I went to breakfast in the DaVinci Dining Room alone today, just for a cup of coffee and a bowl of cereal, and G took advantage of me being out of the cabin to do his hand laundry. I stopped by the International Cafe and told Filip from Serbia to "make me a hero", and he handed me a sprinkle donut on a plate to take back to G. Today was Filip's last day, and he will be so missed. We call him Mr. Pastry in the morning when he works in the International Cafe for three hours, and then Mr. Pizza in the afternoon and evening when he works in Prego Pizzeria on the pool deck.
It was also the last day for Nadia from Serbia who works in the International Cafe. She saw me waiting in line and told me to sit at a table and she'd bring me a hot chocolate for G.
I returned the donut and hot chocolate to G in the cabin and went to the gym for a cardio workout. Today was very sunny and I didn't want to spend too much time working out in a pool. I then joined G for lunch in the DaVinci Dining Room, and he made up for his missed breakfast with a four course lunch. Dear waiter James from the Philippines who's provided us service for many breakfasts and lunches is also going home tomorrow, and was excited about seeing his wife and toddler son for the first time in eight months.
G adjourned to a hot tub for a huge portion of the afternoon, but I made it through two more episodes of Downton Abbey. I have just one episode remaining to watch, and it just kills me. I am trying to savor every moment.
In order to to resist watching the last episode, I went to the Grapevine Wine Tasting at 3pm, just for a diversion. I followed that with a couple of walking laps on the Promenade Deck and then returned to the cabin to beat G into the shower to get ready for the evening.
Dinner was simple, just the tamarind salmon and a glass of Riesling for me. The tamarind salmon has quickly become my favorite entree, surpassing even embarkation day lunch salmon. I would eat it every night except Italian night when I'd have penne arrabiata, and be a happy cruiser. Who could get bored with food as tasty as that?
The big entertainment for tonight was the Voice of the a Ocean, and, for lack of something else to watch, we went. As I've said, we are not two of the 500 million people who have reportedly watched this show worldwide, so we had no idea what to expect. Well, it's basically competitive karaoke, heavily produced and dramatized. The three 'coaches' were Hotel General Manager Peter, Rhumba Duo singer Teresa, and Magic To Do vocalist/magician Erik. Seven passengers performed, and the first two were really good. The others were decent, but couldn't compare. The coaches selected their teams and then each chose a finalist (that part confused me...why pick their favorites and then eliminate one or two of them? Wouldn't they, after they chose one really good singer, choose the not so good ones for their team so it would be easy to choose their finalist?).
After the three finalists were selected, passengers who had picked up wireless voting devices on their way into the Princess Theater (requiring a ship card as a deposit and limited to one per couple) voted on which of the three finalists should be the champion. The first singer won with 70% of the vote, which was surprising because I thought the second singer was just as good. I guess that's where it pays to have campaigned for votes ahead of time, and get friends you've made or came on the cruise with to attend and vote for you.
Chad (in the middle) won it all
Given no other show to watch, I might go again. The Emerald Princess orchestra played for about 15 minutes before the show began, and accompanied the singers, and made it worthwhile, and we were lucky that two of the singers were really good, but if there weren't any good ones, it could be an excruciating hour to sit through. As I've said, we like being entertained by professional performers, but have to concede that most of America seems to like these competitive shows. Singing, dancing, talent, cooking...heck, there was even a Christmas house decorating competition show on when we were home over the holidays. I guess Princess is just giving its passengers what it seems the public wants.
We made a pass across the Lido Deck for ice cream with strawberry sauce and sprinkles (G) and red velvet cheesecake (me). We are moving clocks back an hour tonight, and forcing ourselves to go to bed early. We'd like to once again watch our arrival in Fort Lauderdale tomorrow. It makes for a long day, but the opportunities for us to do that are quickly coming to an end.