A day at sea. No excursion to make us get up early. So, what did my husband K do? He got up at 7:20 and went off to the fitness center. I tried to keep sleeping, but the tone from last night was driving me nuts. I finally gave up at 7:50 and searched for the source of the sound.
I discovered that on the counter just to the right of the couch there was a phone. Now, this is a weird place for a phone. I could understand one over on the desk/makeup table. But, this thing was no more than two feet from the phone on the nightstand. And, to make it worse, it was the source of the noise. The only way to stop it was to unplug it.
Our older daughter J wasn't due for a while, so I went out to see the scenery. I found a boat, but of what ilk I could not say. Very soon after that I saw mountains. The phone was kind enough to provide a map of where we were when I took those photos. It turns out we were in the arch of the boot of Italy.
J arrived at 8:30 and we headed off for breakfast, K included, as he was back in time.We noticed green lights along the floor of the deck. We thought it must be an emergency test.
Since there was time this morning, I decided to indulge in an egg white omelet with tomatoes, onions, mushroom and cheese, with potatoes on the side. I also had a bowl of Greek yogurt with mixed berries and the usual banana and orange juice. Excellent breakfast. It would have been great on a day when an excursion would delay lunch. But, there's never time for that.
When we went back to the cabins to wash up at 9:20, I discovered we were passing a wind farm.
At 10, we were at the Dutch Café on the Promenade Deck with a bunch of other folks in the t-shirt you see below. J was determined not to participate and settled into a nearby chair to read. We were given a pep talk before being led out to the Deck to begin our 9 laps around the ship at 10:10. There were people who were very determined and very fast. We got lapped by many of them. A couple of women were jogging or running, even though a sign near the beginning of the loop indicated this was not allowed.
J met us there for the "Ask the Captain" presentation with the cruise director, Wendy, and Captain Noel O'Driscoll. He was easy going and humorous.He started by telling about himself. Among other things, he told us he spends 3 months on the ship and 3 months off. At home he is not the captain. HAL had a new program and his family had been onboard with him for 3 weeks- wife and 2 and a half year old son.
He brought a slide presentation about the ship that was very interesting to us. K loved the technical specs of the ship and I liked hearing about how it operates and how the crew lives. Of course, I took photos of the slides. No, this is not all of them.
The bridge was fascinating. The vital supplies table got a big laugh.
The underside of the ship is absolutely massive. He did a good job of explaining what the various parts do.
I don't know about everyone else, but I was surprised to learn that the pilot who comes aboard does not actually steer the ship.
It was now time to learn about moving the ship in terms of the lower decks.
Can you imagine what goes into feeding the crew and guests? Here's a little info.
Of course there is recycling.
"Team Member" there means crew.
Thus ended the slide show. He then answered some questions from the audience. It was a very entertaining 50 minutes.
When we stood up to leave, K felt dizzy. This happens to him sometimes. He sent me to get some more of my laps done before lunch. It was a pleasant 72 degrees out on the deck. I managed to get another two laps done by 12:04. So, we went to lunch and noticed along the way that the emergency lights were off.
As usual, we found a good spread of desserts to share. J and I got the rest of our lunch from the Lido Marketplace as usual, but K headed off to the hamburger place near the pool. I found a beautiful pretzel roll to go with my salad and banana. I also found a kind of ham and cheese stromboli. J made hers an all- Italian lunch. K eventually came back with a hamburger and fries.
Just before 1, K headed off to a beer tasting. Not enough people showed up, so those who did got the beer for free.
J and I didn't finish lunch until 1:10. So, we had to rush off to the World Stage for a pasta cooking demo that started at 1. K joined us at 1:20. It was a very interesting demo with the head chef.
When it finished at 1:50, I headed outside to do my last 2 laps and wound up doing 3 for an even 10. I went inside and found K and J near the Dutch Café. K headed up to the Lido Deck to read. J and I went back to my cabin to work on crosswords, read, and watch the bottom, then the side of the toe of Italy go by. Quite pleasant. I dozed off, of course.
We were all going to go see the Lincoln Center Stage concert at 5, but just before that we heard that Mt. Etna was in site. This was so exciting! I may have mentioned how much volcanoes fascinate me. It looked pretty awesome even with or because of the haze.
At the concert, K took my coupon and got me my free Sail Away Cocktail. It tasted like a mojito and was quite good, as was the concert, even though we had to leave early for the 5:30 dinner reservation.
It was Gala night again ( there are 4 on this cruise, this being number 2) and four courses for everyone. For my starter, I had the Roasted Beets and Orange Segments, while K and J each had a Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail. K also ordered a Tuscany-Peter San Giovese wine to go with his meal. I had my usual ice tea.
For the salad, we all chose the Apple, Pear and Cucumber Salad. It was a good choice.
We chose entrees that the others would not mind having a third of. I go the Cracked Pepper Tenderloin with Garlic Shrimp. J ordered Tangerine Glazed Duck Breast. K's choice was Ricotta and Spinach Tortellini. All were excellent.
Both J and I ordered the Flourless Chocolate Cake. So, we didn't have to share that. K chose something with coconut, which I won't eat. It was Dulche de Leche and Coconut Tart.
It was 7:05, when we left. We made our way to the World Showcase for the third time today. This time, it was to see "Musicology", a dance show. It started at 7:30. It was pretty good, but J and I left at 7:50 for tonight's 8 pm jewelry giveaway. They gave the losers a free pendant that noted for a certain amount of money, you could get an upgrade. Unfortunately, those were sold out.
At 8:25, J and I headed for our cabins. We'd been dressed up far too long. But K messaged us to come up to the Lido deck to see something. It turned out to be Stromboli, an island that is mostly comprised of a volcano that has bee erupting nearly constantly since 1932. I'd read a fascinating article about it in Smithsonian. Scientists are trying to learn from the volcano how to predict eruptions.
It looked absolutely beautiful with the setting sun behind it. We were not the only ones on the aft port side photographing it and nearby Italian mainland. When we turned around to leave, we saw how beautiful the back of the ship looked lit up at night.
Afterwards, we headed back to our deck. After confirming our meeting time for tomorrow, J headed off to her cabin. K and I would up watching Free Guy, a movie I'd wanted to see. There was a pretty good list of on-demand movies.
My phone said I'd walked 12,854 steps for 4.5 miles and climbed 4 floors. We did not sit far enough down in the World Showcase to account for that.
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