By 8am, my required interneting was complete and we were in the Club Restaurant finishing up the bottle of Korbel from last night in the form of mimosas (we really do miss that part of breakfast in Sabatinis!). Though today's menu featured one of our favorite breakfast entrees (blueberry pancakes), we each ate just one of them, accompanied by a fruit plate. It was really quite touching...a few of the junior waiters came over to quietly ask if we were going to the Most Traveled Passengers (MTP) luncheon today at noon, and to tell us they had been selected to serve it this cruise. I think that it is perceived an honor to be chosen, and, frankly, as a passenger it's nice to see the pride that is taken in providing the food and service. I would hate to think that it was viewed as just another additional duty for the crew.
I knew I was in trouble today when I first viewed the Princess Patter last night; there were so many enticing activities taking place all day that, even if I had no other commitments, I would not have been able to fit them all in. And I definitely had other commitments, the first being to neaten the appearance of some of the clothes that had been packed away in a suitcase for three weeks while we were taking our prolonged shore excursions. ;-) We had pulled out our chosen attire for the MTP luncheon last night and looked it over. Wrinkled, wrinkled, wrinkled!
So following breakfast, G headed directly to a hot tub, while I went to do battle with a iron and ironing board in the passenger laundry on Deck 7. Now, don't get me wrong; I am thrilled that Princess even provides passenger laundries on its ships, and it is one of the things that keeps us coming back year after year. But ironing has never been my forte, and ironing on a ship with an automatic shut off device to prevent fires is even more foreign to me. By the time I finally called quits, our clothing was soaked with water from the iron that never heated up enough to make steam and I was in the cabin spraying copious amounts of Fabreze on everything and hand smoothing it on the bed. (Honestly, two hours later my shirt was still damp).
I was ready for a break by then, and so, leaving behind my long sleeved rash guard but slathered in sunscreen and armed with a Tilley hat, I joined G in a hot tub. It was sunny but, right at that moment, a large dark cloud passed over and gave us a slight reprieve. Eventually, I left G and a fellow passenger discussing network security and decamped to the pool, where the motion of the ocean was just enough to create some nice sloshing of water and some jacuzzi-like action. And that's where I stayed until after 11am, while G eventually left to be the first to get ready for the MTP lunch.
On my iPhone 4S with its Lifeproof case, I have saved some water aerobics workouts that I can listen to using waterproof headphones. However, as I mentioned at the outset of this season, that phone has been replaced by my new Fuji XP-80 camera, and I left the iPhone with two 12-year olds (who shall remain nameless) to keep up with my Clash of Clans base. It seemed a worthy trade off until the time demands of school and flag football and basketball prevented them from actively playing, and I really missed that phone today. I will have to retrieve it before we cruise again. Instead I just watched the clock (and watched the clock) as I did a nice water workout for an hour and then returned to the cabin to get ready for lunch.
We knew Captain Ciruzzi, who returned to the Pacific Princess in Papeete on October 18th, from our Pacific Princess cruises last year. In fact, we first saw him again yesterday when we were studying the map of the cruise that is posted on the pool deck. He came up and stood silently behind us, and when I turned and saw him there, I asked him if he knew anything about maps and navigation ;-) It was nice to get caught up with him today, and the other two couples at the table were so much fun that I didn't have to worry about remaining on my best behavior. We just all had a wonderful time.
Here's the menu (I can't face trying to upload a photo):
Duet of lobster and pate de fois gras in a Polynesian dressing
OR
Rissoto con funghi
Herbed Roasted Halibut Steak
OR
Beef Tenderloin tropical
Lemon Parfait and white chocolate mousse praline (I will try to eventually post a photo of this because it was a work of art)
Petit fours
Where there was a choice, we both chose the second option. The food, the wine, the service and the conversation were all fantastic.
The only downside is that I was missing the glockenspiel class being held in preparation for tonight's Oktoberfest party. But I had already missed the Oktoberfest arts and crafts class this morning (that darn ironing!) and didn't think I had a prayer of a chance of staying up for the Oktoberfest party being held tonight (Captain C said we'd be entering Taiohoe Bay on Nuku Hiva by 7am tomorrow morning), so, feeling sated and satisfied (and a little bit tipsy), G and I returned to the cabin.
We just happened to look at the Patter to see what was up next when we spotted a documentary called Terra Mystica: Easter Island Chile, that was being looped for two hours on Channel 21 on our cabin TV. We watched it once with the sound on and a second time muted, because it was so overly dramatized that G kept yelling at the TV. When the announcer said that the moai just mystically appeared out of nowhere, G shouted "Rano Raraku! They came from the quarry at Rano Raraku!" And that was the most amazing thing of all. Every time a new venue was shown, we'd both say the name of it. Tongariki. Ahu Ariki. Tahai. Rano Raraku. Rano Kau. Orongo. Motu Kau Kau. Ana Kai Tangata. These are names that we'd struggled with when we were still at home studying about Rapa Nui, but now they truly glide off our tongues, and we can identify them by sight.
Finally, we just muted that annoying announcer and watched the familiar images on TV. I know I said just yesterday that we don't spend a lot of time thinking about our Polynesian adventure in total; we simply stay focused on the next few days. But, sitting there and watching this documentary, we got chills. I really can't wait until we are in Nuku Hiva tomorrow, because it was the stone carvings there that really got G to think about going to Rapa Nui someday. The Marquesas are at the center of so much of Polynesian history and culture, and we have a much greater appreciation of both this year.
Wow, what an adventure this has been!!
G disappeared for awhile (he left for a Coke but was gone for 90 minutes), and that gave me the opportunity to start this blog post. I did not want to do anything that would require me to shower again before dinner, so I went out on the Promenade Deck and sat in a lounger and read. I have done precious little of that since those few rainy days on Rarotonga...we stay so busy. The afternoon turned cloudy, which I'm not certain was expected, because the early forecast for tomorrow on Nuku Hiva is for sunny skies. They would be very much appreciated; it's our only visit to the island this season and very possibly our last ever. :-(
It was Breeza Marina and herbed goat cheese night in the Elite Lounge (really...what an abundance of riches today!), so I was there with bells on at exactly 5pm ('cause you're never too full for Breeza Marinas and herbed goat cheese). Still, we went to dinner (not one bit hungry) exactly at 5:45pm and ate lightly quickly because we wanted to go the 7pm show of comedian Scott Wyler in the Cabaret Lounge. Like so many entertainers on cruise ships, we knew we'd seen Scott many times in the past, but couldn't recall until he stepped out on stage what he looked like. As soon as we saw him, I remembered: G liked him; me not so much.
We are heading back out to listen to the piano entertainer (I keep fiorgetting to look up his name) play Beatles music. As much as I'd like to make it to the Oktoberfest party in the Pacific Lounge at 9:45pm, I won't. 5:30am comes awfully early, and I clearly remember lots of dolphins surfing the ship's bow wake upon our approach to Nuku Hiva last year. I'm hoping for a repeat. :-)