WC Map 2015

WC Map 2015
O̶c̶e̶a̶n̶i̶a̶ ̶I̶n̶s̶i̶g̶n̶i̶a̶'̶s̶ ̶A̶r̶o̶u̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶W̶o̶r̶l̶d̶ ̶C̶r̶u̶i̶s̶e̶ ̶M̶a̶p̶ ̶2̶0̶1̶5̶ Or not...

Friday, May 29, 2015

Sea Day 3

Friday, May 29, 2015

Sea Day 3. I woke up late again. I didn’t wake up until Clay got back from the gym. We went to a very empty Terrace. Maybe more people went to GDR on deck 5 since it was so rocky overnight and now. The sun is shining, the water and air are warmer, the wind has died down and there is no fog or haze. Unfortunately, we seem to have traded it all for large rolling swells coming from the port to the starboard side which is causing Marina to sway or wallow. Everyone is having a problem walking in a straight line at any rate.

So, the mandatory life boat drill was the same as the past 2 with the exception that it was at least 15 minutes shorter. Since everyone is certainly onboard and everyone boarded at least in Montreal where they were last compelled to attend, it was surprising that we still had to sit for several minutes while a number of names and cabin numbers were recited. I guess 25 to 30 minutes is the quickest we can muster. God help us in the event of an actual emergency.

Lisa, the social hostess, has held needlepoint each of the 3 sea days. She said today that she did not plan another during this cruise. That seems reasonable. I have a little supply of work ahead so I am fine with it. My work improved greatly from my first project to my second.

There is another cooking demonstration this morning with the Exec Chef, Alexis Quaretti and Red Ginger chef Wang Enmin. I think I will pass today. I think I handle the motion better in my own room than in the theater even though it is 2 decks lower. There is another popcorn movie in the theater this afternoon but it is The Imitation Game again. Clay declares he will go get popcorn and come watch something in the cabin. We’ll see. I expect I will have a long nap sometime today. The Exec Chef had previously announced at one of his earlier cooking demos that he would hold a Gala Tea since this was a crossing (as well as Indian Dinner and Country Fair). There is no Gala Tea on the schedule today and there was none on the previous 2 sea days, so while I have never been up to any of the tea times, I have to assume that this Trans-Atlantic sailing is not getting a Gala Tea. Dr. Paula Smith is giving another lecture at 1pm on Dublin. She has family ties there and is very familiar with the city and country of Ireland, so we’ll like to go. Lunch today in Terrace is an Asian Buffet. Hopefully, we’ll be able to find seats in there today to have lunch. Part of the problem yesterday was the number of Waves Grill orders being delivered inside to Terrace. It is nicer outside today, so hopefully all those people who want to eat from Waves will stay there. Back and they did not. We wandered and wandered like lost souls before Clay finally approached a woman eating soup and asked if we could sit with them. After all that, I found the Asian buffet to be quite disappointing. Clay may disagree as they not one, but two, whole roast suckling pigs on the carving stations. They did have good chicken dumplings cooked like potstickers. Clay liked the mango rice pudding, but he may have had that before served cold instead of hot though. I will continue to look forward to Polo tonight.

I napped after the Dublin lecture and probably could have skipped it without missing anything. Clay has been trying to balcony-sit for hours which is his favorite cruise activity. It has just been to ugly out. With the sun today, he thought he could do it. Not on the balcony, even in a fleece jacket and with our Canadian lap blanket. He spent most of the morning on the big covered loungers where we sat yesterday. He had on the fleece and used 2 of their lap blankets and said it had to do with the glass between him and the sea in order to block the wind, but he really wanted the sun. Also, all that glass blocks the sound of the sea, but I pointed out it was replaced by the sound of the swimming pool sloshing in and out.

The Oceania Club cocktail party is this evening. We’ve been invited again and unless conditions get worse, I assume we’ll attend. We have our Polo reservations tonight at 6:30pm. This is to replace the evening I was too seasick from puffin-watching in St. John’s. The show tonight is Salute to Broadway featuring vocalist Lawrence Cummings. He is a very good singer, but I’m not sure we’ll go. There is also a late night cabaret with Mark Newsome. (I still have no idea who he is.) I think they said they had the same amount (about 800) past repeat cruisers. The longest term cruisers were the same Canadian couple as before who boarded in February in Papeete, they will leave in Southampton in a few days. Clay said we each drank $16 worth of onboard wine. So, there’s that. We enjoyed Polo again. Clay ordered the whole Maine lobster and said he wouldn’t do it again. He said it wasn’t as good as the whole lobster he ate in Cheticamp! We really like the little fruit jellies they give at the end of the meal. Clay had the brownie with ice cream. The brownie had nuts and he said the Tahitian vanilla ice cream was much better than that served elsewhere onboard. He liked it. I had double handmade vanilla marshmallows in a trilogy of sauces.


The big rolling swells have continued throughout the day and I decided I’d had enough after dinner and we did not go to the show. The Currents for tomorrow says the port will provide a complimentary shuttle to and from central Belfast. We’ll hope for the best. These port shuttles have been a mixed bag, though the port provided ones have been infinitely better than O provided ones. So fingers crossed. Otherwise, we’ve probably done justice to Belfast in the past and there is nothing left on to do list there.