We had a mostly uneventful day, and I just wasted 45 minutes mindlessly scrolling the internet instead of preparing a blog post (because I’m selfish that way 😉) so this will be quick.
We started the day with another room delivery but today added orange slices and a chocolate croissant for G. That was enough to get me to brave a chilly Terrace Pool which luckily today wasn’t too sloshy. By the time I showered and warmed up, it was 11:30am and lunch in the Botticelli Dining Room had begun and I was hungry!
Luckily, there was a delicious kale salad on the menu, so good that I ordered a second one after I’d enjoyed the first. And G is really enjoying the multiple flavors of ice cream on the lunch dessert menu. We didn’t have that on the Grand, just vanilla and chocolate and a frozen yogurt flavor.
G went to the veterans get together this afternoon, but I returned to the cabin to catch up on some of the destination and Māori cultural lectures I’ve missed. There is also a business lecturer on board, but, honestly, it runs a little too close to the hundred plus Harvard Business School case studies I had to analyze in my MBA program forty years ago, so I’m passing on those.
I also completed our online New Zealand declaration forms, which required downloading an app, scanning our passports and answering several questions about what we were (or weren’t) bringing into the country. It had to be done less than 24 hours before our first arrival into New Zealand. Between that and the ETAs we had to buy and the tourist environmental tax we had to pay, New Zealand requires a lot of hoops to be jumped through.
After G returned from veterans, he decamped to a hot tub but I didn’t want to have to shower again, so I just sat in a nearby lounger enjoying the sunshine. Dinner was healthy tonight, and then we went to the Princess Theater for vocalist Che Orton, back with an Elvis tribute show. He was named one of the five best Elvis impersonators in the world (yes, apparently there is a contest held at Graceland). It was an excellent show that received a well-deserved standing ovation at the end.
We were on the Terrace Deck at 8pm for sunset. I love that it happens later this far south.
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| A sunny but chilly day |
And, finally, CD Nathan, who ran into G at the veterans get together, stopped by our dinner table tonight. I had been trying to see him but hadn’t yet, and G told him where to find me. He gives the best bear hugs! He wasn’t supposed to be on the ship right now, but the scheduled CD suffered a broken leg, so he was asked to stand in for three cruises. Aren’t we so lucky that he did! He’s one of our favorites.
