Day 70: At Sea

It is 11:30pm as I type these first words of tonight’s post, but, luckily, we didn’t do much today except eat, so this should be quick. ;-). We had moved clocks ahead an hour last night, and slept until nearly 8am this morning. The ship was stable (this is not the Tasman Sea we know), and our neighbors on both sides are quiet (we didn’t have that luxury on either side last cruise) and we just slept and slept. We ate breakfast in the Horizon Court Buffet and then I walked on the Promenade Deck for an hour. The weather was not very inspiring, but I did my annual listen to audiobook Winter Solstice while I walked, and that helps pass the time. The sun was out by noon or so and the rest of the day was beautiful. 

We didn’t attend the Maori cultural lecture by Kane Holmes, back on the ship again for this Crossing the Ditch, because we’d seen it before and intend to watch the replay on TV. Instead we got in line early for lunch in the Donatello Dining Room because the Day 2 lunch menu is a favorite. G gets a tuna melt and peach cobbler for dessert, and I get a broccoli-cauliflower mix with a tomato sauce and pine nuts...and another for dessert.

This lunch entree is called The Floret Family. 

Let me just live on this. And roasted peppers. And salmon. ;-)

This one’s for you, Mom :-)

We returned to our cabin afterward and didn’t re-emerge until dinner time. We napped on and off (yes, me too, which is why I was able to stay up so late tonight) and I watched another two episodes of The Crown on my iPad. Dinner with Alona and Lydia was another feast organized by Headwaiter Sean:  spinach and shrimp starter, salad with avocado and then barramundi with several pounds ;-) of veggies sautéed in olive oil and garlic, including another favorite, brussel spouts. We finished with one scoop of watermelon sorbet and were stuffed. 

Starter

Entree

Tonight’s show in the Princess Theater was vocalist Donna Campbell back again with her Dolly Parton tribute, and then we were lucky and got two seats in the martini bar (I think it’s called the Promenade Bar on the Golden Princess) just before piano entertainer Juan Carmelo Escobar began to play at 8:45pm. We were joined by new friends Jean and John and we all stayed through Juan’s first two sets until 11:15pm. He is incredible, and his songs appeal to exactly the right ages, people in their 50s and 60s. It was SRO early on and stayed that way the entire time. When he took his second break, we finally called it a night. 

What’s not to love about life at sea? 

We have two more sea days before we get to Auckland on Christmas Day, and, at this point in our cruising season, we are welcoming the break at least two of them provide. Only 11 more days of cruising...say it isn’t so. 

And, finally, I didn’t know a thing about yesterday’s car attack in Melbourne until Mom texted me this morning about it. We never went into the CBD yesterday, instead staying closer to the cruise ship terminal at Station Pier, about five miles away.  If we had, we would have walked down that street at least twice, as we have many times already this season. It’s sad, but unsurprising that this happened, just as it will be sad and unsurprising when it happens the next time, and the time after that. 

And that’s all I can say about that. :-(