Day 8 – Tuesday – Oct 2 – Third Sea Day

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Hello from the big blue Pacific ocean. Notice we did not include the words quiet or smooth. About 3:30 in the morning we sailed through a fairly big thunderstorm. We heard it and saw the lightening, but we didn’t get up to watch. Other did and described it as very heavy rain. We just went back to sleep.



In the morning it was sunny again but this afternoon became overcast and periodically there were more showers. This has given us some “ship motion” that we really hadn’t had before. And it was a little cooler than yesterday’s near-90 temperature. Other than not getting any suntan, it wasn’t actually bad weather.



We tried the deck-side breakfast bar this morning, but again it was just waffles, pancakes, and French toast. David grabbed a waffle and then we went to the Horizon Court buffet for bacon & eggs, pastries, juice, fresh fruit, etc. We sat in the section where our evening waiter was working, so we had special service.



After breakfast, we went to Customer Service to get some answers about the disembarkation process. We think we have a plan now. Then Janet went to Knitters and Natters. There were several types of crafts represented today, mostly knitting, some crocheting, some embroidery and even some jewelry making. We had a discussion on what Natters are but no one there knew. In the discussion of Cross stitch Janet discovered one of the others is a member of the Embroiders Guild of America in the Cedar Rapids chapter. Janet is a member of the St. Louis chapter. Hopefully we will run into each another again.



David ran a couple of errands around the ship – found out how to bring back a bottle in our checked luggage, bought some souvenirs, and then went to the Princess Theater for the next seminar about our ports of call (Enrichment Lecture). Today there was a full house in the theater with people standing in the back and others sitting on the steps of the aisle. The session was about the building of the Panama Canal – pretty much a history lesson. However it was really very interesting. Janet didn’t come (still knitting), but she can catch it on the shipboard TV tomorrow. They also gave a URL for loved ones to track the position of the ship and another URL for Canal Zone cameras so you can watch our progress through the Panama Canal. David did not have anything to write with, but we will copy that off tomorrow’s TV and will send it in the next blog.(hopefully).



After the Enrichment, we met up and went down to visit the Future Cruise Director. We made some more plans, but we’ll wait until another time to share those plans – let’s concentrate on this cruise now and not look too far ahead.



Then we went up to lunch. They were serving an Italian Buffet but it just didn’t appeal to us for lunch (looked too heavy), so we went up to the Sun Deck and ate at the Grill. Janet had a jumbo dog and fries, and David had a cheeseburger and fries. Then we went to the cookie bar and got some cookies to take back to the cabin. Janet has also been entitled to Special Teas or Hot Chocolates for no charge since she has her Specialty Coffee pass. So she has had several different types of tea during the day.



After lunch, David posted pictures for yesterday’s blog. At the photo session earlier in the cruise he learned how to post pictures without having to send all the pixels (they seem to look just as good on the screen but do not need as much time uploading them over the internet – it is still pretty slow).



During the afternoon, Janet went to the Arts & Crafts – Bracelets session. This was the same instructor from the previous two days where we learned how to decorate canvas bags and bead lanyards. This time we beaded bracelets. After a couple of times of the beads rolling around on the floor, we all made some really cute bracelets. Again, it was a lot of the same people at the knitters group in the morning.



While she was making bracelets, David went for a walk around the Promenade Deck (4 laps today) and then went to the pool. It was a comfortable temperature and not especially crowded (apparently because of heavy clouds were not good for sunbathing). Anyway, he got lots of laps swum in the pool and then rested in the hot tub. Afterwards, he and Janet met back in the cabin.



We had brought a couple of bottles of wine with us when we boarded the ship. You can take them to dinner or drink them in the cabin. Since they charge you a “corking fee” to have the waiter serve your own wine to you in the dining room, we’ve been slowly having them as aperitifs before dinner.



For dinner, we both had Shrimp Cocktail and instead of soup/salad we have a small version of the pasta dinner. For our entrée we both had Veal Cordon Blue. Dessert was Carrot Cake for David and Janet had chocolate ice cream with chocolate syrup. It was very good.



The theater show was a magician and an illusionist. Mostly he did mind reading kinds of tricks. Frankly unless the audience members were just blatantly rigged to agree with his answer, then we don’t have any idea how he came up with the answers. It was pretty surprising. His name is Wayne Hoffman and he has appeared on a number of talk shows. Anyway, we did enjoy the show.



Then we went up on deck for the Movies under the Stars. This evening they were playing a concert of Barry Manilow from Las Vegas. Janet enjoyed the songs so much she wanted to clap along with the recorded audience from the original show. But it was a lot of fun and covered a lot of his hits.



They were having a late night deck party afterwards, but we needed to get back to post this and get some rest. So that’s about it for tonight.

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Photos

Janet on our balcony
this morning

Uncarved Ice Block
Yesterday in Cabo

Carved Ice Block
10 minutes later