Day 29: At Sea

I don’t know which we enjoyed more today:  that it was a sea day or moving clocks back an hour overnight. We’re back on a normal schedule, waking around 7am, and we move clocks back another hour tonight.  Yay!  We met up for breakfast in the Horizon Court Buffet but not before G had discovered that minute steaks were on the breakfast menu in the Donatello Dining Room. When he couldn’t find them in the Buffet, I knew that, after I finished my fruit and cereal, we’d be going to breakfast #2 in the dining room. While I had tea, G had a lumberjack-sized breakfast that seemed designed to add another wing to a cardiologist’s house. 

We were seated with a couple who lives in Sydney (no surprise there) but also one who lives just ten miles from us, and the odds of that on this overwhelmingly Australian cruise is rather staggering. We all talked so much that we probably overstayed our welcome in the dining room, but still managed to wrap up our chat by 9:45am. 

That gave us an hour to return to the cabin for the morning pill taking activity and then head to the Neptunes Reef pool for the Veterans Day Remembrance Ceremony. Princess does this every year on their ships, and we really appreciate that they do. Aussies and Kiwis honor their military’s’ sacrifices better than just about any other country and so to commemorate this day on the Golden Princess was especially moving. The flags of several countries were hung from the Deck 15 railing and programs with prayers and songs were distributed. Staff Captain Jonathon led the remembrance but Captain D spoke and several Deck Cadets read prayers. Decks 14 and 15 around the Neptune’s Reef Pool were packed; I bet at least half of the passengers attended. and, naturally, I fried a little, because of course I did. 

I was getting hungry by 11:30am (because I had eaten just one small breakfast around 7am), and so we met up in the Horizon Court Buffet where I had a huge salad topped with Mexican black bean salad. I should have gone to the fitness center for a workout, but the seas grew increasingly bouncy, and I elected instead to just work out in the Terrace Pool (in which the water level had been lowered to avoid water splashing out) and ended up feeling slightly disoriented from the water sloshing so dramatically around me. 

Easy vegan!

While the day remained sunny, the ship definitely got bouncier and we showered for the evening using the ‘one hand on the safety bar’ method (which makes shampooing hair kind of tough). At 4:35pm we we met outside of the Vista Lounge and were escorted in for this cruise’s Captains Circle party. We were honored to be this cruise’s Most Travel Guests, and, I think that #2 has 730 days though I’m uncertain of #3. 

It was Italian night in the dining room and I loved having penne arrabiatta with just a little penne and a lot of arrabiatta and having it put on top of a lot of broccoli. Production show Let Us Entertain You (love that one) followed at 8:30pm and I have no idea how the cast got through it. The ship is really rocking and rolling tonight, and I was a little nervous riding up from Deck 6 to Deck 12 in an elevator that clanged and banged. Once again, I’ve used the rubber band method to attempt to hold the nightstand drawers closed; I nearly broke my neck this morning when I got out of bed and ran directly into one that had opened last night. 

Though there is a Tropical Island Night party tonight, we’re skipping it in favor of an alarm set for 5:30am tomorrow. Captain D said we’ll be cruising through some beautiful scenery on our approach to Noumea, but mostly while it is still dark. We want to be up early just to try to get a glimpse of any part of it that we can.