I followed G out of the cabin this morning and made tracks for the passenger laundry room on our deck. I arrived there just as it was being unlocked at 7am, with laundry token and detergent pods and all my casual dinner tops in hand. Tonight was a formal night and I knew I wouldn’t need any of them, and could let them hang dry all day. The washers on the Golden Princess don’t show cycle time remaining, but I ran up to the Horizon Court Buffet and had fruit and cereal and the final spin was finishing up just as I returned. Sure, our cabin looked like a laundry the rest of the day, with items air drying, but it did put some moisture in the room, and that’s a good thing.
I met up with G as he ate breakfast in the Horizon Court Buffet. We sat with a couple from near Melbourne (as are 99% of the passengers on board) and chatted until nearly 10am, which happens fairly frequently. His daughter has just accepted a job as the Chief Financial Officer of a company in Germany that is designing unmanned helicopters for use in major metropolitan areas in a manner similar to Uber. We were gobsmacked; the future is now, it seems. But it instantly took me back ten years to when the twins were 4 and had just discovered LEGOs. Our living and dining rooms were LEGO Central, and their favorite things to build were anything with wheels (of course), but on the roof of every vehicle they built was that piece with a little helicopter rotor and blades, “In case they hit traffic, NeeNee”. They were simply ahead of their time.
It didn’t take long for our poor sleep to catch up with us, and we returned to our cabin and slept until 11:30am, when we went to the Princess Theater to hear Destination Expert Wendy Fuller’s presentation on Mystery Island and Luganville. We have already visited Mystery Island earlier this season (let’s hope for better weather this time), but Luganville will be a new port for us. We have some great ports to look forward to on this itinerary...and a few too many sea days in a row.
G wanted pizza for lunch and I had salad, and after that short break in the Buffet, we returned to the Princess Theater for the 1pm presentation by historian Peter Donovan on the French colonization of New Caledonia. While Wendy Fuller’s presentations make me feel like a third grade student, Peter’s hit just the right note, and, for two people interested in the history and culture of this area, they’re fantastic.
With nothing else we had to do, we watched TV (Dateline on MSNBC, we love those) and started early to get ready for formal night. The sun was kind of out by the time we went to dinner and the ship is much more stable tonight. I am hopeful for a better day tomorrow. Dinner was fruit, a salad and salmon with broccoli, and a scoop of pink grapefruit sorbet for dessert.
The Captain’s Welcome Aboard Party and Champagne Waterfall was held beginning at 7pm, and we followed that with production show Born to Dance in the Princess Theater. I love that show more each time I see it, and would have gone back to see it a second time tonight if I thought there might be an empty seat. Immediately afterward, we made our way to the Vista Lounge where we were again entertained by the Blues Brothers Tribute act. The audience really gets into that show; it’s just pure fun. It was a perfect evening: great dinner and two great shows. Those are worth getting dressed up for!
One more sea day BS (before snorkeling). Once again, I’ll be packed and ready to go tomorrow night, even though we don’t arrive in Maré until 11am the next day. I simply can’t wait to be finding Nemo once again.