We started with a light (very light) breakfast in the Club Restaurant. Our assistant waiter for dinner, Sebastian from Mexico, is surely ready to move up. He has been our waiter for the simpler breakfast menu every day recently, and he really is a delight. We kept it very easy this morning, with cereal and bananas and skim milk. Who knew what treasures the lunch and dinner menus would offer, and we wanted to be hungry enough to enjoy them.
I went to the 9:30am line dance class in the Pacific Lounge (so you know it was less bouncy today). Dancers Emily and Rachel were teaching us the line dances to go with tomorrow night's Love Boat Disco Deck party. There are four of them, in quick succession, and we only managed to get through three of them in the allotted 30 minutes before hula lessons with Maile and Tui began (I told you there was a lot going on today!). Plus, I had had to make a decision, and missed Douglas Pearson's lecture on Hawaii's flora and fauna, being held at the same time in the Cabaret Lounge. I thought I had heard that one on the way south in September, but Douglas later set me straight over coffee in the Club Bar...he had incorporated some new information, and I had missed out! Oh nos! I guess that, like island arrivals, there are no two alike in Douglas Pearson's mind, and we must have the stamina to do and see it all (and to be in two places at one time too, apparently).
We have asked Douglas to chase down the name of that documentary that was on TV in the early morning hours a couple of days ago, about the Polynesian migration and Hawaii and Rapa Nui. We wouldn't mind seeing that in its entirety when we return home. Thank goodness for YouTube and Netflix and Amazon Prime, etc. We are seeing snippets of such wonderful things on this ship (if you can find them beyond all the Love Boat reruns); I do wish the Pacific Princess had the on demand TV!
Next I was off to the martini demonstration with EJ and Reggie in the Casino Lounge. Not that I'm a martini drinker, of course, but, as with fruit and vegetable carving, I try to get to these things once a cruise season. And EJ and Reggie are endlessly entertaining. Actually, the entire bar staff..actually, the whole crew has been so fun and friendly. And getting to know them is one of the best part of cruising for a longer period of time.
I then squeezed in that coffee with Douglas and Beverly so I could be necessarily chastised for having chosen line dancing over Hawaii flora and fauna (That's a joke. Douglas doesn't chastise. He just has a way of making one feel guilty for having made the wrong choice. Douglas would have been a great nun!). I saw G and a group of veterans having a get together on the other side of the Club Bar, which was nice. On a couple of these cruises, there's been only two or three veterans who showed up; this time there were nearly 15.
Next up was lunch, and I was hungry by noon. Oooooh, I predict a hard adjustment when we return home and a bowl of cereal (without fresh fruit) has to last us until our later afternoon dunch (that's dinner and lunch together). The lunch menu, though new, wasn't too exciting. I had a cold melon soup (yesterday's fruit from the Panorama Buffet, no doubt) and the vegetarian tofu and rice noodles, and strawberries romanoff for dessert. G settled for the melon soup and a plateful of onion rings...and two desserts. Good eating habits are falling apart these last few days!
We had time, then, to sit on the Promenade Deck for about an hour. We have moved far enough north that the breeze feels just a bit cool (around 80F) but, combined with the warmth of the sun, sitting outside feels incredible. We know that cooler days lie just ahead of us, as we make our way back to Los Angeles. In fact, after Hawaii, I'm going to put away some tropical things and bring out the Rapa Nui yoga pants and fleece pullovers. Sigh.
I left at 2:30pm to go to the Casino Lounge for Tui and Maile's Hawaiian language class, but then left that early to go to Harry's 3pm craft session: cutting out construction paper oak leaves to be used on the thanksgiving tree (which had appeared in the Reception Hall this morning). Tracing leaves and cutting them out; such a familiar activity for me, who works in a pre-school (although a simpler leaf design than an oak leaf, or else an Elison die cut machine would have been welcome). The best part of the craft sessions are the conversations and gossip we have while we're doing them.
G was in a hot tub by then, but I only had enough to time to go to Happy Hour in the Casino Lounge just before it ended at 4pm to purchase some cans of Strongbow Ale (BOGO for $1). There will not be an afternoon Happy Hour until our next sea day three days from now, and we don't always stay up late enough in the evenings to make it to the 9pm to 10pm Happy Hour in the Pacific Lounge. I returned to the cabin while G was still out to get ready for dinner, and we went to the Elite Lounge for pre-dinner drinks and then to the Club Restaurant where yet another new menu awaited us. I had a lobster and crab cake entree and peach daiquiri sorbet for dessert, very nice.
We had a full evening of entertainment then. We caught the second half of the variety showtime with comedian-juggler David Deeble and singer Heather Sullivan, then stayed for the entire next show and finally stayed for our first Ye Olde Pub Night, the first time we've seen it this year, and the new cast's debut performing it. It was entertaining, and the sing alongs are always a lot of fun.
It's nearly 11pm now, after a day that started before 6am. We arrive in Hilo, Hawaii tomorrow morning (we're less than a 100 miles away right now!!) and will go though immigration at 8am. Charge up the iPhones, stretch out the texting fingers...after more than two months outside the U.S., we'll have AT&T phone service and Internet once again.
Yay!
Just a little excited!