Of course, I won’t.
Moving clocks ahead an hour last night (as we will again tonight) took a bit of a toll, and it was after 8am before I awakened, but G, in practicing that traditional male ritual of flipping through the TV channels, found Sunday NFL football games (!!!) on the Fox Sports Channel. It was rather bizarre coverage, because it seemed to move from one game to another, but it didn’t appear to be just the highlights but it was kind of hard to tell. The signal kept going in and out, over and over (we are, after all, in the middle of nowhere), but at one point, when it came back on, we were watching the Broncos-Eagles game, and that was very exciting, until we saw the score. How cruel was that...tease us with football, and then a game with our favorite team, only to show them losing pathetically?
So close to Hawaii time!
Putting it behind us, G went to the Horizon Court Buffet for breakfast and I chose to do a water workout in the Terrace Pool (the pool temps are finally comfortable; the hot tubs are still cool). I guess I got carried away, or else I forgot about the time change, because I returned to the cabin with just 30 minutes to shower and get ready for this cruise’s Most Traveled Guest (formerly MTP) luncheon held in the Crown Grill. Still, we arrived exactly almost on time (ok, maybe we were a little late, but Captain D was still having his photo taken with passengers so it went unnoticed. Hopefully.).
The luncheon is always a feast, but since my dietary changes (especially the alcohol part), it doesn’t ruin me for the rest of the day, which is actually a most welcome change. I was able to have the standard menu choices with just minor tweaks today, though I did have a special fancy fruit dessert. It’s funny...we’ve had the same wait team for two luncheons and when the waiter takes the orders and gets to me, he simply says “I’ll surprise you”. We hit it off so well with fellow passengers at our table that we continued the conversation in seats just outside the Crown Grill until after 3:30pm.
We had no reason to eat dinner tonight, let alone go early, but we did, because we were cleaned up and just had to change into formalwear. After a seafood starter and seafood entree at the Most Traveled Guest luncheon, I had a seafood starter and seafood entree for dinner (so I am definitely getting enough protein, Mom!). Waiter Rodrigo, since he discovered I love tamarinds, has been sharing some of his tamarind candy from Mexico with me. Yesterday it was a tamarind and chili flavored hard candy but today it was a tamarind and chili fruit roll up type of candy. We have to find a Mexican grocery store near us because this stuff is good!
Gracias, Rodrigo!
The entertainment tonight was the production show Stardust. We are so used to seeing this on the Pacific Princess with just two vocalists and six dancers that it is quite impressive to see it with a cast that is twice as large. It was only 8:20pm when it was over, and there was entertainment continuing all around the ship, but we still returned to our cabin. We move clocks ahead again tonight, and the alarm is set for 6am tomorrow. Douglas Pearson trained us well: we must be on an open deck for these island arrivals! Dravuni Island, Fiji sounds very much like Mystery Island, Vanuatu, and we’ve been told the snorkeling is good. I am throughly enjoying this itinerary!
Finally, the big news on the Golden Princess is tomorrow’s Melbourne Cup horse race. It sounds a lot like the Kentucky Derby; this race lasting just a few minutes will be broadcast for hours on MUTS and in the Vista Lounge. Apparently the lead up is at least as important as the race itself. There will be a special hat contest (with supplies provided to adorn your own) and the casino will be running the betting process. It’s all anyone is talking about tonight, and we love being here for the festivities.