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.
