Yellow Fish cruises: Day 5: At Sea

I managed to sleep until 6:30am, which was wonderful. It just took one night of staying up until nearly midnight to get me back on track. Naturally, G was long gone when I woke up. He couldn’t miss a Liars Club session in the International Cafe! We move clocks ahead again tonight (so we’ll be six hours behind EDT), and then just two more times before Sydney. But there’s also that day we’ll lose altogether, somewhere between American Samoa and Auckland. G said that we need all these sea days simply to keep adjusting our watches. ;-)

Still, I was a slug this morning, and stayed in the cabin reading and watching TV instead of going to breakfast. It was the Most Traveled Guest luncheon day today, and I knew I would be facing a plethora of eating opportunities all day long. We had gotten back the laundry we had turned in on the first evening of the cruise (so, it is taking 72 hours as we had been told it would), and I decided instead to hand wash the quick dry items I’ve been wearing since we boarded. Luckily, all of my shorts and short sleeved T-shirts can be washed, wrung out in a pool towel and hung up to dry and they’re ready to wear again a couple of hours later. Since we’ll be in port during our next two days, it was nice to get that done.

That left plenty of time before lunch to change into a swimsuit and use first the Terrace Pool to get some water exercise and then the hot tub on Deck 17. Though the day had started out cloudy, with a few rain drops early this morning, it was brightly sunny by 9am. This is starting to feel like a tropical cruise! Even better, the forecast for tomorrow in Honolulu continues to improve, and we’re quite happy about that.

This morning, while clothes were soaking in the sink, I also took a few minutes to document the log in procedure for Medallion Net when you are sharing the plan between two devices. I most often use it on my iPhone, but occasionally want to use WiFi from my iPad. I initially thought I had to physically log off the first device to be able to log on to the second, but it is done automatically after verifying that you’re certain that is what you want to do.

I’ve set up a bookmark for Ocean Concierge on my home screen.

Choose MedallionNet Get Online

Choose Purchase/Redeem even if it’s not your first time logging in.

Here it says I’m already running MedallionNet on another device (in this case my iPad),

and asks if I want to disconnect that device and connect this device instead.

At this point, you still have to click Get Online Now, or you aren’t actually connected to the internet.

I felt...well, almost normal this morning when I used the two flights of outdoor stairs to climb from the Terrace Pool to the hot tub on Deck 17. I was very careful, using a single crutch and taking it one step at a time, but the only reason I was able to try was because G was unaware I was doing it. Somehow, when I was getting out of the hot tub and had to navigate those 7 or 8 steps down to Deck 17, he suddenly appeared right there to lend a hand. Seriously, how did he know?

I was glad I had spent some time outside, because I knew that, once I had gotten cleaned up for the Most Traveled Guest luncheon, I would want to stay cleaned up for the rest of the day (and not use a pool or hot tub again). At noon we were dressed up a smidge and having our photo taken with Captain Ron Wilson. We had never previously met him (frankly, his name was new to me), but he is a most personable master of the Ruby Princess. His wife, Joan, travels with him, and she could liven up a funeral. We had so much fun over lunch, with them and our fellow passengers, which was quite a relief. These luncheons, when things don’t “click”, can be as onerous as a dental appointment. Even Captain Ron mentioned in his short post-luncheon speech, that he had never heard such a loud Most Traveled Guest group. Apparently, conversations at all the tables were as as animated as at ours.

This entire area, used as a backdrop for photos with Captain Ron, had the fragrance of star gazer lilies.

Most Traveled Guest luncheon menu

Menu page 1

Menu page 2

My lunch was almost entirely off-menu, to meet my vegan plus seafood dietary requirements.

Mixed greens salad

Vegetarian pappardelle

This was beyond delicious.

A wonderful dessert that could not possibly have been vegan. 😉

Pastry chef, sous chef and executive chef Raggie Saldanha

Assistant maitre d’ and Maitre d’ Mike

Following lunch, there was no question that a nap was in order. In fact, we joked about it amongst ourselves. What else does one do after an Most Traveled Guest luncheon? It’s quite like Thanksgiving Day afternoon in that regard. I took advantage of the downtime to pull together a few things I need for our day in Honolulu tomorrow. Yes...land ho (very soon). These first four sea days have been most tenable, and we have shockingly enjoyed them immensely.

BTW, if we hadn’t had a Most Traveled Guest luncheon invite, this was the lunch menu in the DaVinci Dining Room:

Day 5 lunch menu, page 1

Day 5 lunch menu

We had no right to go to the Elite Lounge at 4:30pm for chips and salsa, nor to dinner in the DaVinci Dining Room at 5pm...but, of course, we did. It was a sea day. Eating is what we do.

I was very much looking forward to tonight’s dinner. Hunger (or the lack of it) had nothing to do with it. I was simply looking forward to two on-menu vegan items that were new to me. The first was a grilled pineapple starter with a wonderfully smoky flavor. The other was a garlic roasted cauliflower steak that I was so anxious to dive into that I neglected to take a photo of. The sad part of these wonderful menu items is that they may not be offered on our shorter cruises; there are obviously more menus (and menu items) on this 28-night cruise. I will miss them.

Grilled pineapple in a sweet ponzu tea

Day 5 dinner menu, page 1

Day 5 dinner menu, page 2

Day 5 dessert menu

Once again, we finished dinner in time to make it to the 6:30pm Princess Theater performance of female vocalist Sonia Selbie, back in an all new show. The entertainment these first five days has been extraordinary; these guest entertainers leave us tomorrow in Honolulu and a new batch come on board to keep us entertained during the five sea days en route to Tahiti.

We dove right back into bad habits tonight when we just happened to stroll the Lido Deck after the show. It’s very easy to be tempted by all the food choices up there: pizza, ice cream, burgers, the entire Horizon Court Buffet. G enjoyed an ice cream while I managed to get back to our cabin unscathed. However, we did see the tail end of tonight’s sunset, the first one we’ve seen since we boarded.

The Neptune’s Reef Pool at sunset

We want to be up early to watch our arrival into Honolulu tomorrow. Our plan for the morning includes a big Target shopping trip; the afternoon will find us at the Hale Koa and keep your fingers crossed that we have good weather for our sunset sail tomorrow night. It’s an easy day, but then we are no strangers to Honolulu, having spent a month there in each of the past three years. It will be great to be back.

And, finally, I received two pieces of good news today: Mom is out of the hospital (please may it be for good!), and McGee had a personal best time in a regional race today and was awarded the trophy for his role in winning the competition for his team. The collection continues to grow. (I’m just a little proud).

Good news (and unlimited WiFi to get it), good food and a wonderful day at sea.

Life is good. :-)