Monday April 8th – at Sea

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Hello again from the peaceful Pacific Ocean. Before we get to anything new, we’d like to point out that some of the previous entries have more pictures than would fit in the text. That should apply at least to Honolulu and to Lahaina. So if you did not notice them already, you might want to go back and check for extra pictures below the text area. However there are no new pictures today. Sorry.

We slept in this morning as we began a nice restful day at sea. We went up to the Horizon Court for a little breakfast and then Janet went to knit with her friends. David took his book around the ship and sat and read a couple of places – just to get out of the cabin.

Since we had breakfast a little late and dinner is served so early, we decided to simply have a light lunch around 1:00. We went to the International Café and split a Tuna sandwich and a Cuban sandwich. Then a little cherry crumble for dessert and we were all filled up.

Then we went to explore an area we’ve never seen before on any of our cruises. We went to the children’s play area. There are several areas based on age. There are almost no children on this cruise but the rules still say that tours cannot be given after the first day. But we found one of the ladies who are working there and she let us look from the doorway. There is one room for 3-9, another for 10-13, and a 3^rd room for teenagers. We only saw the middle room, but it is a nice play area with games, tables/chairs, PlayStations, a movie screen, an outdoor play area, and more. We were interested because we plan to take all our daughters/sons-in-law and grandkids on a cruise next summer, and we wanted to get a better understanding of what might be available to them. It will be on a different ship and with different numbers of children, but it appears they can go there and have a good time if they didn’t like what the adults were doing. Anyway, we were interested to learn more about it. We already know that they have their own menu of foods during meal time if they want.

We went back to the cabin to continue our restful day. Janet took a little afternoon nap then finished her book. David sat out on our balcony and finished one book and started another. Then we watched a cute cartoon movie called “Coco”. That was our plan for the day – just do things that were restful. David is not very good at this aspect of cruising, but he is improving with practice. One unusual sight today was seen on the balcony below ours – the people seem to have brought supplies back from Hawaii and were sitting out eating a bag of Tostada Chips and a jar of Pace Salsa. At least WE aren’t tired of “ship food” yet.

We went to dinner at 5:00. Janet had Shrimp Cocktail for an appetizer and David had Sea Scallops and also chilled cherry soup. For her entrée Janet had the Pork Tenderloin and David had Steak Diane. Janet skipped the dessert and David had Peanut Butter Mud Pie. With dessert we usually get an after dinner cordial. Janet usually has the Irish Cream and adds it to her coffee. This evening David was really challenged to find an after-dinner cordial that pairs well with peanut butter.

We went to the Princess Theater for an instrumental show by someone named Paul Stepien. He was announced as being a finalist in “Poland’s Got Talent” so we weren’t sure if this was a comedy show or not, but he actually was a good musician. He played several different flutes, piccolos, recorder, and others. It was very unusual and entertaining. Afterwards we went to the Wheelhouse Bar to wait for a 9:00 show by the Piano & Violin Duo that we like. They are always called the Consonance Duo, but we do not know their actual names. Anyway, we enjoyed their music and then went back to the cabin for the night.

We had a beautiful day today with just slight motion from the waves affecting the ship. The noon report said 81 degrees and it sure seemed to warm up more during the afternoon. It was sunny all day and there were lots of people taking advantage of the pool area. But that will probably be something for another day.

We get one extra hour sleep tonight as we continue our cruise into the sunset. So on top of all the rest we got today, we will get an extra hour sleep tomorrow morning. Good night.

FYI … we are getting further and further out into the middle of the Pacific, so satellite internet may have some dry spells. If we miss a day or so, then we will catch up with the posts - you won't miss any episodes.

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