Day 64: At Sea/ Scenic cruising Wineglass and Oyster Bays

We had the most fantastic (notice I didn’t say best) day today. Honestly, sea days just don’t get any better than this one. We had some bounciness overnight as we were cruising across the Bass Strait that separates the Australian mainland from Tasmania, enough that the drawer dance woke us up. I dug the rubber band lashing system out of a nightstand drawer and tied the drawer handles together and we weren’t bothered again. 

Today, however, we woke to calmer seas and partly cloudy skies that became cloudier as the day went on. The temperature was perfect...shorts and Ts with a fleece when we were on the open decks. G had found a replay of Thursday Night Football on ESPN sometime in the early morning hours and we were happy to see the Broncos not only play, but win!  

I stayed until the end, but G left the cabin before I did and ended up having breakfast in the Donatello Dining Room because he was in that area when it opened at 7:30am. I ate in the Horizon Court Buffet, and enjoyed talking with more Australian passengers. I’m not sure I’ve said often enough how much we are enjoying our fellow passengers on these cruises. And this cruise, in particular, has 300 kids (that’s hearsay), many of them elementary age or younger, and it is a joy to see them traveling with parents and grandparents. 

G eventually found me (because we always try to sit in the same area in the Buffet, and also because all the waiters know us by now and helpfully point us toward each other). We returned to the cabin for the morning pill taking activity and then went to the Piazza early for a 10am activity that we were very much looking forward to: a Christmas tree lighting ceremony with Christmas carols and SNOW!  Now, snow is an all too-familiar concept for us, but it is still fun to see on a cruise ship.  But the real joy was seeing these Australian kids, most of whom have never seen snow in person, be mesmerized by it. The snow making machine was overlooking the Piazza on Deck 7 and it worked perfectly, shooting out fine plume of snow that wafted down to the floor on Deck 5.

Loved the red and green lights in the chandelier. 

Snow with no shoveling required :-)

G went from there to the Grapevine Wine Tasting (I felt just a smidge deprived), and I plugged in ear buds and walked on the Promenade Deck...but back and forth, over and over for an hour on just the starboard side of the ship as the coast of Tasmania was on that side and I was picking up enough of a cell signal to start to download a new audiobook. It was a perfect day for it, and there was much excitement when some passengers spotted dolphins, several of them, playing in the ship’s side wake. I tried-hard- to take a photo but they were just too fast to catch. 

G and I reconnected for lunch in the Donatello Dining Room, where he had his usual tuna melt with potato chips (natch) and I had the equally predictable Floret Family entree, with cauliflower and broccoli topped with light tomato sauce and pine nuts. Love that!  We left there and settled in loungers up on Deck 16 for the scenic cruising through Wineglass and Oyster Bays. What we didn’t realize until today is that the last time we were here, in late October, we cruised by but were not able to enter Wineglass Bay, probably due to the wind that day. Though the weather was less sunny today, the Golden Princess sailed all the way into the bay and did two 360° circles. The long, long stretch of beach at the end is incredibly beautiful, and offers views across the narrow island to the beach on the other side. 

Source:  Maps.me

Source:  Maps.me

Source:  Maps.me

Because we spent so much time in Wineglass Bay, we had to return to the cabin to get ready for formal night #416 of the cruise, and then watched our scenic cruising through Oyster Bay from our dining room table. Dinner today?  A feast. Like Christmas. Headwaiter Sean started me with a full plate of grilled shrimp, then a salad and finally the piéce de resistance:  two large rosettes of smoked salmon accompanied by my favorite grilled veggies. G had fruit and soup and salad and beef tenderloins and we were both too full to consider even a scoop of sorbet for dessert. Spoiled, I say!

View from our table

Through a Bernini Dining Room window

Shrimp starter

Entree

We were in the Piazza for the 7pm Captain’s Welcome Aboard Party and Champagne Waterfall, but left after G had a beer to get front row seats for production show Born to Dance. It is just superb!!  I was obviously not born to dance, but was born to be able to get from a front row center stage seat in the Princess Theater all the way back to an empty seat in the Vista Lounge in time for a comedy show starting just 10 minutes later, without turning it into a combat sport or mowing over slow moving passengers. It’s a trick:  go up the stairs from Deck 6 to Deck 7, use all my strength to push open a door against the wind onto the outside Promenade Deck, be blown down the length of the deck to the back of the ship, re-enter Deck 7 on the ‘quiet’ side of the aft elevator lobby, enter the Vista Lounge on that side and split up to look until two seats can be found together. Score! 

Aussie comedian Jason “Rash” Ryder was a new entertainer for us this season, and was well worth the 250-yard dash. And his show was also the end to a perfect formal night evening. From food to finish, it really was the BEST. 

Life is good. :-)