an English pub-style lounge called the Wheelhouse. They were serving traditional English lunches today. We both had Fish & Chips, but other options included Steak & Kidney Pie, or Bangers & Mash. Actually the fish did no live up to our expectations, but then the last time we had them was when we were in London. So that’s probably not a fair comparison. However we shared a table with another nice couple – she and Janet exchanged “knitting stories” and he and David talked about sports. We went to the International Café afterwards and had desserts.



After lunch David went to a presentation on Mega Ships. He had attended something similar during the Rome cruise, but this time it included more reflections on the consequences of political events and how technology drove improvements. There were examples of big advances in ship building, and also some directions/ideas that had been tried but failed.



Then he went to the pool deck for a swim. Turns out that the sun has been shining brightly since early morning, and many of the passengers had made this same decision, however the water temperature was still terribly cold. David only got one foot wet before retreating to a lounge chair and working on his tan for a little while (don’t want to be burned, but also not too pale skinned when we get to the next islands).



Janet returned to the cabin after lunch to read until a movie started which she wanted to watch in the theater. It was “My Week with Marilyn’ and Janet thought it was pretty good. By the way, she has not read both of her book club books for this month, so now she can start on something else.



This evening was the first of our formal dinners, so we got dressed up in our fancy attire and ate with everyone else in their pretty dresses/gowns and suits/tuxes. David had the beef tenderloin, which our waiter recommended as the best cut of beef we will be offered anytime during the cruise. Since he probably knows based on previous cruises, he took his advice, and it was indeed delicious. Janet saw the word “veal” on the menu and that was the end of her search, but she said it was VERY good. Then they were serving Irish Coffee as after-dinner drink, so we each had one - not too bad J



After dinner the Captain was hosting his Champagne Fountain, so we each had a “health drink” – Mimosas on our way to the Princess Theater. This evening’s show was Ballroom Dance from Broadway. It was very good with many styles of dance to songs from the era of Fred & Ginger, up to current days. It was very high energy with almost no breaks between songs – those dancers must be in terrific shape.



One thing we haven’t mentioned previously is that our cabin is directly over the Princess Theater, so each evening we heard the second session of the show through our floor at 10:30. In the future we will be sure not to book one of these rooms. But the shows have each been entertaining, so we are still glad they are having them. Also, they have become very popular and at least the 8:30 show was a sell-out again tonight.



After the show we plan to go up to see War Horse, showing on Movies Under the Stars. It does not start until 10:30, so we will post this to the blog tonight and you can find out later whether we actually stayed up until 1:00 to see the whole movie.

---

Photos

Pool Area
Now that the sun has come out