I did not want to eat much this morning, remembering my vow from last night to skip breakfast and eat salad for dinner, as this cruise's MTP luncheon was being held at noon today. Still, I accompanied G to the Club Restaurant where we had coffee and fruit plates and then to the Panorama Buffet where he added an omelet. It was very sunny and warm enough to sit on the Panorama Terrace and watch while the Pacific Princess sailed through this narrow strait with mountains on both sides and an occasional lighthouse. Just behind us were another cruise ship and three freighters; this is a heavily traveled area. I remember back to when we were contemplating these cruises and the political and terror situation in the region was heating up; I imagined it might be a bit stressful cruising through this narrow part of the Mediterranean where an RPG could be so easily fired from shore or another boat. But now that we are here, the area seems (perhaps misleadingly so) rather sedate and peaceful. I'm glad we didn't change our minds and cancel these cruises!
We walked on Deck 10 for an hour or so before we needed to begin getting ready for lunch. At noon we were lined up outside Sabatinis on Deck 10 and were pleased to be seated at Captain JP's table along with Edie and Ron, the other couple who had been on the Pacific Princess when it struck the breakwater in Nice but were also staying on for this cruise and beyond (in fact, they've been on since July 28 and are staying on until December 20, so it's not just us who are crazy that way). They did not go home during the 14 days the Pacific Princess was out of commission; they had a friend joining them in Barcelona on October 16 for her first cruise ever. Instead, they rented a car and drove all over the Mediterranean areas of France, Spain and Italy and returned to the Pacific Princess exhausted. Well, we flew home and returned to the ship exhausted, so I'm not certain one way was preferable to the other. When the umbilical cord to a cruise ship is cut, it's rough going either way.
Here is the menu from today's MTP luncheon:
Starter
Land and Sea Triumph- marinated seafood, vegetables and cured meat
Intermezzo
Blueberry mojito sorbet (this was served in a cotton candy nest)
Entree
Alaskan Halibut Filet
Or
Milk fed veal medallion
Or
Vegetarian crispelle 'Sorrentino'
Dessert
Chocolate crême brûlée with a raspberry coulis center
Accompanied by copious amounts of wine, lunch again ruined us for the rest of the day. Since that was the case, we followed up the luncheon with the Grapevine Wine Tasting at 2pm. When it was over about 3pm, we were well and truly done for the day. We rested a bit and I started this blog post and then we went to the PES Lounge (no drinks, just a few shrimp and cocktail sauce) where the beautiful sunset had me ducking out onto the open deck on Deck 10 for a few photos.
It's a crime to walk in to dinner not even a bit hungry, but I still had an appetizer of two Mediterranean hummus dips and a garden salad. And Headwaiter Ilio was making cherries jubilee so of course I had to have that for dessert. But no wine; I had reached my limit for the day. We were excited to see that tonight's production show was none other than Motor City. We continue to be so impressed with this new cast. Their performance tonight even warranted a standing O, their first and it was easy to see they were thrilled by it. It's fun to watch such youthful enthusiasm accompanied by such skill.
Leaving the Cabaret Lounge, we were approached by Bob who, along with his group of friends reads my blog, and we joined them for TV theme songs trivia in the Pacific Lounge (but disqualified ourselves from being part of a team). That trivia is so darn fun, with most of us knowing the words to many of the songs and singing along.
G is still out and about (he mentioned going to see Motor City one more time) but I returned to the cabin to attend to evening ablutions and finish up this post. The jury is still out on whether this mattress is an improvement over what is now G's mattress. I don't believe I'm feeling any worse but it's amazing the toll that just four nights on a bad mattress can take on my back. If I am not considerably improved by tomorrow, I may request a new one. It's not like I'm going home in six days; things could become dire after a few more weeks of this.
And, finally, it was nice, at today's lunch, to be able to convey to Captain JP what a great job the we felt the ship's company did handling the events in Nice. He added a few more facts to the list of things we've learned since we've returned to the Pacific Princess, but the overriding one is that this situation was unlike any drydock or wetdock that is planned a year or two in advance. It's quite amazing that they were able to pull it off quickly enough to allow the next cruise to take place. Now that we're back, it's as if it never happened at all, which is just the way everyone involved wanted it to feel.