March 21 – Day at Sea

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Today we are sailing northeast from Sydney, heading toward Brisbane. Tomorrow we will be in port, but today was a very restful sea-day for us. The temperature was in the mid 70’s today but we had intermittent rain showers, so it was more of an indoor day.



Janet went to the late movie last night and did not get back to the cabin until about midnight – David had already gone to sleep. She slept in this morning and David went up to the buffet for breakfast about 7:30. When Janet woke up, he went back for “second breakfast” like a good Hobbit. Since this is Friday, it had to be a meatless breakfast, but there were still plenty of choices.



David went to the 10:00 presentation about what to expect in Brisbane tomorrow. It has a history dating back to the original English penal colony, but we will probably learn more about the town on our tour tomorrow. Afterwards, we went to the first Trivia Session of the cruise. We were part of a team of six and we answered 18 out of 20 questions correctly. Unfortunately that was not good enough to win, but we had a good time. After that we went back to the buffet for lunch.



This afternoon David went for a walk on the Promenade Deck (he did 6 laps) and Janet worked on one of her needle projects while she watched a movie on TV. It was called “Enough Said”. Unfortunately she ran out of one color thread, so that puts the project on hold until we get back. But don’t worry because she brought more projects with her.



After getting some more rest in the cabin, Janet decided to forego High Tea today and she got a fancy coffee from the International Cafe. David went around the ship and took some pictures of places where we typically do NOT go. That includes the Casino, the Sushi Bar, the Spa, the Kid’s Lounge, the Jewelry Boutique, the Bingo Tournaments, the Art Auction, some of the bars/lounges/Discotec, and other places. They each appeal to various folks but just not to us. But this reference is intended to show the breadth of alternative interests available to cruisers.



We had some wine before going to dinner and then went down to the Marquis Dining Room. This evening was the first of the Formal Nights on this cruise, so we looked good in our fancy clothes, but the other two at our table did not appear anyway. For dinner we both had the crabmeat quiche as an appetizer and lobster bisque for our soup. Janet had an order of the fettuccini and David had Tasmanian style Salmon. For dessert, Janet had Puffy Pear Pastry with Chocolate ice cream and David had Hazelnut Soufflé with vanilla ice cream.



After dinner this evening was the voyage’s “Captain Welcome Reception” where we got a couple of glasses of champagne. Then we went to the Vista Lounge and watched a classical music trio. During our British cruise we had seen a classical quintet and had enjoyed it. This was quite similar and we enjoyed it again. At the same time was a Production Show in the Princess Theater that we had seen of the first cruise. We may find some “repeats” from the first cruise, but we expect to still have other alternative entertainment choices anyway.



This evening we received a very nice note from Valerie with updates and photos of her children. It is good to catch up a bit on what’s happening. We also heard that one of our neighbors had been in an accident and will be in the hospital for a while. In response to another note – No we have not seen an extra 777 anywhere.



We have reached roughly the midpoint of our vacation. The time has really passed quickly for us, but we still have lots of fun activities ahead.



FYI, Brisbane is not on daylight savings time, so we have to adjust our watches an hour backward tonight. So we went back to the cabin to get started on a good night’s sleep before we arrive in port tomorrow. If it probably sounds like we mostly ate and slept all day today, well that would be a pretty good summary. Talk to you tomorrow.

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