Yellow Fish cruises: Day 58: At Sea

I was determined today to leave the cabin, at least for meals, and I did that, and more. As we say about the community where Mom lives, the Ruby Princess is something else. You would have thought, from the welcome back I got in the dining room, that I’d been missing for weeks. The crew here are so friendly and welcoming. Every year I think it could never be as good as it was in the past, and every year I’m proved wrong.

It’s really nice. :-)

I may have eaten three meals in the DaVinci Dining Room today, but I didn’t taste a single bite of any of them. Whether it’s from the illness or the cure, it’s a heckuva weight loss plan. This may have been the last day we have the waiters we’ve enjoyed so much over the last two cruises (20 days). They are all set to rotate to another dining room tomorrow.

Sigh. Change is hard.

Day 14 breakfast menu

Speaking of change, I don’t believe I’ve mentioned that our cabin steward, Noel, was called home by a family emergency. It happened so quickly, overnight, that we never got a chance to say goodbye. Elmar (not Elmer!) has replaced him and seems very sweet too.

Following breakfast, I returned to the cabin to rest. Again, I’m not sure if it’s the illness or the cure, but I am not sleeping at night, and that is the worst thing in a 160 sq. ft. cruise ship cabin. There is nowhere to escape to except the International Cafe and that involves clothes and contacts and an attempt to comb hair, so I just stayed put and tossed and turned. No surprise, then, that I was asleep again by 10am. G went to listen to Coffee Talk in the Piazza with Captain Lewis, the cabin was quiet and I just slept on...until he texted me to tell me he was waiting for me for lunch in the dining room. Luckily that woke me up.

Day 14 lunch menu, page 1

Day 14 lunch menu, page 2

Marinated red and yellow peppers

Garden curry

In the end, it was a good thing I got another couple hours of sleep; my afternoon was chock-full of wonderful live music opportunities and I barely had time to get cleaned up for the evening before going to the Elite Lounge. First, acoustic guitarist/singer Courtney Visser was leading a Great Aussie sing along in Club Fusion at 1:45pm. I didn’t fully appreciate how many chart toppers over the years have originated in Australia, and, of course, she squeezed Waltzing Matilda and I Still Call Australia Home in there, too. I don’t believe I’ve mentioned Courtney before but she has quite a following every cruise. She generally plays in the Wheelhouse Bar but sometimes in the Piazza, too, and has a style and personality that is reminiscent of the acoustic guitarists we’ve seen on Holland America and Celebrity.

G went instead to a lecture in the Princess Theater on the history of Rock and Roll. An enrichment lecturer has been giving these talks throughout the cruise, and I understand he is excellent, though the quality of his music playback is not great. At any rate, G texted me to tell me he had front row center seats for our next show, a matinee performance by pianist Jon Darsk. I was upset to have missed his show two nights ago (though we’ve seen him perform already this season) and was determined not to miss today’s performance. 45 minutes of mostly classical piano music...I was in heaven, and I love that G enjoyed it so much, too (although I think he believes that 45 minutes is the perfect length of time and not a minute too few).

We ran back to the cabin to shower and then down to the Elite Lounge to say goodbye to new friend Virginia. She was so sweet and gave me a hug to welcome me back, since I hadn’t seen her for a couple of days. We meet the nicest people cruising!

Captains Circle host Angela shared some photos with me in the Elite Lounge of the different prints on the new Most Traveled Guest tote bags. She says there are two additional prints (one being Alaska) that she doesn’t have photos of. I think they’re all really attractive and hope to collect another one or two this season.

Day 14 dinner menu, page 1

Day 14 dinner menu, page 2

Day 14 dessert menu

I skipped tonight’s show (a comedian who had already performed once on board to mediocre reviews) to return to the cabin and prepare for our turnaround day in Sydney tomorrow. As always, an alarm is set for 5am and I have clothes and camera set out to hasten my ability to watch our sail into Sydney Harbour from an upper deck. However, whether I’ll make it up and out in time remains to be seen. Also unknown: if I’ll be up to doing another long walk tomorrow. Several of you emailed to tell me I shouldn’t, that the smoke in Sydney is fierce, and our next-tablemates told us tonight that the Opera House, just a long stone’s throw away, could not be seen from the Harbour Bridge today. No worries; we have several more Sydney turn arounds to look forward to. If not tomorrow, then next time.

Next time. The next time we’re in Sydney, Australia. Frankly, I can’t believe I even have the opportunity to say that.

Life is good. :-)